This just in - CA Congressman Mike Honda will also be making an appearance at the event! Program will also feature Jana Katsuyama of KTVU Channel 2 news as MC, keynote by CA State Assemblymember Warren Furutani, and the presentation of the Clifford Uyeda Peace and Humanitarian award to longtime human and civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama. Don’t miss it!

Dreams Interrupted, Dreams Fulfilled

San Francisco, CA — The annual Bay Area Day of Remembrance (DOR) commemoration will take place on Sunday, February 21, 2010, 2 p.m., in San Francisco Japantown at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, with reception to follow at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California.

This year’s Day of Remembrance theme, “Dreams Interrupted, Dreams Fulfilled,” recognizes the honorary degrees recently awarded to Japanese Americans whose educations were disrupted by the relocation and internment of the Japanese American community during WWII, and to the enduring value the community places on receiving an education. The 2010 Day of Remembrance will be MC’d by KTVU Channel 2 News reporter Jana Katsuyama, with a keynote by California State Assemblyman Warren Furutani, author of CA Assembly Bill 37, granting honorary degrees to the Nisei who were removed from their educational pursuits. This year’s program will also feature the presentation of the 2010 Clifford Uyeda Peace and Humanitarian Award to distinguished human and civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama. Additionally, the Purple Moon Dance Project, choreographed by Jill Togawa, will perform excerpts of their work, “When Dreams are Interrupted,” revisiting the forced removal of the Berkeley Japanese community in 1942.

DOR has been an annual inspiring expression of the Japanese American community’s vitality. Through cultural presentations, education and a candle lighting ceremony, the event commemorates the incarceration of over 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II. In post 9/11 years, as the nation has struggled through war abroad and other communities have been targeted as “the enemy,” DOR has also become a time for diverse communities to stand together to carry the light for justice and reaffirm a united commitment to civil and human rights today.

The traditional candle lighting ceremony will feature a diverse array of community volunteers and advocates, and include shakuhachi music by Masayuki Koga. The program will close with an Interfaith Gathering and Procession, led by the Japanese American Religious Federation from the theater to the Japanese Cultural and Community Center, where a reception will conclude the day.

The Bay Area Day of Remembrance program is organized annually by the Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium, with support from various Japanese American and Asian American community organizations throughout the Bay Area, including: Asian Improv aRts, Asian Law Caucus, API Legal Outreach, Japanese American Religious Federation, Japanese Community Youth Council, Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California, Japanese Peruvian Oral History Project, Campaign for Justice – Redress Now for Japanese Latin Americans, Center for Asian American Media, Nakayoshi Young Professionals, National Coalition for Redress & Reparations, National Japanese American Historical Society, Tule Lake Committee, San Francisco JACL Chapter and the UC Berkeley Nikkei Student Union (partial list).

Tickets prices are $15 (door); $12 (advance); and group rates $10 (for 10 or more in advance). Call NJAHS for tickets at: (415) 921-5007.
Tickets can also be purchased online at: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/99800

Day of Remembrance is an annual observance that takes place in many communities throughout the United States to commemorate the signing of Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942 by President Franklin Roosevelt – ultimately leading to the incarceration of Japanese Americans on the West Coast in World War II. The DOR 2009 theme, “30th Anniversary of DOR in the Bay Area” - honors the early Day of Remembrance gatherings, which played a pivotal role in launching a broad, intergenerational, multi-ethnic community coalition to do broad public education and advocacy on the internment and related issues of civil liberties and human rights justice. As 2009 begins, we can see how that coalition and movement must continue its work, with greater urgency than ever

This year’s DOR will be MC’d by Carole Hayashino, one of the organizers of the historic 1979 DOR at Tanforan Shopping Center, site of the former Assembly Center in 1942. The keynote speaker will be U.S. Congressman Mike Honda, a sponsor of pending legislation to establish a Japanese Latin American redress commission which now enters its most critical phase in 2009. The new documentary short, “Out of Infamy: Michi Nishiura Weglyn” will recognize the extraordinary work of this author and her landmark work, Years of Infamy – The Story of America’s Concentration Camps (1976). Former SF Poet Laureate and Director of Glide Church, Janice Mirikitani will read her poetry.

The 2009 Clifford Uyeda Peace and Humanitarian Award will be presented to longtime community educator/activists Ernest and Chiz Iiyama. Mariko Nakanishi will give an update on the legislation for Japanese Latin American redress being introduced by Congressman Mike Honda and others. Attorney Banafsheh Akhlaghi will provide an overview of post 9/11 civil liberties and human rights. The traditional candle lighting ceremony will feature a diverse array of community volunteers and advocates, and include the music by Francis Wong (flute). An Interfaith Gathering and Procession will be led by the Japanese American Religious Federation from the theater to the Japanese Cultural and Community Center, where a reception will conclude the day.

The DOR Consortium includes (partial list) Asian Improv aRts, Asian Law Caucus, API Legal Outreach Japanese American Religious Federation, Jtown Arts, Japanese Community Youth Council, Japanese Cultural & Community Ctr of No. Calif., Japanese Peruvian Oral History Project, Campaign for Justice – Redress Now for Japanese Latin Americans, Center for Asian American Media (formerly NAATA) Nakayoshikai Young Professionals, National Coalition for Redress/Reparations (NCRR), National Japanese American Historical Society (NJAHS), Rosa Parks Elementary School JBBP, Tule Lake Committee, SF JACL.

“Though this little-known story of internment of Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i during World War II goes back 65 years and beyond, its ending is still being written,” said Brian Niiya, JCCH Resource Center Director, whose team of volunteers is leading the JCCH’s endeavors in preserving former internment sites in Hawai‘i such as Honouliuli Internment Camp in Central O‘ahu. “We hope the community will join us in our efforts to tell this story to present and future generations to encourage that we never again repeat this unjust period in history.”

Event attendees can learn about the history and latest developments on the preservation of the Honouliuli Internment Camp from various reports, a video presentation and speakers:– Jeff Burton, National Park Service archeologist who reviewed 35 World War II internment sites on the continental U.S., will share his most recent findings regarding Honouliuli;– Frank Hays, Pacific Area Director of the National Park Services, will relate his experiences and involvement in the preservation of the World War II Manzanar National Historic Site in California. — Gail Honda, researcher on the experiences of Hawai‘i internee Otokichi Ozaki, will share her perceptions; and– Eric Yamamoto, law professor at the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa, William Richardson School of Law, will give insight to his legal work and scholarship on civil rights and reparations for historic injustice.

Under Executive Order 9066—signed by President Franklin Roosevelt on February 19,1942—120,000 people of Japanese ancestry (two-thirds of those people were American citizens) were removed from their west coast homes on the continental U.S. and unjustly detained behind barbed wire and stripped of their basic Constitutional rights. In Hawai‘i, the Honouliuli Internment Camp was opened on March 1, 1943 for the detention of approximately 300 Hawai‘i residents, most of whom were American citizens of Japanese ancestry.

The commemoration and an archaeological survey of the Honouliuli site are being coordinated with the support of Monsanto Hawaii—an agricultural company that provides farming products and solutions worldwide—that acquired the camp site as part of a larger land purchase last year and committed to working with the community to preserve and protect it.

The event’s co-presenter, Japanese American Citizens League-Honolulu Chapter (JACL) usually presents its annual Day of Remembrance that recalls the signing of E.O. 9066. This year, the organization has partnered with the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i (JCCH) to present this new program in its place.Additional supporting organizations include the Honolulu Japanese Chamber of Commerce, Honolulu Japanese Junior Chamber of Commerce, American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai‘i and American Friends Service Committee Hawai‘i.

The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i (JCCH), a non-profit organization, strives to share the history, heritage and culture of the evolving Japanese American experience in Hawai‘i. Located in Mo‘ili‘ili, the JCCH features a Community and Historical Gallery, Resource Center, Kenshikan martial arts dojo, Seikoan Japanese teahouse and Gift Shop. For more information call (808) 945-7633, email info@jcch.com or visit the website at www.jcch.com.

DAY OF REMEMBRANCE 2008
Carrying the Light for Justice

GENERATIONS OF ACTIVISM
Commemorating the 20th Anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988

Sunday, February 17, 2008 2 p.m.
Japanese Cultural & Community Center of Northern California
1840 Sutter Street (nr. Webster) SF Japantown

Tickets: $15 Door, $12 Advance. Call for group rates. Phone: (415) 921-5007

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, setting into motion the exclusion, removal, detention and incarceration of over 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II.

After decades of activism by Japanese Americans and a broad, multicultural coalition, President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Based on a federal commission’s findings that the wholesale violation of constitutional rights was due to “race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership,” the landmark redress bill provided a official apology, individual payments and a public education fund.

In spite of these historic lessons, today we witness members of the Arab/Muslim American community experiencing similar civil and human rights violations: exclusion, detention, incarceration and extradition in the post 9/11 and Iraq War era.

DOR is a time to cherish and critique our history; to share yet untold stories; to reaffirm our commitment to unfinished redress issues and current civil liberties challenges. DOR is a time to nurture future generations of activism to ensure a more compassionate democracy.

Major funding provided by the SF Japantown Foundation.

Related programs on 2/17:
* Nihonmachi Little Friends Open House for Issei Legacy Building: 1830 Sutter St. 12 noon - 2 pm
* Exhibit: I Witness, Part I: Asian American Movement of the 70s - JCCCNC Gallery

Bay Area DOR Consortium member organizations: Asian Improv aRts, Asian Law Caucus, API Legal Outreach, Campaign for Justice - Redress Now for Japanese Latin Americans, Center for Asian American Media, JACL-SF, Japantown Arts, Japanese American Religious Federation, JCCCNC, Japanese Community Youth Council, Japanese Peruvian Oral History Project, NJAHS, National Coalition for Redress/Reparations,Tule Lake Committee, UC Berkeley Nikkei Student Union (partial list)