The 2011 Bay Area Day of Remembrance opened with the recorded voice of Dr. Cornell West asking the audience, “Who you gonna call?†for righting civil wrongs. The answer wasn’t Ghostbusters. “You gonna call on the regular people,†he declared. The 2011 Bay Area Day of Remembrance (DOR) program featured a wide variety of talent […]
History
HONORING ALLIES AND ACTIVISM: A ‘Day of Remembrance’ and déjà vu
February 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment
THE GREAT UNKNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN GREAT, The life and times of Hisaye Yamamoto: writer, activist, speaker
February 24, 2011 by 1 Comment
Hisaye Yamamoto, who died on Jan. 30, 2011 at the age of 89, remains known primarily as a literary artist, a crafter of powerful short fiction — such as her signature stories “Seventeen Syllables†and “Yoneko’s Earthquake†— as well as assorted newspaper columns. Yet the story of her development as a writer is less […]
Toyo Miyatake relief dedication held in LA
February 24, 2011 by Leave a Comment
LOS ANGELES — The Little Tokyo Historical Society (LTHS) commemorated the installation of a full-size bronze relief and a street dedication to Toyo Miyatake at the Sakura Crossing apartments on San Pedro Street between Second and Third streets on Feb. 10 in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo. The event included members of the Miyatake family, representatives of […]
Shelter after the storm: Sawtelle’s postwar boarding houses
February 17, 2011 by 1 Comment
LOS ANGELES — Boarding houses played an important part in the development of the Japanese American neighborhood of Sawtelle in West Los Angeles during the Nikkei resettlement period after World War II, declared participants at a community forum held Jan. 29. Dr. Jack Fujimoto, who organized the event at the West Los Angeles Buddhist Church, […]
‘LIFE ITSELF IS OUR TREASURE’: Remembering the Battle of Okinawa
February 10, 2011 by 2 Comments
On April 1, 1945, 75,000 American troops landed at Hagushi Bay, on the west coast of Okinawa. Eighty-two days of fighting followed in what became known as the “Typhoon of Steel,†resulting in 200,000 deaths and a decimated island. The last major campaign of World War II, the Battle of Okinawa persists in the minds […]
‘Mourning Breath’: On Historical Amnesia, D.O.R., Love & Revolution
February 7, 2011 by 1 Comment
Just a little over two weeks ago, I celebrated the 25th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday becoming a national holiday. I did so by accompanying a group of high school youth to Youth Speaks’ “Bringin’ the Noise for Dr. King,†event in San Francisco, California. The clarity with which the young poets (ranging […]
Unmasking the Yonsei: 4th Generation Japanese Americans & Our Relationship/s to Racism & White Supremacy, Part 2
January 14, 2011 by 1 Comment
Part 2: Removing the Mask Relatively small though we are, as a Nikkei community, our growing acceptance into dominant white, middle-class culture is something I do not take lightly (particularly as a Japanese American with European ancestry). I have come to notice that false binaries (i.e. “Republicans vs. Democrats”) have and continue to play a […]
Unmasking the Yonsei: 4th Generation Japanese Americans and Our Relationship/s to Racism & White Supremacy, Part 1
January 6, 2011 by 8 Comments
Part 1: Identifying the Mask James Baldwin once wrote, “Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.†When it comes to issues of love and sustainability, from the 442nd and Patsy Mink, to Yuri Kochiyama and Richard Aoki, Americans of Nikkei heritage have shown undeniable brilliance […]
THE GREAT UNKNOWN AND THE UNKNOWN GREAT: The tragic and engaging activist Sam Hohri
January 1, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Like many other people, I was saddened by the news of William Minoru Hohri’s passing. I greatly respected his achievements in organizing the forces for Japanese American redress, and his various other contributions to racial justice in the United States. I was interested to read the various memorial tributes. One element that seemed absent from […]
The changing Seinan neighborhood of southwest Los Angeles
January 1, 2011 by 1 Comment
“Unless somebody records what happened, it will be gone,†explained Ansho Mas Uchima, who along with Minoru Shinmoto co-authored “Seinan, Southwest Los Angeles: Stories and Experiences from Residents of Japanese Ancestry.†For the two friends, life in Seinan before the war that mostly centered on Japanese school and church was filled with the social interaction […]
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