Chanting, “We want justice for our people,” waving signs and cheering, more than 1,000 people gathered peacefully in Oakland’s Fruitvale neighborhood May 1 in honor of May Day and in support of immigrant rights. A broad coalition of groups joined in the tenth annual observance of International Workers Day by Oakland Sin Fronteras, a labor […]
From law to film, activism by S.F. Public Defender Jeff Adachi
April 13, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Jeff Adachi has been San Francisco’s elected public defender since 2002, and oversees an office of nearly 100 lawyers and 100 support staff. While known for his work in the courts and in San Francisco’s political sphere, Adachi is also a recognized documentary filmmaker and is premiering his latest film “Defender” at the San Francisco […]
Films of Remembrance presents intergenerational stories of incarceration
March 16, 2017 by Leave a Comment
The Nichi Bei Foundation presented its sixth annual Films of Remembrance program Feb. 25 at the New People Cinema in San Francisco’s Japantown. The one-day film showcase focused on the mass incarceration of people of Japanese descent during World War II, most of whom were American citizens. “This year’s Films of Remembrance had a record […]
Civil rights groups, state officials question revised travel ban
March 16, 2017 by Leave a Comment
President Donald Trump signed a revised and scaled-down travel ban March 6 aimed at allaying the constitutional concerns of a federal appeals court in San Francisco. But several civil rights groups and elected Democratic officials said they continue to have concerns about the ban, which bars visitors from six predominantly Muslim countries, and suggested that […]
NY DOR on the 75th anniversary of EO9066: Never again!
March 16, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Editor’s Note: The following is a speech made at the 2017 New York Day of Remembrance. Imagine your family immigrated to this country. (That would include most of us). And please imagine that your country of origin is at conflict with the United States. You are torn, because you hate violence. In fact it may […]
Never again! No Muslim incarceration
February 16, 2017 by Leave a Comment
Editor’s Note: The following commentary was originally published by the Freedom Socialist. Most people don’t know where Rohwer, Ark. or Tule Lake, Calif. are located. I do. My parents’ families were incarcerated in both those concentration camps during World War II. The U.S. government rounded up and jailed 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans for “posing […]
California officials praise ruling as Trump vows to appeal
February 16, 2017 by Leave a Comment
A federal appeals court in San Francisco declined Feb. 9 to reinstate President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 ban on travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals turned down the Trump administration’s bid for an emergency stay of Feb. 3 order by a federal trial judge […]
Collective statement by Asian American studies scholars regarding Japanese American ‘Internment’ and a proposed registry of immigrants from Muslim-majority countries
December 15, 2016 by 3 Comments
December 3, 2016 (Editor’s Note: Vivian Shaw, University of Texas at Austin; Simeon Man, University of California, San Diego; A. Naomi Paik, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Christen Tsuyuko Sasaki, San Francisco State University; and Yoshinori H. T. Himel, University of California at Davis, along with more than 900 other Asian American studies professors, have signed the following statement): […]
San Francisco’s Japantown holds vigil against post-election hate
December 1, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Two weeks after the election of Donald J. Trump as the next president of the United States, a crowd of about 500 people gathered at San Francisco Japantown’s Peace Plaza Nov. 22 to hold a candlelight vigil to express their unity with the groups affected by the hateful rhetoric that both the president-elect and his […]
Japanese Americans speak up for Muslim Americans
SAN JOSE, Calif. — “A monetary sum and words alone cannot restore lost years or erase painful memories. Neither can they fully convey our nation’s resolve to rectify injustice and to uphold the rights of individuals.” Tom Oshidari, co-president of the Japanese American Citizens League, San Jose chapter, was reading from the letter he had […]