In Jon Osaki’s film, “Reparations,” Blacks and Asian Americans address the four-century struggle to atone for slavery in the U.S., and discuss the critical role that solidarity between communities plays in addressing systemic racism in America. Osaki, an award-winning filmmaker and director of “Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066,” spoke to the Nichi […]
Day of Remembrance: An invented tradition for the community
February 3, 2022 by Leave a Comment
The Day of Remembrance was created in Seattle, at the Puyallup Fairgrounds, on Thanksgiving weekend of 1978. Days of Remembrance have now become a tradition to mark the anniversary of Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, but it is an invented tradition, observed wherever Japanese Americans live. The leadership in 1978 came from the Evacuation […]
Exploring the Black American path toward redress
April 15, 2021 by Leave a Comment
“In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War there was a set of promises made to the formerly enslaved, including the promise of land and that Black folks would have an opportunity to educate their children under their own discretion and control,†American economist William Darity Jr. shared with the Nichi Bei Weekly. “To the […]
Bay Area Day of Remembrance calls for reparations for African Americans
March 4, 2021 by Leave a Comment
Reparations for African Americans took center stage at the annual Bay Area Day of Remembrance program held online by the Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium under the theme: “Abolition! Reparations! Carrying the Light for Justice†Feb. 19. Documentary filmmaker Dianne Fukami and her daughter Hillary Nakano, co-chair of Japantown for Justice, emceed the event, […]
Film dives into the life of iconic researcher and activist Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga
February 18, 2021 by Leave a Comment
Filmmaker Janice Tanaka realized that, despite Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga’s profound impact on U.S. history, there were no films focused specifically on the Nisei activist and researcher. However, a family connection and a unique funding opportunity enabled her to produce “Rebel With a Cause: The Life of Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga†(2016), a tribute to Herzig Yoshinaga’s […]
Lane Hirabayashi, scholar of Japanese American history, dies
August 27, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Lane Ryo Hirabayashi, a prolific scholar whose work expanded the research of the Japanese American experience, died earlier this month in Southern California after a bout with cancer. He was 67. His lifelong commitment to Japanese American history followed “in the footsteps of his uncle Gordon Hirabayashi who defied curfew and evacuations orders during World […]
The ins and outs of redress
July 16, 2020 by Leave a Comment
REDRESS: THE INSIDE STORY OF THE SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN FOR JAPANESE AMERICAN REPARATIONS By John Tateishi (Berkeley, Calif.: Heyday, 2020, 384 pp., $28, hard cover) The topic of the Japanese American Redress Movement has been abundantly rewarded by its parade of prominent chroniclers. Those authored or edited volumes which I have been privileged to read, and […]
Docuseries offers fresh look at Asian American experience
May 21, 2020 by Leave a Comment
“Asian Americans,†a five-hour film series chronicling the contributions and challenges of the fastest-growing ethnic group in America, is being shown this month on PBS during Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. Personal histories and new academic research cast a fresh lens on U.S. history and the role Asian Americans have played in it. Renee Tajima-Peña, […]
Q-and-A with longtime activist and mentor Alan Nishio
May 7, 2020 by Leave a Comment
Editor’s Note: This Q-and-A-format interview was originally posted on the Manzanar Committee’s blog prior to the 2020 virtual Manzanar Pilgrimage. https://manzanarcommittee.org/2020/04/25/nishio-q Alan Nishio, who is the keynote speaker for our 2020 Virtual Manzanar Pilgrimage, was awarded the Manzanar Committee’s 2017 Sue Kunitomi Embrey Award for his leadership during the Redress Movement in the 1980s, along […]
Phase 2 of Japanese American redress has begun
Phase 2 of the historic Japanese American campaign for redress is underway. The signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which many of you supported, (thank you!) gave redress to Japanese Americans who were citizens and Legal Permanent Residents when they were interned during World War II, but Japanese Latin Americans (JLAs) were excluded. […]