United For Compassion

 

UNITED FOR COMPASSION 2

WHEN: Thursday, Aug. 9, 2018, 7 to 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: Japantown Peace Plaza, Post at Buchanan streets
“United For Compassion 2” is a Japantown community gathering to address family separations at the border and the Muslim ban, racial / religious scapegoating, among other issues.
Featuring: Multicultural & youth speakers / performances, a Wall of Compassion, Resources
 
Speakers include:
– Phil Ting, California state Assemblymember
– Don Tamaki, Korematsu coram nobis attorney / StopRepeatingHistory.org
– Karen Korematsu, Fred T. Korematsu Institute
– Zahra Billoo, executive director, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
– Estella Alva-Garcia, family member of deportee to Guatemala
– Hiroshi Kashiwagi, former Tule Lake Segregation Center incarceree
– Satsuki Ina, former Tule Lake Segregation Center incarceree
– Dean Ito Taylor, API Legal Outreach
– Emily Murase, SF Dept. on the Status of Women
– Rev. Jeanelle Ablola, Japanese American Religious Federation / Pine United Methodist Church
– Rev. Debbie Lee, executive director, Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, organizer of vigils and support to those detained at West County Detention Center
– Miya Sommers, Nikkei Resisters
– Lakambini O’Donnell, Japantown Youth Leaders, Japanese Community Youth Council
– Yana F., DACA Youth, JCYC
– Nina Nakao, Nikkei Community Internship program
Co-emcees: Jon Osaki, JCYC; Allison Yamamoto, NCI alumni
 
Performance by the Buffet Crew — Francis Wong (saxophone) and Yukiya Jerry Waki (spoken word)

About the Wall of Compassion

A Wall of Compassion was at our first United For Compassion on Nov. 22, 2016, held in San Francisco’s Japantown to address the rise in post-election hate crimes. People were able to write words of support, warmth, and compassion to those suffering from fear, injustice and inequality.

This second Wall of Compassion, developed for United For Compassion 2 on Aug. 9, 2018, will be created by collecting more messages of unity, peace, and compassion on colorful tags. Tied securely together, we will send wishes of support, liberty and justice to the immigrant and refugee children now enduring inhumane treatment, as well as others who are victims of racial and religious scapegoating. You are not alone. We stand with you.

Inspired by recently departed community member Peter Yamamoto, we dedicate this Wall of Compassion in his memory.

ACT OF COMPASSION: Fold cranes to support immigrants

As part of United For Compassion 2, you are invited to join in folding origami cranes in support of immigrants, who have received public services like health care and food stamps and are at risk of deportation.

We will make/collect 20,000 cranes for Asian Health Services to deliver to the Department of Homeland Security in Washington DC in support of the immigrants. Cranes should be made from 6 inch or smaller origami or other paper and left flat.  They do not need to be strung.

Among those contributing to this project are San Quentin inmates who are origami students of Jun Hamamoto, who have folded about 3,000 paper cranes for the project.

Presented by the UNITED FOR COMPASSION CONSORTIUM

• Japanese American Religious Federation • Japanese Community Youth Council • San Francisco JACL • Nichi Bei Foundation • Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California • National Japanese American Historical Society • API Legal Outreach • Tule Lake Committee • Japanese Peruvian Oral History Project • Campaign For Justice: Redress Now For Japanese Latin Americans! • Nakayoshi Young Professionals • Asian Improv aRts • Nikkei Resisters • Japantown Task Force, Inc. • Coram Nobis Legal Teams • StopRepeatingHistory.org campaign • Minami Tamaki LLP • Nihonmachi Street Fair • J-Sei • Sansei Legacy Project • Kimochi, Inc. (partial list)

Sponsored by:

• Japanese Community Youth Council • San Francisco chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League • Nichi Bei Foundation • Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California • Tule Lake Committee • Japantown Task Force, Inc. • Sansei Legacy Project • API Legal Outreach

 

United For Compassion Consortium Statement

 
The United For Compassion Consortium and the San Francisco Japantown community stands in solidarity with those now being targeted nationwide by the rhetoric of hatred and racial and religious scapegoating.
 
Since before the 2016 elections, there had been a rise in incidences of hate throughout the country, which appear to be emboldened by the misogynistic, xenophobic and racist rhetoric of the Trump campaign. By the time the Japantown community held the first United For Compassion vigil against post-election hate two weeks after the elections on Nov. 22, 2016, the Southern Poverty Law Center had documented more than 700 incidents since the elections alone, including physical assaults and racist vandalism.
 
Since that time, an anti-Muslim travel ban has been upheld by the Supreme Court using the same flawed logic which legalized the incarceration of Japanese Americans in 1944. Our worst fears have also been realized with the recent Executive Order which authorized the indefinite imprisonment of migrant families in detention centers across the country.
 
One site being considered as a potential detention facility for unaccompanied minors is adjacent to the former Rohwer concentration camp in southeast Arkansas, where the United States government incarcerated 8,000 Japanese Americans between 1942 and 1945.
 
According to a CNN report, some 430 parents from separated families were likely deported without their kids. Once they are located, the logistics of coordinating reunions could take months. There are currently 711 immigrant children from separated families who remain in custody.
 
As a community that knows all too well the effects of wartime hysteria, racial prejudice and the failure of political leadership, the Japanese American community responds, using our own experience as a stark reminder of the effects of the deprivation of civil liberties.
 
Seventy-seven years ago the FBI began arresting our Buddhist priests, Japanese Language School teachers and community leaders. Within two months the U.S. government began the mass incarceration of all Japanese Americans from the West Coast. This human tragedy and violation of constitutional rights is not what a Trump advisor stated as a “precedent” for a present-day “Muslim registry.” It was a grave injustice and grave mistake, for which the nation apologized.
 
As a community, Japanese Americans cannot be silent while groups are targeted and demonized in the same way that we once were. Now more than ever, our community must speak out for targeted communities.
 
In a show of unity, the Japanese American and Japantown community is taking a clear and unequivocal stand against hate, while addressing the fear that has shrouded our communities. We stand in solidarity for equality, equity, and freedom. We stand for the human spirit. We stand here United for Compassion.

 

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San Francisco’s Japantown holds vigil against post-election hate (Nichi Bei Weekly / Dec. 1, 2016)

 

 

 

 

 

Japanese Americans unify against racism, xenophobia and attacks on minorities at SF Peace Plaza (comprehensive video)


Co-Emcees Satsuki Ina of the Tule Lake Committee and Jon Osaki of the Japanese Community Youth Council open “United For Compassion: A Japantown Gathering” by reading a statement by the Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium.


San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi speaks at “United For Compassion: A Japantown Community Gathering” on Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016 in San Francisco’s Japantown.


Zahra Billoo, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ San Francisco chapter, speaks at “United For Compassion: A Japantown Community Gathering” on Nov. 22, 2016 at San Francisco Japantown’s Peace Plaza.

MORE VIDEOS BELOW….

Statement by the Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium

The Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium and the San Francisco Japantown community stands in solidarity with those now being targeted nationwide by the rhetoric of hatred.

Since and before the elections, there has been a rise in incidences of hate throughout the country, which appear to be emboldened by the misogynistic, xenophobic and racist rhetoric of the Trump campaign. The Southern Poverty Law Center, to date, has documented more than 700 incidents since the elections alone, including physical assaults and racist vandalism.

As a community that knows all too well the effects of wartime hysteria, racial prejudice and the failure of political leadership, the Japanese American community responds, using our own experience as a stark reminder of the effects of the deprivation of civil liberties.

Seventy-five years ago the FBI began arresting our Buddhist priests, Japanese Language School teachers and community leaders. Within two months the U.S. government began the mass incarceration of all Japanese Americans from the West Coast. This human tragedy and violation of constitutional rights is not what a Trump advisor stated as a “precedent” for a present-day “Muslim registry.” It was a grave injustice and grave mistake, for which the nation apologized.

In a show of unity with targeted communities — including Muslims, Arab Americans, immigrants, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, LGBTQ persons, Native Americans and women — the Japanese American and Japantown community is taking a clear and unequivocal stand against hate, while addressing the fear that has shrouded our communities. We stand in solidarity for equality, equity, and freedom. We stand for the human spirit. We stand here United for Compassion.

S.F. Japantown gathering addresses post-election climate of hate

WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2016, 6 to 8 p.m.
WHERE: Peace Plaza, Post at Buchanan streets, San Francisco’s Japantown
SPEAKERS:
• Assemblymember David Chiu, Calif. state Assembly

• Jeff Adachi, San Francisco Public Defender

• Emily Murase, San Francisco Dept. on the Status of Women and SF School Board commissioner

• Dean Ito Taylor and Maria Geneva Reyes, API Legal Outreach

• Hiroshi Kashiwagi, a former Nisei incarceree at the Tule Lake concentration camp

• Zahra Biloo, Council on American-Muslim Relations

• Judy Hamaguchi, San Francisco Japanese American Citizens League

• Grace Shimizu, Comfort Women Justice Coalition

• Amelia Huster, a Berkeley High School student and board member of the Berkeley JACL

• Suzie Morita-Endow, Tadaima LGBTQQ and Allies, and Network for Religion and Justice, from Lodi

• Lakambini O’Donnell and Lee Osaki from the Japantown Youth Leaders program of the Japanese Community Youth Council

• Rev. Naofumi Nozawa of the San Francisco Japanese Seventh Day Adventist Church, representing the Japanese American Religious Federation

CO-EMCEES:
Satsuki Ina, Tule Lake Committee

Jon Osaki, Japanese Community Youth Council

FOR MORE VIDEO LINKS, VISIT THE NICHI BEI FOUNDATION FACEBOOK PAGE

“Unity For Compassion: A Japantown Community Gathering” was presented by the Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium

• API Legal Outreach • Campaign for Justice: Redress NOW for Japanese Latin Americans • Fred T. Korematsu Institute • Japanese American Citizens League — San Francisco Chapter • Japanese American Religious Federation • Japanese Community Youth Council • Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California • Japanese Peruvian Oral History Project • Nakayoshi Young Professionals • National Japanese American Historical Society • Nichi Bei Foundation • Rosa Parks Japanese Bilingual Bicultural Program • Tule Lake Committee

Sponsored by:
• San Francisco chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League
• Nichi Bei Foundation
• Japanese Community Youth Council
• Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California
• Nakayoshi Young Professionals


Lakambini O’Donnell, of the Japantown Youth Leaders/Tomodachi Summer Program at Japanese Community Youth Council, speaks at “United For Compassion: A Japantown Community Gathering” on Nov. 22, 2016 at the Japantown Peace Plaza in San Francisco’s Japantown.


Lee Osaki, of the Japantown Youth Leaders/Tomodachi Summer Program at the Japanese Community Youth Council, speaks at “United For Compassion: A Japantown Community Gathering” on Nov. 22, 2016 at the San Francisco Japantown Peace Plaza.


Yukiya Jerry Waki performs his spoken word piece “This is Survival” at “United For Compassion: A Japantown Community Gathering” on Nov. 22, 2016 at the San Francisco Japantown Peace Plaza.


With the crowd chanting “J-Town, For Unity!” led by Yukiya Jerry Waki, Francis Wong and Melody Takata perform a stirring rendition of “We Shall Overcome” to end “United For Compassion: A Japantown Community Gathering” against hate on Nov. 22, 2016 in San Francisco Japantown’s Peace Plaza. Video by Lenore Chinn

 

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