What is Day of Remembrance?
The annual Day of Remembrance (DOR) commemorates the more than 120,000 U.S. citizens and immigrant residents of Japanese ancestry who were forcibly removed from their homes and held behind barbed wire in concentration camps and detention facilities in many parts of the United States during World War II. It is observed on or near February 19th, the date in 1942 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, authorizing unjust mass exclusion and incarceration, and setting in motion the tragic events that have not been fully redressed after eight decades.
Day of Remembrance has become a community institution in Japanese American communities nationwide, with its roots in collective remembrance, education and activism. DOR events also bring together diverse communities in order to build mutual understanding, respect, trust, and solidarity. Each year at this time, we reaffirm our commitment to uphold the fundamental constitutional and human rights of all people, especially the right to government redress and reparations of vulnerable or marginalized individuals or communities for violations whether perpetrated long ago, in the present, or in the future.
JLAs & Day of Remembrance
JLAs began raising the JLA experience at DOR events in the early 1990s. We helped to “break the silence” and counter the stigma and ignorance surrounding the internment in Department of Justice and US Army concentration camps and detention facilities. And over the decades, we continue to expand and make more inclusive the wartime and redress narrative.
JLAs are exposing the historical truth of the US government’s domestic and foreign policies and actions which led to massive constitutional and human rights violations across two continents. We are educating ourselves and the public about the WWII treatment of the so-called “enemy” – over 31,000 immigrant residents and citizens of Japanese, German, Italian, and Jewish ancestry of the US as well as those seized from Latin America. We are demanding accountability from our elected officials by securing reparations and a stop to the repetition of the abuses from our nation’s history.
The traditional commemoration of DOR calls on the Japanese American (JA) community and the nation to remember, reflect, educate, and take action for social justice, particularly our right to government redress and reparations. JLAs continue to respond to that call because
–JLAs are part of the JA community, which began in the camps and has continued through resettlement to today;
–JLAs and JAs have integrally related WWII and redress history, including exclusion, forced removal, extraordinary rendition, indefinite detention, hostage exchange, post-war deportation, and denial of redress and reparations arising from racism, nativism, wartime hysteria and failure of political leadership;
–JLAs testified with JAs at the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians hearings and celebrated the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (CLA) with JAs.
–JLAs were excluded from the CLA due to the US government lie that JLAs entered the country illegally. Redress was restricted to only surviving US citizen or legal permanent resident of Japanese ancestry at the time of internment. The JLAs, as so-called “illegal aliens,” and thousands of other “enemy aliens” and US citizens of Japanese, German and Italian ancestry were deemed not worthy of redress.
–JLAs have not yet found justice in the US, even with the favorable ruling by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) that the US government owes reparations to the JLAs.
The JLA struggle for justice continues. Phase 2 of the redress movement is underway.
To learn more, please go to the Next Steps page.
Get Involved
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- Spread the word about the ongoing JLA reparations struggle.
- Support teaching the Shibayama case in law schools.
- Bring the Enemy Alien Files: Hidden Stories of WWII exhibit to your community.
- Volunteer with CFJ or JPOHP.
- Preserve JLA oral histories
- Help update the documentary Hidden Internment: The Art Shibayama Story
- Share your translation (Spanish, Japanese), website, social media, technical, and writing skills
- Contact us to attend our Volunteer Orientation Session
- Make a financial donation.
- Stay in touch by following the CFJ website, Facebook page, and Instagram.
You can make a difference. Thank you!
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CFJ at DOR 2024 Events
Berkeley Nikkei Student Union Day of Remembrance
Fri., Feb. 16, 6:00-9:00pm PST
Stephens Lounge (3rd floor), Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Union
2495 Bancroft Way, UC Berkeley
Don Tamaki, Esq. (keynote speaker)
Grace Shimizu (candle lighter)
CFJ-JPOHP info table at reception
“Carrying the Light for Justice: Finding Our Way Home”
Sat., Feb. 17
2:00-4:00pm, AMC Kabuki 8 Theatres
1881 Post St., San Francisco Japantown
4:00-6:00pm, Procession and Reception, JCCCNC – Issei Memorial Hall
1840 Sutter St., San Francisco Japantown
Rev. Michael Yoshii (keynote speaker), Ryan Yamamoto (emcee, KPIX CBS News anchor), Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi (Clifford I Uyeda Peace and Humanitarian Awardee), Grace Shimizu (JLA Redress Update), Francis Wong & Friends (performers), Japanese American Religious Federation (Interfaith Purification)
CFJ-JPOHP info table at reception
For tickets: http://www.njahs.org/dor24/
“Youth Activism: Building Community”
Sun., Feb. 18, 5:30-7:00pm PST
San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin Annex
632 N. Fifth St., San Jose Japantown
Speakers Nina Chuang, Dr. Yvonne Kwan, Samir Laymoun, and Susumu Ikeda (WRA camp survivor) and performance by San Jose Taiko
CFJ-JPOHP info table at event
For more info: https://www.sjnoc.org/
An Interfaith Vigil of Compassion & Solidarity
Wed., Feb. 21, 12:00-1:15pm PST
Wilma Chan Park, 810 Jackson St., Oakland, CA
Speakers and special performances by Berkeley Buddhist Temple Taiko and Francisco Herrera
For more info: gking@im4humanintegrity.org
CAMPAIGN FOR JUSTICE 