75 YEARS SINCE EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066
(Image from the Suyama Project archives)
LOS ANGELES — This February 19th marks 75 years since the signing of Executive Order 9066 (EO9066) by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Throughout the years, the UCLA Asian American Studies Center has helped to highlight and amplify the voices and experiences of Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II due to EO9066, including their fight for reparations and the continued calls for justice and resistance when communities are under attack.
We encourage all to check out our many publications, special collections, and projects, as well as upcoming events, connected to this critical history.
We also have an important event on Thursday, February 23rd to mark this year’s Day of Remembrance –“Executive Orders: Disrupting Lives Then (9066) and Now (13769).” Organized by the AASC Activist-in-Residence Lisa Hasegawa, the event will feature Sasha W. (National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance), Taz Ahmed (18 Million Rising, #GoodMuslimBadMuslim Podcast), and Tani Ikeda (imMEDIAte Justice, filmmaker), as well as Nikkei Democracy Project Videos and information and previews from other documentaries in the making. The program will draw connections between EO9066 and the recent EO13769, which targeted Muslims in the name of national security. Come hear from activists and filmmakers about what is happening today to resist and what can be learned from the events of 75 years ago. “Executive Orders” will take place at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Room 2355, from 4pm to 6pm.
Addtionally, we are co-sponsoring the Gardena Valley Japanese Cultural Institute‘s Day of Remembrance, which will screen Konrad Aderer’s Resistance at Tule Lake and feature a discussion with former Tule Lake incarcerees and family members. The event will be on Saturday, February 25thfrom 2pm to 4pm.
We hope you will check out our resources and publications and that you will join us at these events as we celebrate and continue our legacies of resistance!
-UCLA Asian American Studies Center
The Center has released many publications related to this history, including:
The Center’s interdisciplinary Amerasia Journal has published articles and special issues on Japanese American incarceration and resistance, as well as on cross- ethnic and historical connections.
Issue 42:2 “Carceral States” | (PR) – explores parallels with Japanese American incarceration and the dispossession of Native American lands.
Issue 30:2 “Tribute to Miné Okubo” | (PR) – on the work of artist Miné Okubo, featuring her drawings of the camps along with rare images and archival photographs
The Jack and Aiko Herzig Papers is an archival collection donated by researchers and community advocates Jack and Aiko Herzig. It was processed by the Center and is now available through UCLA Special Collections. The Herzig Papers serve to enhance public knowledge about the unjust, forced exclusion, evacuation and incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II.
Speaking Out for Personal Justice(SOPJ), co-edited by Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga and Marjorie Lee, is a milestone resource and reference guide to the 789 oral testimonies presented before the U.S. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. These testimonies helped lead to the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 granting wartime survivors a public apology, reparations, and a public education fund.
SOPJ, in conjunction with the Herzig Papers, are significant markers to understanding a profound social movement for justice by Japanese Americans against their wartime incarceration and offer keen insights for all Americans regarding constitutionality and accountability.
The Suyama Project aims to preserve the history of Japanese American resistance during World War II, including, but not limited to the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team draftees, Army and draft resisters, No-Nos, renunciants, and other Nikkei dissidents of World War II. The Center has hosted several community events that featured No-Nos, draft resisters, and researchers, along with archival material found on the project site. Visit www.suyamaproject.org and discover images, as well as resources that shatter the myth of the “quiet American.”
The Suyama Project is funded by the Eji Suyama, 100th Battalion/442nd RCT Draftees, No-Nos, Draft Resisters and Renunciants Archival Collection Endowment.
* The online version of Amerasia Journal 19:1 will be available for free via http://www.uclajournals.org. This limited offer expires March 31st, 2017 and represents a $20/article value.
