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Executive Order 9066: Day of Remembrance

Over 700 people gathered Sunday to commemorate the Day of Remembrance, marking the 59th anniversary of Executive Order 9066. Photo by Neela Banerjee.

By Neela Banerjee

Celebrating the personal spirit and the interfaith community, this year’s Bay Area Day of Remembrance, held on Sunday, Feb. 18 at the AMC Kabuki 8 Theaters in San Francisco, continues the annual community ritual of remembering Executive Order 9066, which authorized the incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans in U.S. concentration camps during World War II.

Bay Area religious leaders officiate an interfaith ceremony held at the Japanese Cultural and Community Center. Photo by Neela Banerjee.

“This event is about paying respect to those that were interned, but also about recognizing that the same conditions that fueled the internment of my family 60 years ago exist today,” lead organizer Dina Shek said.

Shek is a part of the Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium, a committee of individuals and non-profit organizations who organize the event. The consortium was originally spearheaded by the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations, which began sponsoring the annual commemoration in 1979, in the early days of the redress movement.

“It’s really exciting because many of the people involved in organizing this year are from the younger generation,” Shek said. “We were mentored by organizers like Francis Wong, of Asian Improv Arts, who has been involved for many years.”

Gen Taiko provided music for the ceremony.

Shek, a fourth-generation Japanese American, is currently finishing a master’s degree from San Francisco State focusing on Japanese internment and redress issues.

This year’s interfaith theme was chosen to highlight the community and coalition work being done through spiritual organizations, especially to highlight the Japanese American community outside of the J-town businesses.

This year’s sold-out event featured a key note address by San Francisco poet laureate Janice Mirikitani, and performances by spoken word poet Dana Kawaoka, pan-Asian percussion ensemble Asian Crisis, and a collaboration dance/poetry piece between grandmother May Iwahashi and granddaughter Corrine Nagata.

Each of the artists performing created works specifically for the commemoration, according to Shek.

Speakers throughout the event emphasized the need to keep up the activism and continue the struggles for justice.

“What happened to Japanese Americans in the internment camps serves as a beacon to guide our fight for civil rights,” emcee Peggy Saika said. “We need to be vigilant because of the changes in federal government. It’s not just 60 years ago, it’s now.”

Legendary civil rights activist Yuri Kochiyama, famous for her friendship with Malcolm X and her continuing work to free political prisoners in the United States, introduced keynote speaker Mirikitani.

“Janice Mirikitani is truly an Asian American phenomenon,” Kochiyama said, speaking of Mirikitani’s work with the Glide Foundation. “She builds bridges, crosses bridges and patches up broken bridges.”

Mirikitani, who was also the keynote speaker for the Day of Remembrance commemoration in New York City, explained how poetry helped define her identity and voice her struggles, and continues to do so today.

“One end of the barbed wire that choked an entire group of U.S. citizens reaches out to wind itself around Wen Ho Lee,” Mirikitani said. “The Day of Remembrance needs to take place each year, so these things do not happen again.”

The commemoration ended with a candle-lighting ceremony that both signified each of the internment and Department of Justice camps, and honored 11 community activists from around the Bay Area.

“We chose the honorees through a lot of brainstorming and really looking at what is going on in our communities,” Shek said. “We tried to make connections between this year’s faith theme and our ongoing theme of connecting communities.”

Honorees included Alberta Lee, Rev. Cecil Williams of Glide Memorial Church and Rev. Carol Himaka of the Enmanji Buddhist Temple, among others.

After the candle-lighting, the honorees led a procession to the Japanese Cultural and Community Center for an interfaith ceremony to honor the community and raise concerns.

A major concern continues to be the fight for redress, especially for over 2,200 Japanese Latin Americans who were imprisoned in United States after two prisoner of war exchanges between the United States and Japan. Under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which gave $20,000 in reparations to internees, only U.S. citizens or permanent residents were eligible for the money. Campaign for Justice, a collaborative organization founded by members from various civil rights organizations, continues to fight for these rights for Japanese Latin Americans through litigation and in legislation.

“Issues like this really signify how important it is to keep working and fighting for what is right,” Shek said.