Press Conference: Japanese American Survivors Stand in Solidarity for Detention CampsNEW

The Japanese American community stands in solidarity with those detained and separated from their families today as it commemorates the anniversary of Executive Order 9066. This order set in motion the unjust and inhumane incarceration of all Japanese Americans on West Coast during World War II. As a community we care and speak in empathy for people imprisoned today and fight for their peace and freedom.  Incarcerated over 75 years ago camp survivors speak out to the press with moral authority for human and civil rights.  They will share their stories of family resilience and resistance. 

• Hiroshi Shimizu was born in Topaz American Concentration camp and spent the next 4 and half years in five different camps.  During his incarceration in Tule Lake Segregation Center his father was locked up for speaking up. 
• Sadako Kashiwagi was also incarcerated Tule Lake and separated from her father when he was arrested in Tule Lake. When he was taken, the family barrack was searched and ransacked by the administration. 
• Chizu Omori, incarcerated in the Poston Arizona American concentration camp has been a life-long civil rights activist. Her suit for reparations and redress was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court but with no decision since soon after the hearing Congress passed the Civil Liberties bill authorizing an apology and reparations for all surviving incarcerees. Recently she spoke at a rally at Ft. Sill designated to be a youth detention center.  A week later plans for the center were dropped.
• Kazumu Julio Cesar Naganuma was born in Callao, Peru. At 20 months of age, he and his family were kidnapped by the FBI and imprisoned at Crystal City from March 1944 to September 1947. After the family was released, Rev. Fukuda and Wayne Mortimer Collins stopped their deportation back to Peru and helped them settle in San Francisco

The Japanese American community is fortunate to have the strong voices of those who experienced and witnessed the harsh and unjust treatment of mass incarceration and family separation.