Join historians Gary Okihiro (Yale University) and Alice Yang (University of California Santa Cruz), activist Satsuki Ina (Tsuru For Solidarity) and Zahra Billoo (CAIR), Shannon Cooper (Safe Black Space) and Rev. Ronald Kobata (Buddhist Church of San Francisco) as we explore the intersection of detention, denialism and resistance and how the rise of antisemitism, Islamophobia and demonization of Central American refugees is only the latest example of the xenophobia, greed and political venality that led to the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans.
At the same time, denialist efforts to whitewash the history of U.S. civilian detention persists. One example is the academic history recently published by Cambridge University Press that “reconsiders” the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans. It suggests, among other things, that camp conditions have been falsely described as harsh and “gloomy” and that national security, not racism, was the main reason for the “relocation.”
Join us as we discuss the continuing relevance of the WWII camps, the racialized history of U.S. detention and how grassroots efforts can help stop the repetition of history.
Recent protests in Oklahoma resulted in the cancellation of plans to jail migrant children there. This grassroots victory was ignited by Tsuru for Solidarity, a Japanese American activist project. Join a discussion in small groups led by the speakers about the way forward.
This event is sponsored by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation and the Japanese American Citizens League, Berkeley.
Illustration by Lauren Sumida.
