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Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC)
                           Equality, Justice, Unity

 

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  January 2024 Issue 1
  In this issue 
 
  44th Annual San Jose Day of Remembrance 
  Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution 
   
 
 
  DoR 2024 Flyer 
 
 
On Sunday, February 18, 2024, the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC) will present  the 44th annual San Jose Day of Remembrance program in the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin Annex, 632 North 5th Street, San Jose, from 5:30 pm–7:00 pm. This event commemorates Executive Order 9066, which led to the World War II imprisonment of more than 120,000 people of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were American citizens.

The theme of the program is "Youth Activism: Building Community." Over the last several years, we have seen students and young people push for change on many issues including gun violence legislation, climate change policy, and racial injustice.  Several months ago, students at San Jose State University mobilized to have SJSU formally acknowledge its role in violating the civil rights of  local Japanese Americans.
Nina Chuang As part of this historical reckoning, a permanent mural depicting that civil rights tragedy will be constructed at Uchida Hall, which was the location where Japanese Americans were processed before they were forcibly removed from their communities.

Nina Chuang
, one of the student leaders of this movement, will be a speaker at the 2024 San Jose Day of Remembrance event.

 Read more about Nina Chuang..
Nina Chuang
Professor Kwann   SJSU Associate Professor Yvonne Kwan, a tireless advocate for grassroots activism and community building, will also be a speaker at the 2024 Day of Remembrance. During a politically fraught time when conservatives attack educational institutions for speaking about diversity and inequality, Professor Kwan focuses on empowering underrepresented groups like Asian Americans to tell their own history. She is currently documenting the oral histories of local Asian American activists and sharing that valuable information with students and the next generation of activists and community leaders. Read more about Professor Kwan..
Yvonne Kwan. Photo by  Robert C. Bain    
The program's theme, Youth Activism: Building Community, was conceived of well before the events of October 7 and the invasion of Gaza.  The theme takes on additional meaning as the war in Gaza has ignited strong emotions and protests on college campuses.  Previous political allies have splintered and rational dialog is elusive.  Samir Laymoun, an organizer of Santa Clara County's annual Palestinian Culture Day will express his thoughts about the current situation.
 
Also featured are performances by San Jose Taiko and the traditional candlelight procession through Japantown. The candle lighting ceremony and procession through Japantown will honor those who were incarcerated in the concentration camps.

Seating is limited. This event is free of charge but donations are welcome.
 
SJ Taiko 
     
Candlelight Procession   Reflection

The traditional candlelight procession through historic Japantown allows participants to remember how the incarceration of Japanese Americans devastated the community and to reflect on what that event means to us today
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2024 Day of Remembrance Film Trailer
     
Sus Ikedai Film Trailer    Sus Ikeda Remembrance

In this short clip, Sus Ikeda talks about how his family did not return to Salinas after being released from the camps because they believed that their hometown was a hotspot for post-war racial tension. The Ikeda family, like many others, made their way to San Jose Japantown where they felt that the racial climate was more accepting. Sus tells the story about how the San Jose Buddhist Church helped many families restart their lives. Sus will make an appearance at the San Jose Day of Remembrance event on February 18.
   

Korematsu Day
Korematsu Day Speakers 
Registration: TINYURL.COM/korematsu2024

 
End the bloodshed in Gaza 
Ceasefire Now 
 
 
San Jose Nihonmachi Outreach Committee (NOC)
P.O. Box 10643
San Jose, CA  95157

E-Mail: info@sjnoc.org
Website:
www.sjnoc.org

"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends."
                                                                           - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.