United for Compassion 2: A Japantown Community Gathering

We invite all communities to join the Japanese American community in a vigil and rally to stand in solidarity with those now being targeted nationwide by the rhetoric of hatred and racial and religious scapegoating. Program includes: Assembly member Phil Ting (invited); Donald Tamaki, Korematsu attorney; Karen Korematsu, Zahra Billoo, executive director, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Satsuki Ina, former Tule Lake incarceree, Amy Sueyoshi, S.F. State University interim dean of Ethnic Studies, Rev. Jeanelle Ablola, Pine United Methodist Church, Buffet Crew - Francis Wong (sax) & Yukiya Jerry Waki (spoken word).

As a community, Japanese Americans cannot be silent while groups are targeted and demonized in the same way that we once were. Now more than ever, our community must speak out for targeted communities.

Since before the 2016 elections, there had been a rise in incidences of hate throughout the country, which appear to be emboldened by the misogynistic, xenophobic and racist rhetoric of the Trump campaign. Now an anti-Muslim travel ban has been upheld by the Supreme Court using the same flawed logic which legalized the incarceration of Japanese Americans in 1944. Our worst fears have also been realized with the recent Executive Order that authorized the indefinite imprisonment of migrant families in detention. One potential site for unaccompanied minors is adjacent to the former Rohwer concentration camp in southeast Arkansas, where the United States government incarcerated 8,000 Japanese Americans between 1942 and 1945. As of today, the U.S. can't find the parents of 71 children it may have separated.

In a show of unity, the Japanese American and Japantown community is taking a clear and unequivocal stand against hate, while addressing the fear that has shrouded our communities. We stand in solidarity for equality, equity, and freedom. We stand for the human spirit. We stand here United for Compassion. Please stand with us.

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