RNA - About 200 people participated in “United for Compassion: A J-Town Community Gathering Against Hate,” which was held Nov. 22 at San Francisco Japantown’s Peace Plaza.
Presented by the Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium and sponsored by the San Francisco JACL, Nichi Bei Foundation, Japanese Community Youth Council (JCYC), Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California (JCCCNC) and Nakayoshi Young Professionals, the gathering showed solidarity with communities being targeted nationwide by incidents of hate in the wake of the presidential election.
Co-emcees Satsuki Ina of the Tule Lake Committee and Jon Osaki of JCYC read a statement from the consortium, which consists of more than a dozen community organizations: “Since and before the elections, there has been a rise in incidents of hate throughout the country, which appear to be emboldened by the misogynistic, xenophobic and racist rhetoric of the Trump campaign. The Southern Poverty Law Center, to date, has documented more than 700 incidents since the elections alone, including physical assaults and racist vandalism.
“As a community that knows all too well the effects of wartime hysteria, racial prejudice and the failure of political leadership, the Japanese American community responds, using our own experience as a stark reminder of the effects of the deprivation of civil liberties.
Seventy-five years ago the FBI began arresting our Buddhist priests, Japanese language school teachers and community leaders. Within two months the U.S. government began the mass incarceration of all Japanese Americans from the West Coast. This human tragedy and violation of constitutional rights is not what a Trump advisor stated as a ‘precedent’ for a present-day ‘Muslim registry.’ It was a grave injustice and grave mistake, for which the nation apologized.
“In a show of unity with targeted communities — including Muslims, Arab Americans, immigrants, Latinos, African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans and women — 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.”
Hiroshi Kashiwagi, 94, a noted San Francisco poet, recounted his experiences at the Tule Lake Segregation Center. He called the government’s actions during World War II “a flagrant violation of our civil rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution.”
He continued, “We are determined that this shameful act will not be repeated on any person or any group of people again.”
San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi said, “It’s hard to believe that it’s been 75 years since 120,000 Japanese Americans, including my parents and grandparents, were removed from their homes and put in concentration camps for four years. When the United States finally apologized for that crime, they said it would never happen again. And yet we’re here defending against the same totalitarianism that was allowed to grip this country …
“But there’s one big difference this time. We have a resistance, and the resistance begins with each of you … Right now I’m working on a plan with community nonprofits and community law offices around the city to put together a legal army to provide representation to immigrants who will be facing exclusion, deportation from the United States
“In 60 days when the Trump Administration takes a hold of this country, he could on that day repeal DAPA [Deferred Action of Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents], DACA [Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals] and other executive orders that President Obama made possible, and the impact is going to be huge.
“We have over 44,000 people in San Francisco alone who are undocumented. Forty-six percent of our population here are immigrants. When they’re talking about going after this group or that group, don’t kid yourself. No one will be safe. No one will have the protection of the law. And innocent people will face persecution …
“People think, ‘It’s not going to happen to me. It may happen to my neighbor, it may happen to my friend, it may happen to somebody who I’ve worked with or I’ve employed, but it’s not going to happen to me.’ That’s where all of you have to make a difference, because we must stand together as a community, we must work together and think of creative solutions that are going to protect those who are most vulnerable.”
Zara Biloo, executive director of the San Francisco chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said that if the new administration threatens people’s rights, “We will protest. It will not be business as usual. We will litigate … We will stand together more so now than ever before.
“As someone who considers herself a child of the 9/11 terror attacks, an activist who came of age 16 years ago … know that I am so grateful for all of you.”
A similar vigil was held in Peace Plaza shortly after 9/11 in response to a wave of hate crimes against Muslim and Arab Americans as well as those perceived to be of Middle Eastern origin, such as South Asians.
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