by Julia Park and Mark Van Streefkerk
On the first Day of Remembrance event held in 1978, Seattle author Frank Abe remembers being blown away by the turnout.
"There were hundreds of people just waiting to sign up," Abe said. "And I mean a thousand people and hundreds of cars jamming the parking lot." They were there to recreate the trip Japanese Americans took in WWII after the U.S. government forced adults and families into desolate incarceration camps.
A caravan of cars stretched down Interstate 5 as participants made their way from Seattle to the Camp Harmony site in Puyallup for a family potluck, talent show, speeches, and exhibitions of camp artifacts.
That day was an act of reclaiming Japanese American history. Every year since then, local groups have gathered to host events and demonstrations to remember this time of forced imprisonment, and to stand in solidarity with imprisoned people everywhere.
Feb. 19 is the Day of Remembrance of Executive Order 9066, an order signed in 1942 during WWII by then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that deemed Japanese Americans a threat to national security on the basis of their ethnicity alone and without evidence of any crime. Over 120,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes on the West Coast and imprisoned in camps for years, many of whom lost their property, businesses, and possessions while incarcerated.
Japanese Americans from Seattle and the Puyallup Valley were transported to prison camps in Puyallup, then transferred to Minidoka in Idaho. Seattle had the third-largest population of Japanese Americans on the West Coast at the time.
In total, 12,892 individuals of Japanese descent living in Washington State were sent to incarceration camps.
In 1978, Abe, whose father was incarcerated as a youth in Wyoming's Heart Mountain camp, and Chinese American playwright Frank Chin helped Seattle Evacuation Redress Committee members Henry Miyatake and Shosuke Sasaki launch a campaign for public recognition and government reparations for the injustice of the incarceration.
It was the threat of losing Japanese American art that compelled Abe, an aspiring actor at the time, to join the movement for redress. Abe said Chin knew how to persuade him.
"He said, 'You know, the Japanese Americans are making their move,'" Abe said. "'It's bold, but they need to get public opinion on their side. People are against it. But if you want to be an actor, if you want to be a writer … if you lose redress, you lose your history. If you lose your history, you can kiss Japanese American art goodbye.' And I immediately understood what he meant."
The weeks leading up to that first Day of Remembrance on Nov. 25, 1978, were busy with a media campaign, as redress advocates saturated local news outlets with feature stories that represented Japanese Americans authentically for the first time, Abe said.
In the same way since then, Abe has spent the last 45 years telling and curating stories about the incarceration, from serving as the lead author of a graphic novel to producing a documentary to co-editing a biography of Japanese American author John Okada and an anthology of literature of the Japanese American incarceration.
"With that moral authority [to speak about the incarceration] comes the moral responsibility to stand with others who are being targeted now, just as we were targeted," Abe said.
Read on for a list of events that you can plug into this year. Check out some previous Emerald coverage on the Murakami family, the 80th anniversary of EO 9066 in 2022, and talkies of Nikkei resistance to wartime incarceration.
Tsuru for Solidarity, a project led by Japanese American social justice advocates and allies to shut down all U.S. detention sites and support refugees and immigrants impacted by inhumane immigration policies, is hosting a week of events from Feb. 16 to Feb. 20 to call for the shutdown of the Northwest Detention Center (NWDC). NWDC is the state's only ICE detention center and detainees and their allies have raised concerns for years about the living conditions for detainees in the privately managed center.
On Feb. 16 at 9 a.m., Tsuru for Solidarity and La Resistencia will hold a press conference outside of the Seattle Federal Building that will also be livestreamed as a virtual rally for those who can't attend in person. Organizers impacted by ICE detention and survivors of Japanese American incarceration will share public statements as participants demand the closure of the NWDC.
Feb. 18, 1—3:30 p.m., is this year's annual Day of Remembrance event titled "Remember and Resist," sponsored by Tsuru for Solidarity, La Resistencia, Puyallup and Seattle chapters of the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee, and Densho. The two-part ceremony will begin at 1 p.m. at the State Fairgrounds in Puyallup, where Japanese Americans were once detained at Camp Harmony, and will move to the NWDC in Tacoma at 2:30 p.m. The program will include stories of the incarceration, religious ceremonies, taiko drumming performances, and speeches from local community members.
On Feb. 20 at 10 a.m., Tsuru for Solidarity and La Resistencia will host another press conference at the King County International Airport, also known as Boeing Field in Seattle. Speakers from both organizations will be featured, followed by the delivery of a letter to Signature Aviation demanding that the company stop working with ICE on deportation flights.
On Feb. 17 at 11:30 a.m, the Wing Luke Museum will lead a guided walking tour of Seattle's Nihonmachi neighborhood. Visitors will learn about the past and present of Seattle's historic Japantown and the impact that forced removal of Japanese Americans had on the area. The tour is approximately 1 mile long, and ticket prices, which include general admission to the museum, are listed on the Wing Luke website. Tours will continue on select Saturdays through the month of April.
On Feb. 19, 10 a.m.—12 p.m., join volunteers in a work party for all ages to upkeep the grounds of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial. Tools will be provided for weeding, trimming, cleaning, and other tasks to prepare the Memorial site for the annual Commemoration Event on March 30. The event will be hosted by the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association, the Bainbridge Island Parks and Trails Foundation, and Bainbridge Island Metro Parks.
On Feb. 21 at 7 p.m., panelists involved in the taiko community will discuss the significance of taiko and the present evolution of its art form and values in an event co-sponsored by the University of Washington School of Music, Asian Languages and Literature, and American Ethnic Studies. The event will take place at the University of Washington Ethnic Cultural Theater. Panelists include ethnomusicologist Deborah Wong, UW Ethnomusicology Visiting Artist Shoji Kameda, and activist and taiko artist Stan Shikuma.
On Feb. 25 at 2 p.m. and at 5 p.m., members of the Omoide writing group will perform readings of their stories at the Seattle Rep. The theme of this year's show is "Heritage Values" and will explore cultural values shared by Japanese Americans in the Seattle area across three generations and the challenges they have faced.
The first showing will be from 2 to 4 p.m., and the second from 5 to 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 for general admission and $10 for students and educators, and sales will help raise money for the next Omoide publication.
This article is published under a Seattle Human Services Department grant, "Resilience Amidst Hate," in response to anti-Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander violence.
Julia Park is a senior studying journalism and English at the University of Washington and a freelance journalist. She enjoys covering education, local neighborhoods, and things that make her pause and wonder. Follow her on X @thejuliastory.
Mark Van Streefkerk is a South Seattle-based journalist, freelance writer, and the Emerald's Arts, Culture, & Community editor. He often writes about restaurants, LGBTQ+ topics, and more. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter at @VanStreefkerk.
📸 Featured Image: Frank Abe at the Wing Luke Museum's installation of the historic Yick Fung grocery store. (Photo: Kayla Isomura, courtesy of Frank Abe)
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