Bay Area Day of Remembrance Set for Feb. 21

SAN FRANCISCO — The 2016 Bay Area Day of Remembrance will take place Sunday, Feb. 21, from 2 to 4 pm. at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas, 1881 Post St. (at Fillmore) in San Francisco Japantown.

This year’s theme is “Days of Fear, Years of Infamy.” Speakers will include:

• Rev. Ronald Kobata of Buddhist Church of San Francisco and Japanese American Religious Federation

• Zahra Billoo of Council on American-Islamic Relations-San Francisco Bay Area

• Rev. Michael Yoshii of Buena Vista United Methodist Church (Alameda)

• Dale Minami, lead attorney in Fred Korematsu’s coram nobis case

Filmmaker Dianne Fukami will serve as emcee.

The program will include a dance performance by Corrine Nagata of Nagata Dance Studio.

The Clifford I. Uyeda Peace and Humanitarian Award will be presented to Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, whose research contributed to the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, the coram nobis cases, and the National Council for Japanese American Redress’ class-action lawsuit.

Hosted by the Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium. Free admission; suggested donation is $8. For more information, contact the National Japanese American Historical Society at (415) 921-5007 or njahs@njahs.org.

In December, Japanese Americans from the Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium expressed their support and solidarity with the Muslim, Sikh, Arab, and South Asian American communities during a press conference held at NJAHS in response to anti-Muslim hate and rhetoric that has increased following recent terrorist attacks in Paris, San Bernardino and elsewhere.

Speakers included Hiroshi Shimizu, former Topaz and Tule Lake incarceree and chair of the Bay Area Day of Remembrance Consortium; Samina Sundas, founder and executive director of American Muslim Voice; Hiroshi Kashiwagi, writer and former Tule Lake incarceree; Karen Korematsu, daughter of Fred Korematsu and co-founder of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education.