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Day of Remembrance, Day of Action
February 23, 2020 @ 12:30 pm - 2:30 pm
Join Tsuru for Solidarity, La Resistencia, Densho, and Seattle JACL for Day of Remembrance, Day of Action at Northwest Detention Center on February 23, 2020 from 12:30-2:30.
The Day of Remembrance, Day of Action at NWDC commemorates the 78th anniversary of the Executive Order that incarcerated 126,000 citizens and immigrants of Japanese descent during WWII. Today, thousands of immigrants and refugees are confined in similar concentration camps. They are subjected to inhumane conditions, family separations, threats of deportation, and countless indignities.
The Northwest Detention Center (NWDC) in Tacoma, WA is one of the largest immigration prisons in the country, with a capacity to hold up to 1575 immigrants per day. Up to 200 people, many of whom are seeking asylum, are transferred from the US-Mexico border to the NWDC each month. Other people held at the NWDC have lived in the US for years, in some cases for the majority of their lives. While some are deported after only weeks, some are held for months and even years awaiting the outcomes of their deportation cases. Few legal protections apply to these civil detainees, and those held are not entitled to an attorney at government expense; approximately 90% of them move forward in their cases unrepresented.
As survivors and descendants of Japanese American WWII incarceration, we stand united with all those who have suffered the atrocities of U.S. concentration camps, past and present, to say, “Stop Repeating History!”
This message will be amplified by the beats of taiko drums and carried on the wings of thousands of tsuru, origami cranes symbolizing peace, compassion, hope, and healing.
Press and general inquiries can be directed to tsuruseattle@gmail.com.
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About the organizers:
Tsuru for Solidarity is a nonviolent, direct action project of Japanese American social justice advocates and their allies working to end detention sites and support front-line immigrant and refugee communities that are being targeted by racist, inhumane immigration policies. They are organizing a National Pilgrimage to Close the Camps for June 5-7 in Washington DC, as well as other regional actions across the US. Learn more at www.tsuruforsolidarity.org.
La Resistencia is a grassroots organization based in Washington State working to end the detention of immigrants and stop deportations. Originally founded in 2014 to support a hunger strike launched by people detained in Tacoma, Washington to protest their confinement, La Resistencia began under the umbrella of the national #Not1More campaign as “NWDC Resistance.” Today, La Resistencia members support and engage with people detained at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington who organize for their own survival and in protest against the detention and deportation regime. We are a multi-racial, multi-status, multi-gender group that organizes across the prison barrier. Our goal is to shut down the NWDC, and to end all detention and deportation in Washington State. Learn more at www.laresistencianw.org/.
Densho is a Seattle-based archive and public history organization that documents the stories of Japanese Americans who were unjustly incarcerated during World War II. They are dedicated to preserving and sharing WWII Japanese American incarceration history to promote equity and justice today. Learn more at www.densho.org.
The Japanese American Citizens League is a national organization with over 90 local chapters, whose mission is to secure and safeguard the civil and human rights of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans and all communities who are affected by injustice and bigotry. The leaders and members of the JACL also work to promote and preserve the heritage and legacy of the Japanese American Community. Learn more at: seattlejacl.org