Event: Japanese American Experience & Incarceration during World War II: Could it Happen Again? (February 23, 2017, JAA Community Center, NY)

Japanese American Experience & Incarceration during World War II: Could it Happen Again?
Date: February 23, 2017 6:00pm
Location:  JAA Community Center, 49 West 45th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10036

Thursday, February 23, 2017, 6:00pm

Japanese American Experience & Incarceration during World War II: 
Could It Happen Again? 

Co-sponsored by:
– JACL-NY (Japanese American Citizens League – New York Chapter)
– JAA (Japanese American Association of New York)
– JAJA (Japanese Americans, Japanese in America)
– NY Day of Remembrance Committee  
Mihara_Sugimoto_bio_pic.jpg

Speakers: Sam Mihara and Madeleine Sugimoto
Thursday, February 23, 2017
6:00-8:00pm                                           Admission: free
JAA Community Center
49 West 45th Street, 11th Floor
New York, NY 10036

Recent actions taken by the White House make this a timely and important discussion.
In conjunction with the 75th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which authorized the US
Government to mass-incarcerate Japanese Americans, this event will give attendees the
opportunity to learn how discrimination and intolerance directly affected the lives of Japanese
Americans, and why this experience and the mistakes of the past must never be repeated.
Sam Mihara is a distinguished speaker on Japanese American culture and history. He is an
expert on the subject of mass-imprisonment and is a lecturer on the topic at UCLA, U.C.
Berkley and Harvard. His presentation includes a highly researched collection of photographs
from both government and private collections, including several images that have been
impounded from public viewing. In addition to sharing his own experiences, Sam’s presentation
includes an overview of why and how 120,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned, as well
as a discussion about today’s prison camps for Central American Refugees, and insight on
the parallels between the incarceration of Japanese Americans and the registration and
persecution of Muslims.
Mr. Mihara is second-generation Japanese American whose family was forced to move to an
“American-style” concentration camp at Heart Mountain in northern Wyoming after the United
States entered World War II. When they were released, the Miharas returned to San Francisco,
where Sam had a very successful career as an aerospace engineer with Boeing.
Madeleine Sugimoto is the daughter of renowned Japanese American artist Henry Sugimoto. 
Madeleine and her family were incarcerated at the Jerome and Rohwer Camps in Arkansas.
After the war ended, Madeleine moved to New York City with her family, where she worked
for many years as a nurse educator at Cornell Medical Center. In addition to sharing her story,
Madeline will discuss several of her father’s paintings, which were created in the camps.

The panel will be moderated by George Hirose, Co-President, JACL NY

For more information about the panelists:
Please RSVP to George Hirose at Ghirose@pratt.edu or 917-833-8123