Two real-life people are featured in award-winning author Naomi Hirahara’s third book in her Japantown Mystery series, "Crown City." Learn the background of the novel and how they fit into the story! discovernikkei.org/e...
Naomi Hirahara will be at @jamuseum.bsky.social on Mar 21! Click for info.
We’re nearing the 250th anniversary of the United States, and it requires all of us to ask a fundamental question: Who gets to decide what this country remembers, and who gets to decide what it forgets or erases?
americancommunitymedia.org/community/on...
February 19, 2026 INSTRUCTIONS TO ALL PERSONS OF JAPANESE ANCESTRY As survivors and descendants of the mass removals, detention, deportation, and family separation targeting our community during WWII, we refuse to stand by idly while our friends and neighbors are violently disappeared, forcibly removed, mass incarcerated, and separated from family members. We decry the murders of community members and at least 37 people in ICE custody and enforcement in 2025. We reject false narratives that state violence is "unavoidable," a "justifiable military action," necessary for "national security"—the same arguments used as they forced our parents, grandparents, aunties, and uncles into U.S. concentration camps in 1942. On this Day of Remembrance, we call on Japanese Americans and all people who believe in "Never Again" to demand justice for those we have lost—on the streets and hidden away in ICE detention centers. To break this cycle of state violence. To rise up and resist, together. We bravely commit to being the allies our familes needed during WWII. STOP REPEATING HISTORY. #TsuruForSolidarity #FreeFamilies #FreeThemAll
84 years ago today, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, ordering the removal and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, about two-thirds of whom were US citizens. The Day of Remembrance this year comes as we see DHS buying land and warehouses for more camps now.
Caption from the Japanese American National Museum: Ink drawing by Harold Kakudo titled "A Moment in History" Executive Order 9066. Camp scene of several incarcerees gathered around and saluting the flag. Bottom center of drawing reads "...With Liberty and Justice For All."
Feb 19, 1942: Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. #DayofRemembrance #EO9066
"The presidential order launched the unjust incarceration of over 125,000 Japanese Americans in concentration camps across the US during WW2," @jamuseum.bsky.social. blog.janm.org/2026/02/03/d...
Credit: Home Movies of Forced Removal from Guadalupe, CA / 1942. Filmed by Franklin Johnson, Gift of Grace Shinoda Nakamura, in partnership with the Academy Film Archive, funded in part by the National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Program. 97.234.1
In 1942, over 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry were unjustly incarcerated in America's concentration camps and deprived of their civil rights and due process. Sadly, there is an absolute parallel between what happened then and what’s happening today to immigrant communities throughout the nation.
Hot off the presses is Gwen Muranaka's latest comic on being Nikkei! The time for “Kodomo no Tame Ni”—“for the sake of our children,” is now.
ACoM News Briefing Recap
As the U.S. nears its 250th anniversary, communities are reclaiming histories threatened by censorship, monument removals, and curriculum limits—working to preserve a fuller American story.
🔗 buff.ly/fgbxkyc
#Community #History #ACoM
Last month the Japanese American National Museum asked me to deliver a keynote speech on what is necessary to combat authoritarianism and preserve democracy. You can listen to it and the Q&A that followed here:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...
Remember their sacrifice for our country.
Daniel Betsui
Jenhatsu Chinen
Robert Murata
Grover Nagaji
Akio Nishikawa
Hiroichi Tomita
Howard Urabe
May they rest in peace and their sacrifice never forgotten. cc: @jamuseum.bsky.social
abc7chicago.com/story/japane...
The National Park Service (NPS) has removed an exhibit called “Freedom and Slavery in the Making of a New Nation” at the Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia. The decision comes after president Trump to remove “corrosive ideology” from cultural heritage venues.
buff.ly/ni1GGsk
Here’s the video. It’s the American way to gang up on a man and shoot him? Where’s the threat?
Sorry, it is in fact the American way.
In solidarity with museums taking a stand ❤️
The attempts at the wholesale erasure of history will not help us achieve a more just America. We must ensure that history is told fully and truthfully, and carry the lessons of history forward.
6abc.com/post/philade...
What is happening today harkens back to the registration of the Issei, which was a precursor to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII. They also harken back to the scapegoating of the Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans leading up to WWII.
www.al.com/news/2026/01...
Scot Nakagawa will be a panelist at our symposium,
Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Building Democracy, this Friday!
Read his piece below and get tickets to the symposium: www.janm.org/events/2026-...
Do we need to say it louder? Here. Louder.
" Federal courts in Alabama are using a law last applied during the U.S. internment [incarceration] of people of Japanese descent during World War II to charge immigrants who don’t register themselves..."
www.al.com/news/2026/01...
Echoes of History will explore how culture, organizing, and collective memory push back against authoritarianism.
If this post found you, consider this an invitation to use our discount code CCFECHOES for $50 off (in-person) or $5 off (virtual).
Tickets: janm.org/democracy
I have been invited to give the keynote speech on combatting authoritarianism at the Japanese-American National Museum's Echoes of History symposium on January 23rd in Los Angeles. You can buy tickets in person or to watch via the Livestream!
www.janm.org/democracy/ev...
ICE Kidnapping occurred on January 14, 2026, at at the Miyako Hotel in Little Tokyo.
Get tickets: www.janm.org/events/2026-...
Graphic with headshot of Tyler Green. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Graphic with headshot of Rafael Gonzalez. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Graphic with headshot of Renee Tajima-Pena. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Graphic with headshot of Hamza Walker. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Afternoon panelists at our upcoming symposium!
Tyler Green, historian, author, and host of The Modern Art Notes Podcast
Rafael Gonzalez, President and CEO, Grand Performances
Renee Tajima-Pena, Professor, UCLA @rtajimapena.bsky.social
Hamza Walker, Director of The Brick and co-curator of Monuments
www.janm.org/events/2026-...
Graphic with headshot of Gustavo Arellano, Columnist, Los Angeles Times. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Graphic with headshot of Angelica Salas, Executive Director, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Graphic with headshot of Miguel Santana, President and CEO, California Community Foundation. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Graphic with headshot of Memo Torres, Director of Engagement, L.A. Taco. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
How Does a City Respond? with panelists:
Gustavo Arellano, Columnist @latimes.com
Angelica Salas, Executive Director @chirla-org.bsky.social
Miguel Santana, President and CEO, California Community Foundation
Memo Torres, Director of Engagement, L.A. Taco @eltragon.bsky.social @lataco.bsky.social
Hear from Damon Brown (Special Assistant Attorney General, State of California) about Antiauthoritarianism and Building a Legacy for the Future
www.janm.org/events/2026-...
Graphic with headshot of Don Chen, President of Surdna Foundation. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Graphic with headshot of Viet Thanh Nguyenm Pulitzer-Prize winning author and professor. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Graphic with headshot of Scot Nakagawa, Co-founder and Co-Director of 22nd Century Initiative. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Graphic with headshot of Margaret Huang, Former President of Southern Poverty Law Center. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Speakers for Panel 1 —Antiauthoritarianism: Building a Legacy for the Future
www.janm.org/events/2026-...
Robert Evans @iwriteok.bsky.social will join JANM President and CEO Ann Burroughs in a Fireside Chat!
Graphic with headshot of Robert Evans, Journalist, Author, Podcast Host. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Graphic with headshot of Glenn Kaino, contemporary artist. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Graphic with headshot of Agnes Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International. Democracy Center logo in white at the top left. White text in top right corner reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Democracy Building. January 23, 2026 | janm.org/democracy"
Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Building Democracy
Hear from keynote speakers Agnès Callamard of Amnesty International, Robert Evans of the Behind the Bastards and It Could Happen Here podcasts and Glenn Kaino, an acclaimed contemporary artist.
Tickets: www.janm.org/democracy/ev...
Image of artist Glenn Kaino's work, "In the Light of a Shadow" with white text overlay that reads, "Echoes of History: Inspiring Civic Action and Building Democracy 1.23.26. Democracy Center. For tickets + more info, please visit janm.org/democracy"
Join the Democracy Center at JANM and meet the thinkers, artists, organizers, and civic leaders confronting authoritarianism today.
www.janm.org/events/2026-...
