Voices of Incarceration: The Enduring Impact of EO 9066
Eighty years after President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, the impact of the resulting unconstitutional incarceration of approximately 120,000 Japanese persons is still felt today. In remembrance of the Nikkei immigrants and citizens who endured the wartime imprisonment, their descendants and allies will read selected testimonies of incarcerees included in When Can We Go Back to America? Voices of Japanese American Incarceration During World War II by Susan H. Kamei. To hear their words of fear and anguish, as well as those of resolve and hope, is to hear a message relevant to our current turbulent times about the importance of protecting civil liberties for all.
Narrator:
Grace Shiba, Executive Director, USC Asian Pacific Alumni Association
Readers:
Patty Honda Arra is the daughter of the late Misako and Harry K. Honda, the long-time editor of the charter member of the Japanese American National Museum and was involved with the Pacific Southwest District Downtown Los Angeles Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League for several years. She is a member of the Little Tokyo Historical Society, SAG-AFTRA and Town & Gown of USC and now works to preserve her family’s history and legacy.
Velina Hasu Houston, MFA, Ph.D., is the USC Distinguished Professor of Theatre in Dramatic Writing, USC Resident Playwright, and faculty, USC School of Dramatic Arts and the Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy. An internationally celebrated writer, she has over 28 commissions in theatre and opera and has been honored by The Kennedy Center, Smithsonian Institution, Rockefeller Foundation, Japan Foundation, Wallace Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Theatre Communications Group, and others.
Richard M. Watanabe, Ph.D., is Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences and Physiology and Neuroscience, and Associate Dean for Health and Population Science Programs, with the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and a volunteer docent for the Japanese American National Museum.
Matthew Weisbly is Education and Communications Coordinator for the Japanese American Citizens League in Los Angeles and previously was the JACL Daniel K. Inouye Fellow. He is a member of Nikkei Rising, the young adult branch of JA Memorial Pilgrimages, and is a co-host of the Yon-Say podcast. Matthew holds a B.A. in History with minors in cinematic arts and East Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Southern California, where he served as president of the Nikkei Student Union.