Close to Home: Remembering a harsh 75-year-old lesson of history

Each year, Feb. 19 is a “Day of Remembrance” for the Japanese-American community. This year, it will mark the 75th anniversary of the day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced removal and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans, two-thirds of whom were citizens. The U.S. government has acknowledged that this was done due to “racism, war hysteria and failed political leadership, not military necessity.”

My mother, who was a 16-year-old sophomore in high school at the time, was one of those incarcerated. She spent her high school years behind barbed wire at Heart Mountain camp in Wyoming’s high desert. She and her family never returned to their farm in the state of Washington. The event marked them and entire generations of this ethnic group for the rest of their lives, regardless of how well they fared. They had been accused of a crime, sentenced without trial and locked up.

I am a member of the Japanese American Citizens League, a civic organization. Members of our local chapter have been speaking to schools, churches and civic groups for years. We are motivated to tell the stories of our forebears in the hope that this reminder of the fragility of our civil liberties will prevent anything like this from happening again. Although I had hoped it never would, I knew it was possible.

Now, President Donald Trump has issued an executive order banning travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries. Thousands of people have had their lives disrupted. There are threats to create a Muslim registry and to deport millions of undocumented immigrants, all in the name of making America safer. Yet mountains of data and testimony refute this claim. Even if the stay on the travel ban remains in effect, the people affected remain in uncertainty and fear.

Can we as a nation and a people forget the lessons of history so easily? Are we willing to give up our civil liberties and constitutional rights so quickly? I am astounded to see this happening, but I am also encouraged to see so many grass-roots organizations standing up for what is right. If only this had happened in 1942. Would history have told a different story? Let’s move this country forward, not backward.

The Sonoma County Japanese American Citizens League’s Oral History Committee will hold an event today from 1:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. in commemoration of Day of Remembrance. “Protecting Human Rights: Solidarity in Diversity” will include a panel discussion moderated by Press Democrat columnist and local historian Gaye LeBaron. Other panelists include Marie Sugiyama, co-president of the local Japanese American Citizens League; Charles Bonner, a civil rights attorney; Denia Candela, a board member of Los Cien; Cecilia Dawsom, Sonoma County Indian Health Project coordinator; and Mubarak Muthalif, co-founder of the Islamic Center of North Marin. This free event will be held at Enmanji Memorial Hall at 1200 Gravenstein Highway South, Sebastopol. We encourage all to attend.

Jodi Hottel is chairwoman of the Sonoma County Japanese American Citizens League Oral History Committee. She lives in Santa Rosa.