The Manzanar Committee is co-sponsoring the National Park Conservation Association’s (NPCA) #ProtectEveryPark Day of Action on Saturday, Aug. 23.
This nationwide event will take place at numerous National Park Service (NPS) locations to call attention to the crippling DOGE staffing and budget cuts and the QR codes recently installed at the parks by the Trump Administration in an attempt to erase history.
To the Manzanar Committee, the administration’s actions at the parks are an existential threat to Manzanar National Historic Site, Amache NHS (Colorado), Minidoka NHS (Idaho), Honouliuli NHS (Hawaii), and other civil rights sites such as Stonewall NHS (New York), Trail of Tears NHS (multiple states), and Harriet Tubman NHS (New York).
“These sites are essential to remembering and reconciling our dark history in America and now they are at risk if the Trump Administration continues along this path,” the Manzanar Committee said in a statement. “We cannot afford our history to be erased!
“In addition, the Trump regime has invoked the Alien Enemies Act to terrorize and disappear undocumented immigrants, legal residents, and citizens in our communities in a way that we have not witnessed since our families were forcibly removed and incarcerated into concentration camps during World War II.
“As Nikkei, we remember that no organization outside of the Quakers stood with us when the government came after our community. The Manzanar Committee strongly supports due process for all people and demands that ICE stop abducting people like the Gestapo. We’ve seen this before and will not stay silent. It’s time to stand up and take action!”
Manzanar Co-Chair Bruce Embrey stated, “The effort of the Trump Administration’s attack on the Smithsonian and the national parks is an escalation of their attacks on our civil rights and communities of color. It is one more step in the campaign to reshape people’s understanding of the history of our country by stripping out the truth about how our nation was formed.
“Simply put, it is an effort to gut efforts by the National Park Service from telling the story of the forced removal of indigenous people, chattel slavery, Jim Crow and the unconstitutional incarceration of more than 125,000 persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II.”
The Manzanar Committee will be representing at two sites for the NPCA National Day of Action:
- Embrey and Manzanar camp survivor Pat Sakamoto will be traveling up to the Manzanar National Historic Site on the morning of Aug. 23, for a program at the Free Speech area from 2 to 4p.m. They expect to be joined by former Manzanar Superintendent Bernadette Johnson and local indigenous leaders in the area who are concerned about the erosion of democracy.
- In Los Angeles, the Manzanar Committee will be joining other Nikkei civil rights groups in a press conference and rally at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) Plaza on First Street and Central Avenue in Little Tokyo on Aug. 23 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Sponsors for the event include National Park Conservation Association, Go For Broke National Education Center, JANM, JACL, Little Tokyo Historical Society, Little Tokyo Service Center, NCRR, Nikkei Progressives, and Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition.
For more information on these events, contact Glen Kitayama at gkitayama@manzanarcommittee.org.