MUSEUM SETS REDRESS PROGRAM SERIES TO MARK 20TH ANNIVERSARY IN 2008

The Japanese American National Museum has organized a series of special events, public programs and collaborations for 2008 to help mark the 20th Anniversary of the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which provided an official government apology and redress for thousands of Japanese Americans unlawfully forced from their homes during World War II.

Signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on August 10, 1988, the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was the culmination of years of work by various community organizations and individuals working with elected officials to get the United States Government to acknowledge its error in forcing Japanese Americans off the West Coast and parts of Hawai`i. In the process, over 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were unlawfully incarcerated by the government, the great majority within 10 major domestic concentration camps.

Anchoring the events to mark the anniversary are the National Museum’s 2008 Annual Gala Dinner, "Fulfilling the Promise of America: Celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988", which is set for April 19, 2008, and its national conference, "Whose America? Who’s American? Diversity, Civil Liberties and Social Justice", set for Denver, Colorado, on July 3-6, 2008, which culminates the education project, Enduring Communities: The Japanese American Experience in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Utah. The dinner will recognize some of the individuals and organizations that were key to gaining redress, while the conference will examine the history, issues and implications of redress for America today.

The National Museum will present a series of programs under the umbrella of "Redress Remembered", beginning with the screening of Steven Okazaki’s Academy Award-nominated documentary, "Unfinished Business: The Japanese American Internment", on Saturday, January 19, 2008. Okazaki’s film follows Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi and Minoru Yasui, whose coram nobis cases sought to overturn their World War II convictions for violating curfew laws and resisting their forced removal from the West Coast. Professor Mitch Maki, co-author of Achieving the Impossible Dream: How Japanese Americans Obtained Redress, will provide historic context on how these cases reopened in the 1980s set the stage for the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 and do a brief walkthrough of the Museum’s core exhibition, Common Ground: The Heart of Community.

On Saturday, March 22, there will be a screening of Don Young’s documentary, "Resettlement to Redress: Rebirth of the Japanese American Community", which was produced by KVIE in Sacramento. This film examines how Japanese Americans rebuilt their communities after World War II, became involved in the civil rights movement, ethnic studies and community redevelopment, which set the stage to petition for redress. Professor Art Hansen will provide historic background on resettlement and do a brief walkthrough of Common Ground.

Other National Museum public programs will be presented through August of 2008.

The National Museum is also collaborating with other organizations to explore additional redress themes. A three-part series, "Neglected Legacies: Japanese American Women and Redress", organized by Dr. Lane Hirabayashi, George and Sakaye Aratani Professor of the Japanese American Internment, Redress and Community, Asian American Studies, UCLA, will focus on the role that Nisei women played in obtaining redress. On Saturday, February 2, the series will commence with a panel discussion entitled "Reconsidering Roots". The series continues with "Organizing the Community" on Saturday, April 5, and concludes with "Seeking Justice" on Saturday, August 2. All three public programs are free and will be held at the National Museum.

The 2008 Day of Remembrance, organized by Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress, the Japanese American Citizens League, Pacific Southwest District, and the National Museum, will present "From the Commission Hearings to the Civil Liberties Act and Beyond. . . Unleashing Community Voices: The Power of Grassroots Activism" on Saturday, February 16, at the National Museum. The program will look at how grassroots activism helped to make redress a reality and how young people are applying the lessons from the redress campaign to current issues. This program is also free.

"There are many important lessons that can drawn from the successful redress campaign," explained Irene Hirano, President and CEO of the National Museum. "One of them is that redress only became a reality because so many organizations and individuals, both community-based and non-Nikkei, contributed their support, often at crucial moments. Our National Museum, since its founding, has always believed that more can be achieved through collaboration and developing partnerships. The history of Japanese Americans shows that cooperation is a major characteristic that helped them build our communities, and it remains a Museum core value for fulfilling our mission."

For more information on the "Redress Remembered" public programs, the annual gala dinner and the national conference, call (213) 625-0414.