JANM to Host Educational Program “Our Fragile Democracy—Historic and Present-Day Attacks on Our Civil Rights and Civil Liberties” on February 24

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) will host Our Fragile Democracy—Historic and Present-Day Attacks on Our Civil Rights and Civil Liberties from 1 p.m.–4 p.m. on Saturday, February 24, 2024. The program will include a fireside chat with Ann Burroughs, President and CEO of JANM, and Rob Bonta, Attorney General of California; a keynote address by Don Tamaki, senior counsel at Minami Tamaki LLP and member of the California Reparations Task Force; and a panel discussion about Alien Land Laws. The program is free and open to the public and will be offered in person and virtually. Tickets are available online at janm.org/events. 

This event will explore Bonta’s historic statement and apology on August 10, 2023 that acknowledged the California Department of Justice’s complicity in the incarceration and dispossession of Japanese Americans during and after World War II. In particular, his statement described how Attorney General Earl Warren used the California Alien Land Law to take possession of agricultural land owned by Japanese American families. During the fireside chat, Bonta and Burroughs will discuss the revival of Alien Land Laws in states like Florida and Texas and how California’s legislative past serves as a reminder of consequences that can happen today.

Susan Kamei, adjunct professor of history at the University of Southern California and managing director of the Spatial Sciences Institute will moderate the panel discussion with speakers  Gabriel “Jack” Chin, Edward L. Barrett Jr. Chair of Law and Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at University of California, Davis; Clay Zhu, attorney and managing partner at DeHeng Law Offices PC and cofounder of the Chinese American Legal Defense Alliance; Damon Brown, Special Assistant Attorney General at the California Department of Justice; and Lisa Doi, project manager of JANM’s new core exhibition. Amy Watanabe, managing director of Client Services at NakatomiPR, will emcee. 

“The lessons of Japanese American incarceration remind us that acknowledging and correcting our past transgressions during a time when prejudice, discrimination, and white supremacy threaten our shared freedoms is essential to a strong democracy today. At programs like this, we must use our voices to fight for our rights each day and support disenfranchised groups in their times of need. Doing so uplifts everyone’s lives, creates a more just America, and a better world,” said Burroughs.

Our Fragile Democracy is presented by JANM and the Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy in partnership with Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) National, Florin JACL (Sacramento Valley), California Asian Pacific American Bar Association, Pan Asian Lawyers of San Diego, Asian/Pacific Bar Association of Sacramento (ABAS), and ABAS Law Foundation.

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About the Japanese American National Museum (JANM)

Established in 1985, JANM promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a center for civil rights, ensuring that the hard-fought lessons of the World War II incarceration are not forgotten. A Smithsonian Affiliate and one of America’s Cultural Treasures, JANM is a hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories. JANM is a center for the arts as well as history. It provides a voice for Japanese Americans and a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public in 1992, JANM has presented over 100 exhibitions onsite while traveling 40 exhibits to venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and to several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America. JANM is open on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday–Sunday from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. and on Thursday from 12 p.m.–8 p.m. JANM is free every third Thursday of the month. On all other Thursdays, JANM is free from 5 p.m.–8 p.m. For more information, visit janm.org or follow us on social media @jamuseum.