2024 New York Day of Remembrance

Every year, we gather to commemorate the anniversary of the February 19, 1942 signing of Executive Order 9066, which authorized the U.S. military to forcibly remove and incarcerate over 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry during WWII. We, our parents, grandparents, their siblings, and their parents were among those who were forced to leave behind everything they knew to be incarcerated at over 10 concentration camps within the United States. On this day, we honor the survivors and the descendents of these camps, and we remember our collective history, strength, and resilience. We honor those in our community who served in the armed forces – most volunteering, and many serving while their families were being held in confinement. We honor those who resisted the military draft while incarcerated – who stated that they would gladly serve when all were released from the prison camps. And we honor the survivors who resisted by answering “No” to two questions on loyalty to the United States, who were branded “trouble-makers,” and sent to the Tule Lake Camp in California – which was then put under martial law. 

The Day of Remembrance offers an opportunity for each of us to reflect on our history of forced removal, family separation, and incarceration, as well as the activism and organizing that grew from that history. In remembering our past, we can transform our pain into power, and garner the strength and wisdom to demand that this country stop repeating history.