Almost 80 years ago on February 19, 1942 President Franklin Roosevelt signed E.O. 9066 which set in motion the internment of over 120,000 Japanese Americans in the U.S. — to 10 large internment camps. 2/3 were US Citizens, 1/4 were children who were evacuated from the Western areas of the US (California, Oregon, Washington and parts of Arizona and Hawaii), without due process of law.

University of AZ Asian Pacific American Studies Affairs dept. is hosting a panel on this Day of Remembrance on Feb. 18, from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m in their office on the 2nd floor of the Nugent Building, 1212 E. University Blvd., room 205, and also via zoom.

Panelists are UA East Asian Studies Asst. Prof. Brett Esaki, whose grandparents met at one of the WWII internment camps. The other panelist is Carolyn Sugiyama Classen (Editor here), who was the Legislative Aide to US Senator Dan Inouye in 1980, instrumental in the passage of the federal bill which created the National Commission which investigated this injustice. Her father was expelled from USC Dental School in 1942 & forced to relocate from Los Angeles to Chicago.

Last year’s Day of Remembrance panel at UA was entirely virtual, due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This year the event is hybrid as most people are now vaccinated.