Now in its second year, this regime’s tactics have evolved. Here are highlights of the grim outlook I gathered from several sources and shared at Densho’s recent workshop on “Teaching Difficult Histories;” at a panel at the Association for Asian American Studies conference just concluded; and last week at the Seattle Public Library’s “One Book, One Coast” program. Continue reading Mass Incarceration and Deportation Today: A Tale of Two Maps→
I recently introduced a video call for The 50501 Movement — the group bringing you the No Kings 3 march this weekend — to hear from activists in New Hampshire, New Jersey, and Salt Lake City who are using local zoning codes and permitting processes to stop or slow the Department of Homeland Security from buying or leasing vacant warehouses near cities for use as immigrant detention centers. Continue reading Warehouses as 21st Century American Concentration Camps→
Prepared remarks for a public talk presented April 22 at Wellesley College in the Pendleton Atrium. See below for video of an updated version presented in Oakland on June 22, 2025.
One year ago, when Elena Creef and I first discussed my speaking here, I never thought my talk would take such a dark turn. Then came the election. Elena asked me for a title for the program. By then, we knew the general direction things would take, but not the precise details. So this umbrella title seemed likely to stick by the time April 22nd rolled around. Continue reading What Japanese American Wartime Incarceration Tells Us About Mass Deportation Today→
Let me frame this post and the embedded podcast below by saying the issue here is not to shame the Pike Place Market Foundation for backing out of hosting the observance of this year’s Day of Remembrance in Seattle at the market stalls, which before the war were three-fourths occupied by Issei truck farmers from the Eastside and Green River Valley. The Market should be held to account, and they have since apologized. Continue reading PODCAST: Complying in advance by canceling the Day of Remembrance→
In an instant, the election changed everything. It has profoundly shifted the context of the work we do toward the darkness that is openly promised by a new president.
Who knew when we started the Day of Remembrance that I’d still be talking about it 45 years later. Nevertheless, here we are, hitting the road for five DOR events in 2024. For further updates as the month progresses, check the Events page. Continue reading Five Events for the 2024 Day of Remembrance→
The history and literature of Japanese American resistance to wartime incarceration
