On February 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which led to over 100,000 Japanese Americans being forcibly removed from their homes to incarceration camps all over the Western United States. The executive order was influenced by prevalent anti-Asian prejudice.
Since that time, Asian Americans have faced ongoing prejudice and hatred. During the COVID-19 pandemic, hate crimes against Asian Americans have risen dramatically, making it more important than ever to talk about these issues.
This program commemorates the 80th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 and discusses the continuing violence and bigotry against Asian Americans. The program consists of a conversation between Sam Mihara, who was a child prisoner at Heart Mountain Wyoming camp; John C. Yang, president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – AAJC; and Eric L. Muller, Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor of Law in Jurisprudence and Ethics at the University of North Carolina School of Law. They are interviewed by distinguished journalist Ann Curry.
Watch the program below.
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Watch Ann Curry Interview Nobuki Sugihara
Chiune Sugihara was a Japanese diplomat who risked his family’s lives and his career to issue transit visas granting Jews safe passage through Japanese territory. In 2019, his son Nobuki Sugihara was interviewed by Ann Curry about his father’s bravery, for which he was named by Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous Among the Nations. Watch the interview here.
Read More From Eric L. Muller
Eric L. Muller is the the Dan K. Moore Distinguished Professor in Jurisprudence and Ethics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He recently wrote an article entitled “The Nazi Analogy in Japanese American Civil Rights Discourse” for the North Carolina Civil Rights Law Review. You can find the article on page 94.
Learn About Japanese Incarceration in Canada
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Canadians were also forced into incarceration camps in British Columbia. In addition, their properties were sold without consent and around 4,000 Japanese Canadians were deported to Japan. Learn more about this period in Canada from the Densho Encyclopedia.