2015 - 2019 Events
Day of Remembrance
February 19, 2019
17th Annual Campus Commemoration
The upcoming 77th anniversary of Executive Order 9066 marks the beginnings of forced expulsion & mass incarceration of Japanese Americans in World War II. We reflect upon the lessons learned as we continue facing an upsurge in racism, profiling, & attacks on immigrant communities.
The Suburb in American Culture – The Suburb in Silicon Valley
March 9, 2017
Lawrence Coates, author and Professor at Bowling Green State University, Ohio
Beginning in the post-World War II era, housing development in the Santa Clara Valley
has largely been on the suburban model – communities of homes within a linear parkland.
While the original suburbs were designed with near utopian ends, as a combination
of the benefits of urban living with the charms of nature, they have frequently been
denounced as a “Geography of Nowhere,” a place where the traditional connections of
community life have been lost.
Novelist Lawrence Coates will discuss the origins of suburban space that lay deep
within American culture, and also how those have played out in present-day Silicon
Valley, based on the research that underpinned his latest novel, The Goodbye House.
Annual Day of Remembrance of Internment
February 16, 2017
On the 75th Anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 we face an upsurge in racism, profiling, and attacks on our immigrant communities and threats to create a “Muslim Registry” What lessons should we learn from the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans to defend civil liberties today?
Featuring:
- Dr. Francisco Balderrama, Professor of History and Chicano Studies, California State University Los Angeles -will discuss the 1930s “repatriation” when scapegoating, fearmongering, and racism led to the deportation of over 1 million Mexican Americans from throughout the US and current efforts to redress this wrong and fight for immigrant rights.
- Rabiah Shere, De Anza student and former intern for Council on American Islamic Relations, and Brenda Pantoja, De Anza HEFAS Intern will provide student views on Islamophobia and threats against DACA students.
- Kimiko Mar, Watsonville-Santa Cruz Japanese American Citizens League Board member, will discuss activism today among the new generation of Japanese Americans.
- There will be a special presentation by Anisa Chaudhry of the De Anza Muslim Students Association.
Participants are invited to view the Euphrat Museum of Art’s “Justice for All?” exhibit and take part in a “Campus Unity Pledge” project in the VPA lobby area immediately following the event.
Exhibit Opening Reception: Caught Celebrating...through the photographer's lens
September 11, 2016
A photographic exhibit of festivals, people, and places captured by the photographers of the Los Gatos/Saratoga Camera Club. Exhibit on view at California History Center, DeAnza College, September 9 through December 18, 2016.
Annual Day of Remembrance of Internment
February 19, 2015
Join with Japanese American communities throughout the country who annually commemorate February 19, 1942 and the signing of Executive Order 9066 as a “Day of Remembrance”. This executive order led to the mass racial profiling and eventual imprisonment of over 119,000 Japanese Americans without due process and with no regard for their constitutional rights.
The community now uses this date to encourage active participation in the defense of civil liberties and has promoted reflection and understanding of racial profiling such as the post 9/11 scapegoating of Muslims and Arab Americans and the long-standing police brutality and mass incarceration targeting African Americans and others. This year’s event will also share lessons learned from the movement to win redress/reparations for the World War II internment
Featuring:
- Karen Korematsu, Executive Director, Korematsu Institute
- Abdi Soltani, Executive Director, ACLU of Northern California,
- John Ota, Attorney, former National Coalition for Redress and Reparations activist
- Susan Hayase, former Vice Chair, Civil Liberties Public Education Fund Board