Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC)
Celebrating the 40th Anniversary
Following months of hard work by New York-based, Japanese American community organizations, the CWRIC held one day of hearings in New York at the historic Roosevelt Hotel on November 23, 1981. We’re pleased to share materials to commemorate this 40th anniversary and we will continue to add more here.
Established in 1980, this bipartisan federal commission was directed by Congress to review the facts and circumstances surrounding Executive Order 9066 and its impact on American citizens and permanent resident aliens as well as Alaskan natives in the Pribilof and Aleutian Islands. To arrive at its findings, the nine-member federally appointed body held hearings in major U.S. cities and heard testimonies from more than 750 witnesses. Its conclusions were submitted in 1983 as Personal Justice Denied , a unanimous report that formed the basis for the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 granting wartime survivors a public apology, individual reparations of $20,000, and a public education fund.
Read more at Densho.com: https://encyclopedia.densho.org/Commission_on_Wartime_Relocation_and_Internment_of_Civilians/
Also see:
Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. Personal Justice Denied: Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians . National Parks Service. http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/personal_justice_denied/
Videos
These videos are part of the work of the NY JA Oral History Project. The project is a community-based project documenting the Japanese American experiences in the NY Tri-State area, including the impact of Executive Order 9066, the years of resettlement and transformations, and the work of the Japanese American Redress Movement. To learn more about their work, visit their Facebook Page NYJAOH or contact them via email: nyjaoralhistory@gmail.com
1981 NYC JA Commission Hearings Story
Short film on the story on how the JA internment commission hearings came to New York City, explained by co-chair of ECJAR (East Coast Japanese Americans for Redress) Michi Kobi. Excerpts of the actual hearings that took place at the Roosevelt Hotel, November 23, 1981. 26 min. (Hearings footage shot by Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV) )
1986 Day of Remembrance
Created and conceived by Julie Azuma, Leslee Inaba Wong and Lani Sanjek, this original 1986 slideshow program on New York's Day of Remembrance has been newly restored by SH Nakazono. Includes memories of JA New Yorkers, the internment camps, relocating to New York and the redress/reparation movement in the East Coast. Featuring George Yuzawa, artist Mine Okubo, author Michi Nishiura Weglyn, Suki Terada Ports, Bill Kochiyama, Kazu Iijima, Motoko Ikeda Spiegel and many others.
Sasha Hohri Redress Document Archive
The Sasha Hohri Collection is comprised of hundreds of paper documents related to the activities of the East Coast Japanese Americans for Redress, the National Council for Japanese American Redress, and the Redress movement broadly. Among the documents are personal testimonies that were presented to the Congressional Commission on the Wartime Internment and Relocation of Civilians, planning documents for the New York City Hearings, correspondence regarding Redress activism, and newsletters from the National Council for Japanese American Redress.
Corky Lee’s
CWRIC & East Coast Redress Photo Gallery
Below is a selection of photographs taken by photographer and beloved community member, Corky Lee (1947 - 2021)
All works displayed here are the intellectual property of Corky Lee’s estate, and are copyrighted with all rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction, copying, transmission, sale, or distribution is strictly prohibited.
