Press Release 4/12/02

Press Release: April 12, 2002

Portland Activist and Writer Named as Keynote Speaker at Manzanar

Los Angeles – This year marks the Sixtieth anniversary of Executive Order 9066, which sent over 120,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps in the Western United States.

A ceremony honoring survivors of internment from Heart Mountain, Wyoming and Rowher, Arkansas Camps will be held at Manzanar on 27 April 2002.

The US Department of the Interior has designated Manzanar as a National Park. Survivors, local dignitaries from the Los Angeles area, as well as groups from UC Berkeley, Stanford University and others will attend the event.

This year’s speak is Taro O’Sullivan. A Japanese American activist and writer from Portland, Oregon. On October 13, 2001, Taro moderated the "Dialogue for Peace and Understanding" in Portland Oregon. An event promoting dialogue between Japanese American and Arab American communities discussing the social and political climate of the post Pearl Harbor United States and the current post 9-11 climate which has prompted anti Arab-Muslim American sentiment. It was the first and one of few such events that took place nationally. The theme of his speech will be "No more Manzanars."

Manzanar was one of the first of ten internment camps operated by the U.S. government when more than 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry were interned during World War II. It is located approximately 200 miles north of Los Angeles on Highway 395. Congress established Manzanar as a National Historic Site in February 1992, and it is under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

For contact information, media inquiries, details of events, and any other information please contact: MT Meyer 323 252 5648, Paradigm Media Events. Thank you.

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