Press Release 2/9/03

Press Release: February 9, 2003

The Manzanar Committee Announces 34th Annual Pilgrimage for April 26

Los Angeles – Poston, Arizona and Jerome, Arkansas internees will be remembered at the 34th annual Pilgrimage to Manzanar, scheduled for Saturday, April 26, 2003, the Manzanar Committee announced this week. This year’s theme is "A Call to Action: End Racial Profiling, Speak Out for Peace."

In 1999, the Committee began a tradition when it requested camp reunion and pilgrimage committees to design banners for their respective camps and donate them to the Committee. Each year the Committee has honored two of the War Relocation Authority camps by raising the banners and posting them around the cemetery monument at the annual pilgrimages. The banners will be donated to the National Park Service to be displayed in the permanent exhibit when the Visitor‘s Center and Park Headquarters open in the restored auditorium in the fall of 2003.

The pilgrimage program will feature Taiko Center of Los Angeles, Ken Koshio and Visiting Violette. A Buddhist and Christian interfaith service organized by Rev. Paul Nakamura of the Lutheran Oriental Church will take place in front of the cemetery monument. Additional speakers will be announced at a later date.

The Committee also announced that it has received a California Civil Liberties Public Education Program grant to create a booklet of poetry and expand the Saturday night Manzanar After Dark (MAD-ness!) program to a full weekend of programming, beginning on Friday night, April 25.

The Manzanar National Historic Site is approximately 200 miles north of Los Angeles on Highway 395. During World War II, more than 10,000 persons of Japanese ancestry were incarcerated at the camp.

The annual Pilgrimage is free and open to the public. No registration is required. The Committee welcomes volunteers to assist with the pilgrimage. For further info about the Committee, check the Committee’s website at www.manzanarcommittee.org, email sueke@msn.com, or phone (323) 662-5102.