PR - 4/19/05

Press Release 4/19/05

Bus Reservations Filled for 36th Annual Pilgrimage

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Manzanar Committee announces this week that reservations are now filled for the Committee-sponsored bus chartered for the 36th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage next Saturday, April 30. Confirmations or placement on the waiting list will be sent to those whose checks have been received. Members of the public are encouraged to find alternative means of transportation to the pilgrimage.

The theme for the 2005 pilgrimage, co-sponsored by the Manzanar 9/11 Committee, is “Retrospection and Relevance: Commemorating the First Manzanar Pilgrimage and its Meaning for Today.”

“We need to make sure history doesn’t repeat itself. Muslim and Arab Americans are being held at Guantanamo Bay without charge or trial. It reminds us of the Issei (first generation Japanese Americans) who were also held without charge for many years during WWII,” said Manzanar Committee Chair Sue Kunitomi Embrey.

This year’s speakers include Los Angeles Community College Board Trustee Warren Furutani, UCLA Muslim American student Yousef Tasjar and Manzanar Committee Chair Sue Kunitomi Embrey. Music producer and choral conductor Lisa Joe will sing in honor of her mother, the late Sue Okabe, "Songbird of Minidoka" and speak about her family’s experience at the Minidoka internment camp. Then a roll call of all ten WRA camps will be followed by an interfaith service. The pilgrimage will conclude with a gathering for all to participate in traditional Japanese ondo dances.

The young adult/family discussion program, “Manzanar at Dusk” will take place this year at the new Manzanar Interpretive Center from 5-8 p.m. During the day, there will also be an art activity for youth near the pilgrimage site sponsored by the Wall of America Foundation as well as an exhibit of works by renowned artist Henry Fukuhara at the Manzanar Interpretive Center. Professor Art Hansen will also hold a tribute to former internee Harry Ueno at Block 22 after the ondo dance.

The Manzanar Committee is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, volunteer organization that depends on community support to hold its yearly pilgrimages to the Manzanar National Historic Site, where approximately 10,000 persons of Japanese ancestry were held without due process during WWII. For more information, visit www.manzanarcommittee.org or call (323) 662-5102.