When We Imprisoned Our Own: Lessons from the Japanese American Incarceration

During World War II, more than 110,000 people of Japanese descent, most of them U.S. citizens, were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated by the U.S. government. The legacy of their illegal imprisonment is still felt today. USC Dean of Religious Life Varun Soni will moderate a discussion with social activist Kathy Masaoka; Lane Ryo Hirabayashi, a scholar of Japanese American studies; activist, writer, and artist Traci Kato-Kiriyama; and Niels Frenzen, director of the USC Gould Immigration Clinic, about lessons learned in the past 75 years and the connections between past and present rhetoric and policies relating to immigrants, refugees and stateless people, and communities of color in the United States and around the world.

Following the panel discussion, Kathy Masaoka and Traci Kato-Kiriyama will lead a 90-minute workshop on social activism, covering how to take action on desires for social change; how to connect with others who share similar goals; and how to work both individually and collectively in support of meaningful social change.