Robert Shimabukuro addresses the audience during his speech on Feb. 18, at South Seattle College’s Day of Remembrance
On Feb. 18, South Seattle College hosted noted author and historian Robert Shimabukuro as the featured speaker for the annual Day of Remembrance.
This annual event marks the anniversary that President Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the evacuation and incarceration of 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, living on the West Coast, most of whom were U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. The order, known as Executive Order 9066, was signed on Feb. 19, 1942.
In Washington state alone, nearly 13,000 people of Japanese descent were sent to detention centers while Seattleites were sent to Camp Minidoka near Hunt, Idaho. (end)