"Fears and prejudices directed against minority communities are too easy to evoke and exaggerate, often to serve the political agendas of those who promote those fears. No one should ever be locked away simply because they share the same race, ethnicity, or religion as a spy or terrorist. If that principle was not learned from the internment of Japanese Americans, then these are very dangerous times for our democracy." 
- Fred Korematsu (2004)
 
Following 9/11, American Muslims found themselves in a situation not unlike that of Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Recognizing this, Japanese Americans came to the defense of American Muslim community members as their civil liberties were threatened, resulting in an extraordinary kinship between the two communities.
 
Together, the Japanese American Museum of San Jose (JAMsj) and the San Francisco Bay Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA) proudly present this special program in honor of Fred Korematsu Day.
 
Panel discussion on civil liberty issues facing American Muslims today and activism by Japanese Americans, which will include Zahra Billoo (Executive Director of CAIR-SFBA) and Tom Izu (Executive Director of the California History Center & Foundation at DeAnza College), with Masao Suzuki (long-time activist with the Nihonmachi Outreach Committee and the South Bay Committee Against Political Repression) as facilitator.
 Of Civil Wrongs and Rights: The Fred Korematsu Story (short film)
 
Cost: Free with admission to the museum (non-members, $5; students and seniors over age 65, $3; JAMsj members and children under 12, free)
 
RSVP by contacting PublicPrograms@jamsj.org
or calling (408) 294-3138.