YAKIMA, Wash.-Monday, Feb. 19 is a Day of Remembrance in honor of the Japanese Americans who were interned in America during World War II and events are planned across the country, including Yakima.
President Biden issued a statement in remembrance of the 120,000 Japanese Americans forced from their homes 82 years ago which read in part:
“We remember the tragic legacy of Executive Order 9066 – and the trauma it inflicted – by reaffirming the Federal Government’s formal apology to Japanese Americans. And by stating unequivocally: Nidoto Nai Yoni – to “Let It Not Happen Again.”
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942, which granted the military the authority to forcibly remove Japanese Americans from three military zones established in Washington, Oregon and California.
Over 120,000 Japanese Americans were removed from the West Coast and incarcerated in camps throughout the country during the war.
According to the Japanese American Citizens League, no Japanese Americans were ever charged or convicted of espionage or sabotage against the United States.
According to the Yakima Valley Libraries, over 1,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry in Yakima County were sent to an internment camp at Heart Mountain, Wyoming.
The community is invited to learn more about the history of Japanese American Internment at the YVL this February.