This reflects the racist, xenophobic mentality that put my Japanese American family members in concentration camps during WWII. Everyone should denounce it as loudly as possible and put an end to this bigotry in Congress once and for all.
I frame the discussion and answer a few questions at the end, but the heart of the discussion is from author @andreapitzer.bsky.social, who traces the origins of concentration camps to the invention of barbed wire & machine guns - the iconography of Japanese American wartime incarceration.
Video cued to start of our hour-long mass call with @50501movement.bsky.social on stopping the leasing of warehouses for 21st century American concentration camps. youtu.be/IyszCsiUq2U?...
If you missed this, it was really great and you can watch it on YouTube! youtu.be/IyszCsiUq2U.
ICYMI: Spoke last night on public data for good, alongside @frankabe.bsky.social, @andreapitzer.bsky.social, @tifotter.bsky.social, @sussexvb.bsky.social, and more.
Video below.
It was an honor to join Frank, Andrea and Sarah to talk about where we are, how we got here, and what we need to do now. Thanks for having me to talk about Salt Lake City’s efforts to stop a mega ICE detention camp. 👏✊🏽
Just got off a mass call hosted by @50501movement.bsky.social that included @frankabe.bsky.social, @projectsaltbox.bsky.social, @sussexvb.bsky.social, @tifotter.bsky.social, me, & others. So incredible to hear from speakers unearthing plans and finding ways to fight concentration camps nationwide.
Still time to sign up for tomorrow's @50501movement.bsky.social mass call on how you can stop 21st century American concentration camps in your hometown. Warehouses being leased as immigration detention sites. Hear from local activists and author @andreapitzer.bsky.social.
bit.ly/march5masscall
Join me and the people who bring you the “No Kings” march for this webinar on stopping 21st century American concentration camps. I’m honored to help introduce Andrea Pitzer, author of “One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps.” RSVP here for this March 5 mass call.
Graphic shows a populated event map and text that reads: NO KINGS MARCH 28, 2026 EVENTS MAP NOW LIVE FIND an event: bit.ly/nokings328 HOST an event: bit.ly/nokingshosts
NO KINGS March 28!! ❌👑 This will be the largest non-violent protest in American history. Spread the word online and IRL, it’s up to all of us.
FIND a No Kings protest: bit.ly/nokings328
***Events are still being registered. Please check back next week if you don’t see one near you yet.***
The feature appears in the American theater issue of TAR BABY, a new quarterly journal that Ishmael edits for the Toni Morrison Foundation. You can get a copy here: tarbaby.com/shop/p/tar-b...
Thanks to novelist Ishmael Reed for this Q and A on the ongoing work to develop a new stage play from the great Japanese American novel, NO-NO BOY by John Okada, with photos from the public reading last May at Seattle Repertory Theater. resisters.com/2026/02/25/q...
Details: Participants will receive a $100 stipend upon completion of the course and evaluation form; breakfast, lunch, and snacks are provided. Space is limited to 25 participants. A short application is required (accessible via QR code and bit.ly/46zROij) and due March 4.
Seattle-area educators, I'll be helping introduce the camp material in the UCLA Asian American Studies Center "Foundations and Futures" multimedia textbook on March 21. Sign up now, get a stipend and lunch. Deadline is March 4.
With everyone jumping in on today's Day of Remembrance for the camps, thanks to filmmaker Haruka Sakaguchi in NYC for reframing the invention of the event in her Substack post:
open.substack.com/pub/hsakag/p...
When I got the contract to write a history of concentration camps in 2014, I hoped to keep the US from ending up here. That didn't work out! But now it's critical to understand how much is already in process and the enormity of what's coming. The sooner we act to stop it, the more people we'll save.
In Portland, join us Feb. 16 for two screenings of this rarely-seen 1976 TV-film from which I got my rarely-used-since SAG card. It's the 50th anniversary of "Farewell to Manzanar," and you can bet our panel discussion will address what's happening now. Tickets: www.portland5.com/winningstad-...
For this year's Day of Remembrance, I'll join Carole Hayashino and Hanako Wakatsuki-Chong and get to meet Jeanne Houston's daughter at this doubleheader in Portland: two screenings of the 1976 TV-movie of her book.
You can reserve a spot here to join the three-mile Read and Run tour:
www.readandruntours.com/events/read-...
I've heard it said we must meet readers where they are. This Saturday I'll greet runners who've completed a loop around downtown Seattle, the waterfront, and Chinatown/International District, and tell them about the legacy of John Okada and NO-NO BOY. Glad I don't have to run alongside them.
The cover of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration (2024), a Penguin Classics anthology edited by Frank Abe & Floyd Cheung.
I hope & believe I shared this at some point in 2024 when it came out, but it's sadly only more timely still & must-read material here in early 2026. Incredible work from @frankabe.bsky.social & my friend Floyd Cheung, full of authors & texts that will be new to most of us (me included). 🗃️
The full spiked 60 Minutes CECOT package, clean & subtitled. 1/5
BREAKING: WATCH the full 60 Minutes CECOT segment here. This was sent to me anonymously. It appears to be the segment CBS' Bari Weiss killed. www.muellershewrote.com/p/watch-the-...
Just picked up the book yesterday. ❤️
So true. Thanks for sharing.
It is powerful to refuse. Even the most powerless have that power.
bsky.app/profile/fran...
Mind-blowing to bring the story of wartime incarceration and the links to today to 1,900 @maddow.bsky.social fans in LA on Sunday. Watch for the full program on Monday, December 29 on @msnownews.bsky.social. My impressions here: resisters.com/2025/12/16/b...
Thanks. Rachel made it easy for us to feel comfortable in front of all two thousand of you.
