Program Summary
  The major issues concerning the National Coalition for Redress/Reparations in1993 were the focus of this year’s Day of Remembrance.  “Fighting Racism: Our Legacy & Foundation for Unity” recalls the anti-Asian laws that discriminated against immigrants and Asian Americans throughout the early twentieth century as well as the racism that spawned the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans.

Tension caused by racism against people of color was heightened in 1993 with the killing of the Tualaulelei brothers by a Compton police officer who was not convicted.  The injustice was reminiscent of the 1982 murder of Vincent Chin, a Chinese American whose murderers received no jail time and only a $2000 fine.  The current abuse of local Asian youth by police in Fountain Valley, California, was addressed in the DOR program by members of the Fountain Valley Asian Youth Alliance

Locally NCRR honored Bob Bratt, the former head of the Office of Redress Administration, for his responsiveness to the Japanese American community and his leadership in locating and administering redress to the former internees.  On the national level, NCRR was once again challenging the Department of Justice on the redress front.  By 1993, thousands of Japanese Americans were denied redress by the DOJ’s narrow interpretation of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988.  The DOR program featured the testimonies of internees who were denied redress and an appeal to audience members to write to government officials.

Prominent community activists participated in the program.  Warren Furutanti spoke to the issues of this year’s theme, and Jim Matsuoka received the 1993 Fighting Spirit Award.  Jim, a founding member of NCRR, testified in 1981 at the Commission on the Wartime Relocation of the Internment Civilians and harshly criticized the government’s wartime actions and S.I. Hayakaawa’s widely publicized anti-reparations position.

Providing the cultural components to the program were composer/keyboard artist David Iwataki and performance artist, Dan Kwong.  Dave and Dan have supported NCRR’s redress campaign and community projects for many years.
   
   
   
Day of Remembrance..., Rafu Shimpo, 2/22/93, Local Community Gathers
   
honored Bob Bratt, Rafu Shimpo,1992, Former Redress Chief Honored