Incarceration by Executive Order: Japanese American Internment and Immigration Detention Centers Today (EDC)

On December 1st of 2018, the campus of Smith College welcomed back its second NY/SC youth summit with the event “Incarceration by Executive Order: Japanese American Internment and Immigration Detention Centers Today.” Jointly organized by NY/SC Youth Representative Mieko Kuramoto, NY/SC At-Large member Aiko Dzikowski, and Smith College campus organizations Pan Asians in Action, the Latin American Student Organization, and Organizing for Undocumented Students’ Rights, the event focused on historic and modern parallels between the Japanese American incarceration and current Immigration detention practices. Keynote speakers Dr. Franklin Odo (Amherst College) and Dr. David Hernández (Mount Holyoke College) addressed racialized immigration policy, incarceration, and lesser citizenship in the United States, and the following student-led discussion allowed attendees to have an open conversation about cross-cultural coalition building and joint activism between the Asian American, Latin American, and undocumented communities.