Kanji Sahara knows what it feels like when an entire community is vilified and targeted.
The 83-year-old Torrance man was only 8 when he boarded a train with his family in 1942, and took a three-day trip to an Japanese internment camp in Jerome, Ark. They would live there for three years, surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers.
“It made us feel subservient,” he said. “It didn’t matter how long you lived here. You were still a second-class citizenship.”
On Sunday, Oct. 15, Sahara will speak at a #NoMuslimBanEver March and Rally spearheaded by the Anaheim-based Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Los Angeles Chapter and other groups to protest the Trump administration’s travel ban, the newest version of which will go into effect Oct. 18, and the federal government’s immigration policies.
Sahara says, as he speaks outside the Japanese American National Museum on Central Avenue in Los Angeles, that he wants to send a clear message.
“To Muslims, I want to say we, as Japanese Americans, understand what you’re going through, support you and want you in our communities,” he said. “And to the government and anti-Muslims, we want them to know that the Muslims have our support.”
The march, which will begin outside the museum at noon, will proceed to 225 E. Temple St., the Roybal Court Center, which houses the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and the Metropolitan Detention Center. Speakers at this location will address the government’s use of criminal justice and immigration policies on minority communities.
The final stop will be at the Federal Courthouse at 312 N. Spring St., where marchers will hear the stories of people affected by the travel ban.
The Muslim community has felt the emotional and psychological impact of anti-Muslim rhetoric since the presidential campaign and through the current administration’s stance toward Muslims, said Masih Fouladi, advocacy manager at CAIR-LA.
“We’ve seen community members being puzzled and confused and being in fear of not being welcome in this country,” he said. “Muslim women have taken off their head scarves and we see others who fear going to their mosques.”
On the other hand, Fouladi said, he has also seen people become empowered and more politically engaged.
“Having these rallies and actions will be meaningful not just for Muslims, but also our allies who are also experiencing hate, discrimination and oppression,” he said.
On Oct. 10, the U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a major challenge to the travel ban because it has been replaced by a new version.