The National Association of Japanese Canadians (NAJC) stands in solidarity with the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in condemning the alarming presence of approximately seventy-five armed federal agents on JANM’s Norman Y. Mineta Democracy Plaza on August 14, 2025 in Los Angeles.
The arrival of armed federal agents, coinciding with a press conference by California Governor Gavin Newsom and other elected officials at JANM’s Daniel K. Inouye National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, was an act of intimidation that undermines the very democratic principles the venue was chosen to highlight. The plaza is a site of profound historical significance. In 1942, Japanese Americans were ordered to assemble before being forcibly removed to concentration camps.
“This deeply disturbing incident is a stark reminder of how easily the mistakes of history can be repeated,” said Caroline Ishii, Executive Director of the National Association of Japanese Canadians. “Our community knows too well the trauma of forced removal, displacement, and state-sanctioned injustice. Seeing armed federal agents making arrests on that very ground evokes painful parallels between the mass uprooting of Japanese Canadians and Americans during World War II and the fear immigrant and racialized communities face today.”
The NAJC reaffirms its commitment to defending civil liberties, confronting racism, and standing with communities targeted by discriminatory policies and practices. History has shown that the erosion of rights often begins with intimidation and the silencing of dissent.
“As Canadians, we cannot look away,” continued Ishii. “What happened at the Japanese Japanese American National Museum is not just an American issue; it is a warning to all democracies that the protection of rights and freedoms requires constant vigilance.”
The NAJC calls on elected officials, community leaders, and the public to speak out against the misuse of power and to protect the sanctity of spaces dedicated to education, reconciliation, and democratic engagement.
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Image credit courtesy Japanese American National Museum: Aerial perspective of crowd boarding buses in front of Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, Los Angeles, California, 1942
Gift of Jack and Peggy Iwata
Object number 93.102.102
