Event

And Then They Came for Us: Lessons for Today from Japanese-American Incarceration During World War II

On May 16, 2019, Blank Rome LLP and the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania (“APABA-PA”) hosted a CLE event to honor Asian Pacific American Heritage Month. The program, “And Then They Came for Us: Lessons for Today from Japanese-American Incarceration During World War II,” took place from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Blank Rome’s Philadelphia office and was simulcast to Blank Rome’s offices across the country.

The program began with a screening of the documentary, And Then They Came for Us, which examines the cultural and political environment that enabled the incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans following the signing of Executive Order 9066 in 1943 and which received a 2018 American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award.

A panel discussion followed, addressing the parallels that can be drawn between Japanese-American incarceration during World War II and current events. The panel, moderated by Blank Rome Partner and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer Sophia Lee, featured APABA-PA member Gerald Kita, a U.S. patent attorney, whose family was incarcerated during World War II; Karen Korematsu, Founder and Executive Director of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute; Craig Green, Professor of Law at Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law; and Tuan Samahon, Professor of Law at Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law.

To learn more about APABA-PA, please visit their website.