Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi visits Temple Menorah in Redondo Beach to discuss Pilgrimage to Manzanar

As part of the upcoming annual Pilgrimage to Manzanar, one of 10 concentration camps in which Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II, Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi spoke to the congregation at Temple Menorah in Redondo Beach about the shared historical experiences in World War II of both the Jewish and the Japanese American community. Assemblymember Muratsuchi, who, along with members of the Temple, will participate in this year’s pilgrimage, spoke about how Japanese American families in Torrance and throughout California were forced to leave their homes and businesses to live in concentration camps solely because they were of Japanese descent.

He also called for the need for education to ensure that history does not repeat itself. Last year, Governor Brown signed the Assemblymember’s Assembly Bill 491 which provides $3 million in education grants, through the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, over the next three years on the incarceration of over 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. It expands the scope of the grant program to include content linking the Japanese American mass incarceration with current civil liberties challenges, including President Trump’s Muslim travel ban as well as his calls for a national Muslim registry.