Peace & Justice History for 2/19

As well, Feb. 19th is the annual Day of Remembrance of Pres. Roosevelt’s E.O. 9066, interning Japanese-Americans.

February 19, 1919
A Pan-African Congress was organized by W.E.B. DuBois in Paris, France, to coincide with the Versailles Peace Conference after World War I. DuBois, sociologist, historian, novelist, playwright, and cultural critic, served as special representative of the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), and was assisted by Blaise Diagne, a member of the French Parliament from the West African colony of Senegal.

W.E.B. DuBois, founder of the NAACP and convener for the Pan-African Congress in Paris.
The Congress’s aim was to call the issue of “international protection of the natives of Africa” to the attention of the United States and the European colonial powers who were making momentous decisions on the nature of the post-war world.
DuBois was a moving spirit behind the growing struggle for self-determination among Africans, both on the continent and in the diaspora, and the Pan-African Congresses helped to bring the issues of this struggle to world attention. The Pan-African Congress was re-convened in 1921, 1923, 1927, and 1945.

Attendees at the Pan-African Congress.
More about W.E.B. DuBois 
More depth on the Pan-African Congresses
February 19, 1942
President Franklin D. Roosevelt, ten weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, issued a directive ordering all Japanese Americans (Nisei) evacuated from the West Coast of the U.S., and forcing them to live in concentration camps. Executive Order 9066 authorized the Secretary of War and military commanders “to prescribe military areas . . . from which any or all persons may be excluded.”

San Francisco Chronicle February 27, 1942 Photo by Dorothea Lange

Japanese American residents board the bus for Camp Harmony, 1942.
There was strong support from California Attorney General Earl Warren (later U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice), liberal journalist Walter Lippmann and Time magazine—which referred to California as “Japan’s Sudetenland”

Japanese-American child on bus to concentration camp. photo: Dorothea Lange
112,000 citizens of Japanese ancestry were relocated, losing their businesses, homes, and belongings to the white residents of their former neighborhoods.This day is referred to as the “Day of Remembrance.” It has been commemorated every year for 67 years to remind Americans of that miscarriage of justice, and to ensure such things do not happen again.
Children of the camps 
Note: In the entire course of the war, 10 people were convicted
of spying for Japan, all of whom were Caucasian

Day of Remembrance 
“Not Enough People Know About Day of Remembrance” 
February 19, 1972
Paul McCartney’s song, “Give Ireland Back to the Irish,” was immediately banned from airplay by the BBC.
Opening of the song:
Give Ireland back to the Irish
Don’t make them have to take it away
Give Ireland back to the irish
Make Ireland Irish today
Great Britain you are tremendous
And nobody knows like me
But really what are you doin’
In the land across the sea
Tell me how would you like it
If on your way to work
You were stopped by Irish soldiers
Would you lie down do nothing
Would you give in, or go berserk?
  
Paul McCartney and “Wings” rehearse the song 

https://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/peacehistoryfebruary.htm#february19

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