9th annual commemoration set for April 16 in Venice, with evening fundraiser at Hama Sushi to support education and Manzanar Pilgrimage grant.
The Venice Japanese American Memorial Monument Committee is inviting the public to its 9th annual commemoration on Thursday, April 16 at the site where more than 1,000 Japanese Americans were gathered in 1942 before being sent to the Manzanar incarceration camp.
The event, scheduled for 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., will take place in person at the northwest corner of Venice and Lincoln boulevards, where the black granite VJAMM monument stands. It marks the 84th anniversary of Executive Order 9066, signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942, which authorized the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. The gathering also falls 38 years after the passage of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 and 57 years after the first Manzanar Pilgrimage in 1969.
A separate fundraiser dinner will be held the same evening from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Hama Sushi restaurant, 213 Windward Ave. in Venice. Hama Sushi owner Esther Chaing has long supported the committee, with the restaurant donating 10% of dinner sales to VJAMM for educational outreach, monument maintenance and the Arnold Maeda Manzanar Pilgrimage Grant. Diners can order anything on the menu, with on-site dining, outdoor patio and takeout options available.
The committee’s announcement urges participants to “stand up for justice” in response to what it describes as actions by the current administration ruled unconstitutional by civil rights organizations, activists and the U.S. Supreme Court. It calls for solidarity with people targeted for their ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, race or religion who have faced detention, incarceration or death without due process.
The VJAMM, a 9-foot-6-inch black granite obelisk dedicated in 2017, commemorates local Japanese Americans from Venice, Santa Monica and Malibu who were forced from their homes with only what they could carry and bused to Manzanar. The monument serves as a reminder to defend constitutional rights.
The evening fundraiser supports ongoing efforts, including the Arnold Maeda Manzanar Pilgrimage Grant for college students. The 2026 recipients were congratulated in promotional materials, while applications for the 2027 grant — offering $1,000 toward the April 23-25 weekend at Manzanar — are due Jan. 8, 2027. Past recipients include Dianne Chevez Hernandez of East Los Angeles College and Danica Leigh Kubota of Stanford University.
Arnold Maeda, who as a teenager was incarcerated with his family and later helped lead the seven-year effort to build the monument, inspired the grant to encourage students to speak out against injustice and assist with the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage.
Donations for VJAMM’s educational outreach, maintenance and the grant can be sent to Venice Arts Council/VJAMM, P.O. Box 993, Venice, CA.
