By Pastor Tomoko Murao-Fuse
On February 25, a Day of Remembrance Interfaith Vigil was held outside the ICE Field Office in San Francisco. Organized by the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (IM4HI), the gathering was supported by many faith communities—including Sycamore Congregational Church—as well as Japanese American and Japanese community organizations. Faith leaders, community organizers, and members of many traditions came together in prayer, remembrance, and solidarity.
The Day of Remembrance marks the anniversary of Executive Order 9066, signed on February 19, 1942, which led to the forced removal and incarceration of more than 125,000 people of Japanese ancestry (⅔ of whom were US citizens) during World War II. Each year, communities across the country gather to remember this painful history and to renew a shared commitment that such injustice must never happen again.
For many within the United Church of Christ, this history may not be widely known. Yet remembering it is deeply connected to our calling as people of faith: to honor human dignity, to stand with those who are vulnerable, and to resist injustice in every generation.
For Sycamore Congregational Church, this day carries particular meaning. In 1942, members of our congregation, then in Oakland, were forced to leave everything behind and were mass incarcerated. The church was shuttered and locked. A few ally congregations held records, property, deeds. Sycamore, now in El Cerrito, is one of the few churches in the US where Japanese and Japanese American communities worship together. In this community, the histories of Japanese Americans and the experiences of more recent immigrants from Japan meet and speak to one another.
As someone who came to the United States from Japan as part of what is sometimes called the “new Issei” generation, I also recognize that I did not grow up learning this history. In Japan, the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II is rarely taught in schools, and for many years I knew very little about it.
Today, many in the more recent Japanese immigrant community—often referred to as the “new Issei”—also experience questions of identity, displacement, and isolation as we navigate life between cultures. Remembering together creates space for connection. Our histories are not identical, yet they are deeply connected, and through shared acts of remembrance we begin to discover solidarity with one another.
At the vigil, participants listened to testimonies from survivors and descendants of the wartime incarceration camps—stories that continue to shape families and communities across generations. Faith leaders from multiple traditions offered prayers for healing, sacred protection, and courage to stand with immigrants facing injustices today.
One member of the planning team, a descendant of those incarcerated during World War II, shared a reflection that captured the meaning of the gathering:
“Only a handful of people or groups stood up for Japanese Americans when we were forced out of the West Coast and sent to the American concentration camps. Even today, the survivors and their descendants, including myself, continue to struggle with the effects of experiential and intergenerational trauma.
Speaking up for immigrants is therefore deeply meaningful for us. Through our cultural traditions, prayer, meditation, blessings, and even Obon dance, we reach out to the wider community and say together: ‘Never Again.’”
Her words reminded me that remembrance is not only about history. It is also about how communities carry memory forward—through faith, culture, and solidarity.
In a prayer prepared for the vigil, I reflected on the connection between historical memory and the present moment, praying these words:
“We remember that what has been shared here is not only the past.
We see its echoes in our own time—in the exclusion, in the detention, in the suffering of those seeking safety.
And so we stand here in vigil—in grief and in remembrance.
All life is sacred, just as it is. Help us to honor and protect the dignity and beauty of every life.”
As people of faith, remembering is not only about looking back. It shapes how we live now—how we stand with immigrants and all who are vulnerable, how we protect the dignity of every life, and how we respond to injustice with compassion and courage.
In remembering together, we renew a shared commitment: that the injustices of the past must not be repeated, and that our communities will continue to speak, pray, and act so that we may truly say, Never Again.
Media coverage
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-KvHCuCO6NY
AsAm News:
https://asamnews.com/2026/02/26/day-of-remembrance-vigil-ice-detention-protest/
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Pastor Tomoko Murao-Fuse
Sycamore Congregational Church, UCC
Photos were taken by Peg Hunter.
