9066 to 9/11: America’s Concentration Camps Then… and Now? (film)

A 2004 documentary film directed by Akira Boch that looks at the World War II expulsion of Japanese Americans into American concentration camps through the contemporary lens of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Immediately following the attacks, there was an instant public backlash against Arab Americans and Muslims. As the United States government fought a "war on terrorism" with no end in sight, its tactics and policies were noticeably reminiscent of the rhetoric and immediate steps taken that led to the mass incarceration of Japanese and Japanese Americans during World War II. The film draws comparisons between the Japanese and Muslim American experiences, provoking questions about immigration, patriotism, equality and the civil rights and liberties of all American citizens, especially during times of national emergency.

The film features remarks and interviews with Yuri Kochiyama , Reverend Art Takemoto, Jerry Kang, Art Hansen, Linda Sherif, Ban Al-Wardi, Tajuddin Shuaib, and Evely Yoshimura. It was produced Akira Boch, John Esaki and Masaki Miyagawa through the Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center at the Japanese American National Museum .

Might also like Day of Remembrance (2003); Caught in Between: What to Call Home in Times of War (2004); Enemy Alien (2011)