The board president of Idaho Japanese Association was invited to participate the Day of Remembrance at the Statehouse. Governor Brad Little and JACL president Maki Jackson also serves IJA secretary spoke during this event.
This year marks the 78th anniversary of Executive Order 9066. The first DOR in Idaho was held in 2002 and is currently the longest running Statehouse ceremony in the nation.
The Day of Remembrance (DOR) was created as an annual observance of Executive Order 9066, signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, forcing all persons of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast to leave their homes for confinement in inland detention camps. During the period from 1942 to 1946, some 77,000 American–born citizens (Nisei) and 45,000 Japanese nationals, most of whom were permanent U.S. residents (Issei), were deprived of liberty and property without criminal charges or trial. The Minidoka Internment Center (near Twin Falls, Idaho) was home to about 10,000 people of Japanese ancestry – many of whom later settled in the Boise Valley.