JANM Denounces Travel Ban

Editors please note: JANM’s Pavilion is closed for renovation; programs will continue on the JANM campus and at other locations at janm.org/OnTheGo. 

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) denounces the administration’s proclamation that bans citizens of twelve countries from traveling to the US. The ban disproportionately affects African and Muslim nations. Barring travellers based solely on country of origin under the guise of national security hearkens back to anti-Asian discrimination that led to the Chinese Exclusion Act, Alien Land Laws, and Executive Order 9066. 

“Never before has the Museum’s mission of promoting understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience has been more important. These arbitrary and discriminatory regulations are rooted in the administration’s racist rhetoric and fear-mongering, chilling reminders of a past we know too well. JANM continues to redouble its efforts to stand in solidarity with targeted communities, something that few groups did when Japanese Americans were targeted in 1941,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM’s President and CEO.

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