Event

About And Then They Came for Us

Rating:

Not rated Not rated

Year Released:

2017

Format:

Virtual

Closed captioning:

Closed captioned

Genres:

Documentary

Metadata:

Directed by Abby Ginzberg, Ken Schneider

And Then They Came for Us is a cautionary and inspiring tale for all societies. In 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, paving the way for the forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans. The film educates audiences about the constitutional damage done in the name of national security due to war hysteria and racism. Featuring actor George Takei and others who were incarcerated, rediscovered photos of Dorothea Lange, and the story of Fred Korematsu’s long journey to justice, the film brings history into the present, as it follows Japanese Americans speaking out against the current Muslim travel ban and other regressive immigration policies.

Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Abby Ginzberg has been producing compelling documentaries about race and social justice for over 30 years. In addition to directing Truth to Power: Barbara Lee Speaks for Me and Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa, Ginzberg has recently released Waging Change (2019), a documentary about the challenges faced by tipped servers. And Then They Came for Us (2017), about the connection between the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII and the recent Muslim travel ban, won a Silver Gavel Award, has played in major cities across the country, and was broadcast on public television in 2019 and 2020. Ginzberg was also the consulting producer on The Barber of Birmingham (dir. Robin Fryday And Gail Dolgin), which premiered at Sundance in 2011 and was nominated for an Oscar in the short documentary category.

Dr. Satsuki Ina is Professor Emeritus in the School of Education at California State University, Sacramento. She was born in the Tule Lake Segregation Center, an American concentration camp, during WWII. As a licensed psychotherapist, her primary clinical work has focused on intergenerational families struggling with legacies of trauma.  Her research on the long-term impact of the WWII incarceration on the Japanese American family has led her to produce two award-winning documentary films, Children of the Camps and From a Silk Cocoon, both of which have been broadcast nationally on PBS. Dr. Ina is a community activist, educator, and spokesperson advocating for social justice who currently continues her psychotherapy and consultation practice in Oakland, California, addressing issues of community and historical trauma.