Tsuru for Solidarity: Stop Repeating History

Tsuru for Solidarity is a nonviolent, direct action project of Japanese American social justice advocates working to end detention sites and support front-line immigrant and refugee communities that are being targeted by racist, inhumane immigration policies. We stand on the moral authority of Japanese Americans who suffered the atrocities and legacy of U.S. concentration camps during WWII and we say, “Stop Repeating History!”

Never Again is NOW. Our mission is to:

educate, advocate, and protest to close all U.S. concentration camps;
build solidarity with other communities of color that have experienced forced removal, detention, deportation, separation of families, and other forms of racial and state violence;
coordinate intergenerational, cross-community healing circles addressing the trauma of our shared histories.

Tsuru for Solidarity Voices and Updates

TFS protesters and La Resistencia stand at Sea Tac airport to protest and block the deportation of Victor Jimenez

Seattle Tsuru for Solidarity Joins La Resistencia to Block Deportation

Shut Down Berks – August Action

Yonsei with fists raised speak out in front of Dilley detention center. Photo by Hank + Tank Photography

Reflections on Transformative Solidarity

Shut Down Berks – rally outside Berks Family Detention Center

Emily Akpan, New York

David Inoue, Washington D.C.

Kim Miyoshi, Bay Area

Nina Wallace, Seattle

Graphic with raised fists in background text reads "And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear?" -Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Statement of Solidarity with Black Communities

Free the Families

You can read Satsuki Ina’s statement on the separation of families in detention here. We also have more ways for you to get involved!

Why are we here?

“There comes a moment when you realize that nobody tried to stop the round-up and incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII- and you will not participate in the repetition of that mistake. So, conscience must guide us to move with a valid action against this current violence. We must be the allies that our community needed.”

"Americans turned their backs on us as we disappeared. Nobody marched for us, nobody protested, but today we bring our voices, our drums, our tsuru spirit to speak out against unjust mass incarceration."

"'Never Again' is right now. It's happening all around us, every day. We must be vigilant in showing up and demanding that sites like Fort Sill be shut down. No one showed up for Japanese American families like mine in 1942, but we can and we must show up for immigrant children and families today.”

"For children to be separated from their parents for long periods of time is nothing anybody wants for anybody. We have to find a way politically, through laws, through legislation, to not let this happen, because it will traumatize a child for the rest of their life."

What is "tsuru"?

TSURU means crane in Japanese, and symbolizes peace, compassion, hope and healing. In the traditional Japanese folk art of paper folding (origami), it is a popular, easy-to-learn figure that children and adults of all abilities can create. The cranes we fold today are expressions of SOLIDARITY with children, families and communities that are under attack.

Click here to learn more about how you can join in making tsuru>>

255,408 TSURU FOLDED | GOAL: 525,000

What have we done so far?

Tsuru for Solidarity has organized and participated in cross-community direct actions around the country to protest active and planned U.S. immigrant incarceration sites.

Watch some of our work here>>

(Read the transcript to video here)

How else can I get involved right now?

Support our work:

Our goal is to raise at least $125,000 in individual contributions — or one dollar for each person incarcerated during WWII, toward the overall goal of $270,000. We ask that 1,000 people donate at least $125 toward this goal.

All donations are tax-deductible. Alliance for Global Justice, which is our fiscal sponsor, is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, tax number 52-2094677.

Sign the petition to close the camps:

Why is the Japanese American concentration camp history important today?

On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued Order 9066, authorizing the displacement and incarceration of 120,000 Japanese Americans on the West Coast.
With this order, the U.S. government uprooted the Japanese community from their homes and businesses, and incarcerated them for years in concentration camps, termed “War Relocation Authority Centers.”