"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable. Even a superficial look at history reveals that no social advance rolls in on the wheels inevitability. Every step towards the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Much Shelist held its 12th annual Diversity Day celebration on January 16 in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. Firm employees gathered for a dynamic presentation by Sam Mihara, a national speaker on mass imprisonment of Japanese Americans in the United States.
Sam discussed his experience during World War II when he and his family were removed from their home in San Francisco and taken to a Japanese internment camp in northern Wyoming. They spent the next three years living in a one-room barrack at the Heart Mountain Relocation Center. After surviving the ordeal and returning home, Sam eventually earned engineering degrees from University of California Berkeley and UCLA. He spent his career designing airplanes and rockets at Boeing.
Sam's eye-opening presentation provided a historical perspective on immigration and analyzed whether mass imprisonment could happen again in today's political climate.