We need to have the interfaith community support us.”
On March 8, 2017, in commemoration of International Women’s Day, Starr King School for the Ministry invited community civic leaders to present a symposium on the “Comfort Women”, one of the key issues in the global struggle for women’s rights.
One of the greatest atrocities committed against women in the 20 Century was the sexual enslavement of 200,000-400,000 women by the Japanese Imperial Government in the “comfort women” system from 1931 to 1945. Three quarters of these women perished during their enslavement, their lives and histories obliterated, but the “comfort women” system itself survived, becoming the template for modern-day globalized sex trafficking. To this day there has been no official apology from the Japanese government and it has opposed the construction of “Comfort Women” memorials.
Following an introductory video (parental discretion advised), former Superior Court Judges Lillian Sing and Julie Tang spoke on the “Comfort Women”, their struggles to organize and memorialize the issue, and its social, geopolitical, and historic significance for women’s rights. The event was sponsored by Starr King’s MASC Program & the Comfort Women Justice Coalition.
Watch the event here.
To support the Comfort Women Justice Coalition’s efforts to construct a memorial in San Francisco, visit: http://remembercomfortwomen.org/.
#RememberComfortWomen
