internment in 1988. The experience taught Japanese Americans the benefits of partnering with other communities.

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“We couldn't win redress without reaching out to others,” Masaoka said.

In the wake of the San Bernardino, Calif., and Paris terrorist attacks, leaders of the NCRR and other Japanese-American organizations reached out to Muslims groups offering their help. They are among a raft of grass-roots organizations that have shown solidarity with American Muslims.

On Thursday (Dec. 10), hundreds of people marched through the Little Tokyo historic district in Los Angeles and held a candlelight vigil, condemning Islamophobia and singing, “We shall overcome.”

Their destination was the Japanese American National Museum, built on the site of the former Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple, where some families sent tointernment camps stored belongings.

Muslim organizations report unprecedented levels of discrimination and violence against members of their faith since the recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino. Haroon Manjlai of the Council on American-Islamic Relations-Los Angeles said the number of hate incident reports his group receives locally has surged from around four monthly, to 37 already since the beginning of this month.

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has called for a temporary ban on Muslims entering the country, and he said he might have supported internment during World War II. And more than half of the nation’s governors have declared their state’s borders closed to refugees from Syria.

While no major American political figure is proposing internment now, Muslim leaders are deeply concerned