On Thursday, Aug. 10, as part of the Trial Practice Track of the CLE in the City Series at the ABA Annual Meeting in New York City, members of AABANY’s Trial Reenactment team performed “Heart Mountain: Conscience, Loyalty, and the Constitution” at Fordham University School of Law. The program was co-chaired by Ona Wang, Partner, Baker Hostetler, and Yang Chen, Executive Director, AABANY. Hon. Denny Chin and Kathy Hirata Chin reprised their roles as Narrators while many veterans of the reenactment team, including Vincent Chang, Vinoo Varghese, David Weinberg and Francis Chin, performed in the reenactment. The cast also welcomed newcomers Marianne Chow, Beatrice Leong and Kevin Hsi.

The Heart Mountain reenactment tells of the mass trials held against Japanese American internees at the Heart Mountain relocation center in Wyoming who refused to register for the draft to fight in World War II. Their refusal was a protest against the unjust internment of Japanese American citizens who were deprived of their liberty without due process of law, contrary to constitutionally-guaranteed civil rights.

The performance was well received by the ABA Annual Meeting and CLE in the City attendees in the audience. After the performance, Judge Chin gave background information about the AABANY trial reenactments and led a Q&A session about the Heart Mountain reenactment.

To learn more about the Heart Mountain case and the other trial reenactments, visit the AABANY Trial Reenactments website here.