Foundation director resigns after Day of Remembrance controversy

Less than two weeks after the sudden cancelation of a Day of Remembrance commemoration at Pike Place Market in Seattle, its foundation’s executive director has resigned.

The Pike Place Market Foundation announced the exit of executive director Lillian Sherman effective March 7, the Seattle Times reported.

This after controversy erupted just before Presidents Day Weekend when it canceled an event to commemorate the signing of the executive order by President Franklin D Roosevelt sending Japanese Americans to incarceration camps.

The event organized by Tsuru for Solidarity linked the imprisonment of 120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II to President Trump’s anti-immigration rhetoric.

The group moved its event to the city’s International District but expressed disappointment at the Foundation’s decision.

Shortly after, the Foundation apologized, but did not reverse its decision.

Tsuru for Solidarity has not commented on the resignation. AsAmNews reached out to the group for comment and will update this story should we hear back.

The resignation has already become fodder for conservative talk radio station KTTH which has accused Pike Place Market of “shameless cowardice” and “being under the thumb of the radical left.”

At the time of the cancelation, Tsuru for Solidarity said “We see the connections between the executive order calling for the mass arrest and incarceration of Japanese Americans 83 years ago and the federal raids targeting immigrants in Seattle and across the country and the national expansion of mass detention sites.”