Manzanar Committee

Reflections On Manzanar At Dusk 2010

July 28, 2010 — Gann Matsuda

by James To

Draft resister Bill Nishimura during a small group discussion at the 2010 Manzanar At Dusk program, April 24, 2010.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

From my perspective, the 41st Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage on April 24, 2010, had a different impact on the mood of the people this year. I am not sure if it was the weather or the people, it certainly had a different feel for the day. I am grateful that draft resisters Takashi Hoshizaki and Bill Nishimura were our speakers at the Manzanar At Dusk 2010 program and that Tak was our speaker earlier in the day at the Pilgrimage.

As we prepared for the day’s event, there was the concern on how many people would come and did we have enough water. I guess a better question would be did we provide a good atmosphere for people to share their experience or for students to ask, “why I am here” or an even better question, “why did they send 10,000 people to the middle of the desert?”

This year’s theme of “Unfinished Business” reminds of us the constant struggle in which our freedoms have been challenged and the stories of sacrifices of our elders need to be told, because many have forgotten, or have not been taught due to neglect of our educational system. It becomes the responsibility of the community to help tell and share the stories of the past. Tak’s and Bill’s experience as draft resisters was one that we do not hear in our history or ethnic studies classes often and the evening’s presentation provided the right catalyst for discussion of the struggle that both had, not only the question of being incarcerated at Heart Mountain, Manzanar and later in Tule Lake, but also the question of how loyalty and citizenship to serve became a contradiction of attitude between the community, government and the former prisoners. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Manzanar. Tags: 41st Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, Bill Nishimura, James To, Jim To, Lone Pine, Lone Pine High School, Manzanar, Manzanar At Dusk, Manzanar Pilgrimage, Tak Hoshizaki, Takashi Hoshizaki. Leave a Comment »

The Fighting 442: Live With Honor, Die With Dignity Makes So Cal Debut – July 25, 2010

July 23, 2010 — Gann Matsuda

On July 25, The Fighting 442: Live With Honor, Die With Dignity, a new film by Ann Haneda that documents the heroic exploits of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the Japanese American unit that fought gallantly in Europe during World War II, makes its Southern California debut at the Japan America Theatre in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Manzanar. Tags: Japanese American, KTLA, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, civil rights, Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, racism, discrimination, Ann Haneda, The Fighting 442, Japan America Theatre, Japan American Theater, Frank Buckley, Japanese American Cultural and Community Center. 1 Comment »

More California Colleges and Universities Bestow Honorary Degrees

June 21, 2010 — Gann Matsuda

In recent weeks, more California colleges and universities bestowed honorary degrees on former Japanese American students who were forced to leave their respective campuses due to their forced relocation from the West Coast and imprisonment in American concentration camps during World War II. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Manzanar. Tags: concentration camp, Japanese American, Warren Furutani, Japanese American Internment, civil rights, racism, discrimination, California Community Colleges, California Nisei College Diploma Project, California State University, Pasadena City College, California Polytechnic University, Imperial Valley College, Los Angeles City College. 1 Comment »

Connections And Common Bonds Are Key At Manzanar At Dusk Program

June 4, 2010 — Gann Matsuda

LONE PINE, CA AND LOS ANGELES — Thirteen years ago, a group of about forty people, primarily college students, gathered for an evening program at a campground just west of Independence, California, about six miles north of the Manzanar National Historic Site.

That evening, they talked about Manzanar and the Japanese American Internment experience, along with its surrounding issues, during an intergenerational group discussion, connecting the past with present-day concerns. They also shared their own experiences through creative means such as poetry and other cultural performances.

Eryn Tokuhara (center) listens intently to a former Japanese American concentration camp prisoner tell his story during a small group
discussion at the 2010 Manzanar At Dusk program, held at
Lone Pine High School on April 24, 2010.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

That was back in April 1997…the Manzanar After Dark program, now known as Manzanar At Dusk (MAD), was born.

As the program grew in popularity, it eventually moved to the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall in Independence, attracting up to 135 people. In 2007, MAD moved to the Manzanar National Historic Site Interpretive Center, which was filled wall-to-wall with 240 participants.

The last three years, MAD has been held at Lone Pine High School in Lone Pine, California, about eight miles south of the Manzanar National Historic Site, drawing record crowds up to 360 people in 2009.

Although the format has had to change a bit over the years as the popularity of the program has increased dramatically, the MAD program remains true to its 1997 origins in that participants can share their experiences in small group discussions, connect the past with present-day issues, and talk about “what we can do now.” Read the rest of this entry »

More Japanese Americans Receive Honorary Degrees From California Colleges

June 2, 2010 — Gann Matsuda

Several campuses in the California State University system along with a number of California Community Colleges held commencement ceremonies recently in which former Japanese American students who were forced to leave their respective campuses due to their forced relocation from the West Coast and imprisonment in American concentration camps during World War II received honorary degrees. Read the rest of this entry »

41st Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage: Reflecting and Revisiting Living History

June 1, 2010 — Gann Matsuda

by LiAnn Ishizuka

When I looked out the car window as we approached the barren landscape of dust and tumbleweeds, I couldn’t help but notice the majesty of the Sierra Nevada backdrop. Snow was sprinkled atop the rocky foundation as if perfectly layering the mountains in a picturesque way—something that could have been taken straight from a promotional Mammoth tourism leaflet.

LiAnn Ishizuka (left) with Jaymie Takeshita (right) at the Manzanar cemetery during the 41st Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage on April 24, 2010.
Photo: LiAnn Ishizuka

Mother Nature’s beauty was overwhelming.

We continued to drive until I saw it. In the distance, a hanging placard was at the entrance of the Manzanar site. At a closer glance, the words, “Manzanar War Relocation Center” were carved into the wood. It was the entrance to a place that was once Native American land but became an internment camp, and now a place of living history.

Just seeing that placard flooded my mind with a sense of what once was. The barracks were not there, but I could visualize them and I could feel the dust and constant heat that must have haunted the memories of many former internees.

My own grandmother, who rarely spoke about her concentration camp experience in Poston, Arizona, would remind me how the heat was unbearable. Even though Manzanar was not a place that had displaced my own family, it represented and still represents something that remains to be fully understood by those who have not visited.

For me, it represents a part of living history, a glimpse into a tumultuous period of Japanese American history, a renewed sense of understanding and a place where people of all creeds, religions and backgrounds can reflect on shared histories. Read the rest of this entry »

Uncovering Community: Merritt Park Archaeological Digs At Manzanar National Historic Site

May 27, 2010 — Gann Matsuda

To download a printable flyer, click on the image above.

Last summer, volunteers helped excavate Merritt Park at the Manzanar National Historic Site, perhaps the most well-known of the elaborate gardens built by the former prisoners of the World War II American concentration camp.

This summer, volunteers will once again have an opportunity to help uncover history at Merritt Park, where further archaeological digs will take place starting June 14, 2010 and ending on June 23. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Manzanar. Tags: Manzanar, Manzanar National Historic Site, concentration camp, Japanese American, Merritt Park, Japanese American Internment, civil rights, Owens Valley, Pleasure Park, racism, discrimination, Rose Park, Archaeology. 1 Comment »

Quakers: Friends of the Japanese American Community – June 5, 2010

May 27, 2010 — Gann Matsuda

To download a printable flyer, click on the image above.

During World War II, the Religious Society of Friends (also known as the Quakers), the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), and its affiliates were among the few groups to publicly support and aid the 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry who were forced to leave their homes on the West Coast and were incarcerated in ten camps across the United States.

Quakers: Friends of the Japanese American Community, an event sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, the Japanese American National Museum, the Nikkei for Civil Rights & Redress and the UCLA Asian American Studies Center is scheduled for June 5 at 2:00 PM at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy at the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo, 369 East First Street, Los Angeles, California, 90012. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in Manzanar. Tags: concentration camp, Japanese American, NCRR, Japanese American Internment, civil rights, UCLA Asian American Studies Center, Japanese American National Museum, racism, discrimination, Lane Hirabayashi, Quakers, Nikkei For Civil Rights & Redress, American Friends Service Committee, Joe Franko, Esther Takei Nishio, Jean Hibino, Gordon Hirabayashi. 1 Comment »

UCLA: Bruins Return 70 Years Later To Receive Honorary Degrees

May 21, 2010 — Gann Matsuda

The following is a story from UCLA Today, UCLA’s faculty and staff newsletter. It is reprinted here with permission. Original story: Bruins Return 70 Years Later To Receive Honorary Degrees.

by Wendy Soderburg

48 of the 200 former Japanese American students (or their representatives) who were forced to leave UCLA due to their forced relocation and imprisonment in American concentration camps during World War II
received honorary degrees in a May 15, 2010
ceremony at UCLA’s Schoenberg Hall.
Photo: Todd Cheney/UCLA Photo

The auditorium in Schoenberg Hall was dark, save for a spotlight that shone on a single musician on stage. He raised a shakuhachi—a Japanese flute—to his lips and began to play a beautiful, mournful melody.

The curtain rose, revealing a group of degree candidates seated on the stage, clad in cap and gown. Joyful cheers burst forth from the packed house, followed by a long and enthusiastic standing ovation. The degree candidates smiled, and a few wiped away tears, as the familiar strains of “Pomp and Circumstance” filled the hall.

Although all the traditional elements were there, this May 15 event was not your usual commencement ceremony, nor was this your usual group of soon-to-be graduates. These were 48 of the nearly 200 Japanese American former students—or, in some cases, their representatives—who had been forced to leave UCLA and enter internment camps when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in the winter of 1942. Read the rest of this entry »

National Park Service Awards $3 Million For 2010 Japanese American Confinement Sites Grants

May 20, 2010 — Gann Matsuda

The following is a press release from the National Park Service.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 13, 2010
Contact: Gerry Gaumer (202) 208-6843
Kara Miyagishima (303) 969-2885

Office of Communications and Public Affairs
News Release

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Park Service (NPS) has awarded 23 grants totaling: $2.9 million to help preserve and interpret historic locations where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II.

In the program’s second year, the Japanese American Confinement Sites Grants will help fund projects in a dozen states, including the restoration of a historic railroad depot in Arkansas that will house an exhibit about that state’s two confinement sites, and an educational outreach program to engage youth in preserving confinement sites through art, conversation, and community service. Read the rest of this entry »