Sue Kunitomi Embrey: Concentration Camps, Not Relocation Centers

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by Bruce Embrey

The following paper, Concentration Camps, Not Relocation Centers, written by Sue Kunitomi Embrey, grew out of a panel discussion held at California State University, Fullerton, on March 25, 1976. It represents one of the earliest efforts of the Manzanar Committee to educate the broader public about the incarceration of 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry.

As its title succinctly states, it is an effort to clarify the nature of the War Relocation Authority camps where Americans of Japanese ancestry were unjustly imprisoned during World War II.

Despite being used in an official state plaque, despite being used by Presidents, the Attorney General of the United States, and numerous scholars, the use of concentration camp to describe these camps, rather than relocation centers, or other euphemistic terms, still generates considerable resistance, often times, from within the Nikkei community.

This debate rages on precisely because words matter. The terms one chooses to use to describe the incarceration and wholesale deprivation of the civil rights of the Nikkei community fundamentally impacts what political lessons one draws from this ugly chapter of American History.

Euphemistic language and misnomers distort history. By failing to capture accurately what occurred during World War II, the work to insure this never happens again will be all that much weaker.

We hope republishing this paper will contribute to a better understanding of what the Japanese Americans endured 68 years ago.

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Bruce Embrey is co-chair of the Manzanar Committee.

The views expressed in this story are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Manzanar Committee.

The PDF version of Concentration Camps, Not Relocation Centers, available for download above, requires Adobe Reader to view the file.

Related Stories:

• Words Can Lie Or Clarify Criticizes Euphemistic Language Used To Describe WWII Camps Used To Imprison Japanese Americans
• Manzanar Committee Member Joyce Okazaki: “Yes, It Was A Concentration Camp”
• More From Okazaki On Use of “Concentration Camp;” Refutes Rafu Shimpo Columnist George Yoshinaga
• Grateful Crane’s Soji Kashiwagi Weighs In On Use Of “Concentration Camp”
• Mako Nakagawa Delivers Keynote Address At 42nd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage
• Euphemistic Terms Used To Describe WWII Incarceration Of Japanese Americans Targeted At JANM Event
• Cast in Bronze: Terminology Symposium in San Francisco, October 22, 2011

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