Carly Lindley (center), shown here facilitating one of the small group
discussions at the 2012 Manzanar At Dusk program, April 28, 2012,
at Lone Pine High School, Lone Pine, California.
(click to view larger image)
Photo: Gann Matsuda

Ever since I returned to San Diego from my first Manzanar Pilgrimage in 2010, I have been waiting to go back.

My first experience was extremely eye opening, and it brought to life what my Grandpa Harry had told me about his life there. Seeing the snow capped mountains he saw, walking the dusty paths, I would imagine him walking, and feeling the heat for only a day that he had to endure for the duration of the camp, was a very powerful experience, especially because I was very close to my Grandpa, and he had recently passed away.

It was an experience that I wouldn’t even know how to put into words.

When people would say each Pilgrimage is a different experience, I never quite understood. How could coming back be a different experience, and why would I want that experience to change?

After two years, I expected to come back and feel the same feelings I did my first time, and I was looking forward to it. This year, I came back as part of the program putting together Manzanar At Dusk, as well as the organizer of the trip for the UCSD Nikkei Student Union, so already my trip was different from the first time I went as a freshman, just meeting the people I went with.

Being in these leadership positions this time around forced me to think about the Pilgrimage in a different way; instead of just going for my own reasons, I had to try to pass on my stories and feelings about Manzanar, and everything surrounding it, to the newcomers, and to everyone else who came. It was my job to pass down the importance of taking this pilgrimage so that they would want to continue returning, as I have.

Speaking as a small group facilitator, and at open mic for the first time, allowed me to put into words what I’ve always felt, and help me understand how I relate to everything much more. Manzanar isn’t just a part of my history and heritage. Rather, it is also a part the reason my life is the way it is today. I mentioned this in both small group and open mic, but this was the most important concept to me—I feel the need to reiterate it.

Part of the reason for Manzanar and the internment camps was to discourage Japanese culture and separate the people within this culture. However, I think that in those aspects, the camps ultimately failed to do what they were meant to do just by looking at my life now. On one hand, yes, they did dissolve part of the culture for a time. As a Yonsei, I do not speak any Japanese. I know my Grandpa was fluent in reading and writing, but I never heard or saw a word of Japanese from him. On the other hand, because I know my culture was discouraged and put down has given me the motivation to go back and rediscover it. I may not speak Japanese, but I’m learning.

In addition, instead of separating Japanese and Japanese Americans from each other, the camps, from my experience, have brought them closer. I know I cannot speak for the people who were interned and directly affected by camp, but in my generation, this is what I have seen. This idea is best exemplified by me and my college house mate. I did not know him until September of last year when we moved into the same house with two other people. After getting to know each other for a while, we found out that our families were both interned at Poston. But when I figured out that our families knew each other in camp, and remembered each other, for me it changed everything, and he was immediately part of my family. I didn’t have to know him for very long, but just that was enough for me to feel connected. These are the kinds of ideas that I gained from this year’s pilgrimage and I’ve enjoyed sharing.

Twenty of us travelled from San Diego, for some I was taking my second trip with them, and for others, I was introducing them to the Pilgrimage for the first time. I was excited to have so many people come and be interested in Manzanar and the history of Japanese Americans. I think I can speak for a lot of the members that came with UCSD NSU and say they enjoyed the experience, and I’m hoping they will return and gain a new understanding in coming years, as I plan to.

A native of Long Beach, California, Carly Lindley is in her third year of her undergraduate studies at the University of California, San Diego, where she is studying Environmental Systems. Lindley, 20, is the Cultural Chair for the UCSD Nikkei Student Union (UCSD NSU), and served on the organizing committee for the 2012 Manzanar At Dusk program. Lindley is also UCSD NSU’s President-Elect for the 2012-13 academic year.

The views expressed are those of the author, and are not necessarily those of the Manzanar Committee.

Unless otherwise specified, all stories, images, video and audio content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story, image, video or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this blog are required.

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Small group discussions at the Manzanar At Dusk program are very diverse,
in terms of age, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs, and sexual orientation.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

LOS ANGELES — College students will once again take the lead role during this year’s Manzanar At Dusk program, sponsored by the Los Angeles-based Manzanar Committee, scheduled from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM on Saturday, April 28, 2012, at the Lone Pine High School gymnasium, located at 538 South Main Street (US Highway 395), in Lone Pine, California, across the street from McDonald’s.

The Manzanar At Dusk (MAD) program follows the 43rd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, scheduled for 12:00 PM that same day, at the Manzanar National Historic Site, between the towns of Lone Pine and Independence, approximately 230 miles north of Los Angeles.

MAD is co-sponsored by the the Cal Poly Pomona Nikkei Student Union, the UCLA Nikkei Student Union, the UCSD Nikkei Student Union, Lone Pine Unified School District, and Lone Pine High School.

Through a creative presentation, small group discussions, and an open mic session, MAD participants will have the opportunity to interact with former incarcerees in attendance to hear their personal stories. Participants will also be able to share their own experiences and discuss the relevance of the concentration camp experience to present-day events and issues.

Student organizers began to take the program back to its 1997 roots last year, when they resumed their leadership role in organizing the event.

One of the student organizations that is co-sponsoring the program has a rather long history of involvement with the Pilgrimage and the MAD program.

“[The] UCLA Nikkei Student Union has been attending the Manzanar Pilgrimage annually since 1987,” said Kyle Ichikawa, a 19-year-old sophomore from Fremont, California, a member of the organizing committee. “It is important to our organization because we all agree that it is an important part of our history that everyone should be aware of. It is a powerful and moving experience to visit the same site where many of our grandparents were incarcerated.”

“The Pilgrimage continues to garner interest among our members of both Japanese and non-Japanese backgrounds,” said organizer Sydney Shiroyama, a 20-year-old junior, of Sunnyvale, California. “For many people, it is the first time they have visited an internment camp. Others had never heard about the Japanese American Internment prior to the Pilgrimage.”

“Whether they are experiencing the site for the first time, or they go every year, everyone always reflects fondly on the experience,” added Shiroyama. “When we return back to Los Angeles on Sunday morning, tired and dusty, we have a sense of unity, a greater respect for those incarcerated, and a drive to ensure that this moment in history will never be repeated.”

For each of the student organizations involved in the planning, a major reason for their involvement is to keep the stories of the aging, and quickly disappearing, former incarcerees alive, as most are in their 80’s, or older.

“With many of the internees passing away, it is important for us to somehow remember what they experienced,” Ichikawa explained. “With that in mind, it is important for the youth to carry on this task, and be the ones to share it with others.”

“In many communities, the youth’s role is portrayed as simply learning and somehow passively growing, while ultimately, it should be quite the opposite,” Ichikawa elaborated. “The younger generations should be the ones given the chance to not only grow through taking on a leadership role, but also to shape how these stories are told to future generations. After all, we are the ones who will bring leadership and change to the communities of tomorrow.”

“We couldn’t be more proud of the students who have taken on the leadership role for the Manzanar At Dusk program,” said Gann Matsuda of the Manzanar Committee. “They understand that keeping the stories of those who were incarcerated behind the barbed wire alive is so important, especially since so many are either no longer able to make the trip to Manzanar, or are no longer with us.”

“That they understand this, and are taking the initiative at MAD to keep those stories alive, is a strong indication that they are not leaders of the future, after they graduate,” added Matsuda. “Rather, they are leaders in our community right now, and we should be engaging them on a much wider basis.”

Both the daytime Pilgrimage program and the Manzanar At Dusk event are free and open to the public.

For more information, check the Manzanar Committee’s official blog at http://blog.manzanarcommittee.org, call (323) 662-5102, or send e-mail to 43rdpilgrimage@manzanarcommittee.org. You can also follow the Manzanar Committee on Facebook and Twitter.

The Manzanar Committee is dedicated to educating and raising public awareness about the incarceration and violation of civil rights of persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II and to the continuing struggle of all peoples when Constitutional rights are in danger. A non-profit organization that has sponsored the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969, along with other educational programs, the Manzanar Committee has also played a key role in the establishment and continued development of the Manzanar National Historic Site.

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Lone Pine High School

Manzanar National Historic Site

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Manzanar Committee Comment Policies

Victor H. Shibata (foreground left), one of the founders of the Manzanar Pilgrimage,
shown here ondo dancing during a 1970’s Pilgrimage, died on April 17, 2012
(click to view a larger image).
Photo: Karen Ishizuka

Shibata, 67, was one of the founders of the Manzanar Pilgrimage, and of Yellow Brotherhood in the late Sixties, a self-help group based in Los Angeles’ Crenshaw District that helped Asian American youth get off of drugs, and stay out of gangs.

California Assemblymember Warren Furutani, a community activist at the time, former Manzanar Committee Chair Sue Kunitomi Embrey, and Shibata were part of a group of 150 who made the long trek from Los Angeles to the site of the Manzanar concentration camp, approximately 230 miles away in the Owens Valley, on December 27, 1969.

“I remember when Victor Shibata and I were going to Oceanside to be in an anti-war march,” Furutani reminisced. “The idea was to take the issue of the Vietnam War directly to the Marine base [Camp Pendleton]. We were sitting there, talking about marches. I think we had the Poor People’s March in Washington, D.C., and the farm workers had just marched to the Capitol to talk about their issues.”

“Victor and I said that we had to march somewhere, and that’s when the idea came up of marching to Manzanar,” Furutani added. “[Manzanar] was the closest, so logic said we can march to that, and, in those days, we didn’t have Google Maps, so we took out the map. [A little over 200] miles—that doesn’t sound too far, so we went.”

Like so many younger Japanese Americans, Shibata had little or no knowledge of the camp experience.

“I thought the camps were this big summer camp everybody went to,” Shibata told the Los Angeles Times in 1989.

But in 1969, he was one of those who stumbled upon a white obelisk in the desert, which turned out to be the Manzanar cemetery monument.

“It was stark, it was weather-beaten, but it was still white, and it was interesting, because the backdrop was, literally, [Mount Williamson], and the Sierra Nevada mountains,” said Furutani. “There was an elegance to it, a starkness. It was very dramatic during a cloudy day, which provided all the environmental drama that helped fill in all the spaces relative to the limited knowledge we had.”

“We started walking around, and it was like discovering a shallow grave, where the elements had blown the top layer off, and then the grave was exposed, and you could see a whole history,” he added. “We didn’t understand it, because we didn’t have the information. The only book out at the time, was called America’s Concentration Camps by Allan R. Bosworth. Of course, we didn’t have any movies, or any of the things we have now relative to the experience.”

The annual Manzanar Pilgrimage is held annually on the last Saturday of April, when the weather is usually warm. But Shibata, and the rest of those who attended the 1969 Pilgrimage, were not so lucky.

“In December, it was cold,” Shibata told i102fly.blogspot.com. “We weren’t thinking about that, but it was actually good that we did it in the bad weather. You really [saw] what they went through.”

Shibata was primarily responsible for the important choice of the term, “pilgrimage.”

“He helped to start the pilgrimages to Manzanar and, in fact, coined the word ‘pilgrimage,’” said Kathy Masaoka of the National Coalition for Civil Rights and Redress (NCRR). “He was very active with youth for his whole life and, was very generous with his skills as a healer. We appreciated his contribution to the NCRR delegation to Cuba in 2001. Victor will be missed.”

“He was at the first pilgrimage, participated in the 50-500 run [50th anniversary of the incarceration of Japanese Americans], and he still camped out every year and attended the pilgrimage,” said educator Jenny Chomori, a long-time supporter of the Manzanar Pilgrimage and the Manzanar Committee. “At the last Pilgrimage, Victor and I reminisced how we used to end the Pilgrimage with a big bonfire as we danced tanko bushi around it, and how great it would be to be able to do it again, [even though we knew] that it would be impossible.”

Manzanar Committee Co-Chair Bruce Embrey bemoaned the loss of such a principled community activist and leader.

“We mourn the loss of one of the original founders of the Manzanar Pilgrimage,” said Embrey. “Victor is credited with calling the 1969 trip a “pilgrimage.” Prescient to say the least.”

“Victor clearly understood how important confronting the past was to the Sansei [third generation Japanese Americans, the second generation born in the United States] in particular, and the Japanese American community in general,” added Embrey. “He knew that a real, thorough appreciation of the struggles the Japanese American community went through during World War II, and its aftermath, was essential to empowering the community.”

“It is on the shoulders of people like Victor that many of us stand today. With his passing, we should redouble our efforts to remember why people like him gave so much and tried so hard to change the world.”

Shibata is survived by his parents, Minejiro and Shizuka Shibata; brother, Sumio Shibata; sister, Nancy (Dicky) Tsuboi; niece, Robyn (Chris) Saito; nephews, Richy and Russell Tsuboi; uncle, Charlie (Fumio) Hamasaki, and many other relatives.

Funeral services are private. An open viewing is scheduled for April 27, 2012, from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM, at Kubota Nikkei Mortuary, 911 Venice Boulevard, Los Angeles, 90015 (see map below). (213) 749-1449.

Kubota Nikkei Mortuary (via Google Maps)

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Manzanar Committee Comment Policies

To download a printable flyer,
click on the image above
(requires Adobe Reader software).

On Friday, April 27, the Independence Chamber of Commerce and the Friends of Eastern California Museum will host a public reception from 4:00 to 8:00 PM at the Eastern California Museum in Independence. The museum’s exhibits include Shiro and Mary Nomura’s Manzanar collection, a special exhibit Personal Responsibility: The Camp Photographs of Toyo Miyatake, and the Anna and O.K. Kelly Gallery of Native American Life.

Eastern California Museum is located at 155 Grant Street in Independence, and is open daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

Saturday, the Manzanar Interpretive Center will be open from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM, offering extensive exhibits and an award-winning film, as well as special Junior Ranger activities for kids. Manzanar History Association will host a book signing by Children of Manzanar editor Heather Lindquist, as well as the annual Selected Artists from the Henry Fukuhara Annual Alabama Hills and Manzanar Workshop art show and sale, which runs through May 20.

The Manzanar Committee’s 43rd Annual Pilgrimage begins at noon Saturday at the Manzanar Cemetery with a performance by UCLA Kyodo Taiko. Dr. Mitchell T. Maki, lead author of Achieving the Impossible Dream: How Japanese Americans Obtained Redress, is the keynote speaker. The Manzanar Committee will honor Rose Matsui Ochi with the 2012 Sue Kunitomi Embrey Legacy Award in recognition of her decades of work to preserve Manzanar and its history. The Pilgrimage program concludes with the traditional interfaith service and Ondo dancing, after which park rangers will offer walking tours to those wishing to explore Manzanar. More information about the Pilgrimage program is posted on the Manzanar Committee’s blog at http://blog.manzanarcommittee.org.

The Manzanar At Dusk (MAD) program begins at 5:00 PM Saturday at Lone Pine High School, located at 538 South Main Street (Highway 395) in Lone Pine. The program will offer participants opportunities to interact with former internees and each other. The MAD program is co-sponsored by the Lone Pine Unified School District, Lone Pine High School, the Cal Poly Pomona Nikkei Student Union, the UCLA Nikkei Student Union, and the UCSD Nikkei Student Union.

Sunday, Manzanar History Association (MHA) will host special talks by Children of Manzanar editor Heather Lindquist at 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM, followed by book signings.

With the exception of Friday evening’s reception and Saturday evening’s MAD program, all events will take place at Manzanar National Historic Site located at 5001 Highway 395, six miles south of Independence, nine miles north of Lone Pine, and approximately 230 miles northeast of Los Angeles. The Manzanar Interpretive Center is open daily from 9:00 AM to 5:30 PM

There is no food service at Manzanar. Please bring a lunch or snacks and water, wear a hat, and comfortable shoes, and dress for the weather.

For more information, please call (760) 878-2194 ext. 3310, visit http://www.nps.gov/manz or check out http://www.facebook.com/ManzanarNationalHistoricSite.

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Manzanar Committee Comment Policies

CULTURAL: UCLA Nikkei Student Union Odori group to lead traditional Ondo dancing at 43rd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage

UCLA Kyodo Taiko, shown here during the 42nd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, will
perform once again at the 43rd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, April 28, 2012.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

Each year, over 1,000 people from diverse backgrounds, including students, teachers, community members, clergy and former incarcerees attend the Pilgrimage, which commemorates the unjust imprisonment of over 110,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry in ten American concentration camps located in the most desolate, isolated regions of the United States. Manzanar was the first of these camps to be established.

UCLA Kyodo Taiko, the first collegiate taiko group in North America, was founded in 1990, and made its debut at the Opening Ceremony of the University of California, Los Angeles’ commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Japanese American Internment, which was held in 1992.

Led by 2011-12 directors Kenny Chang, Michelle Cheng, and Sydney Shiroyama, UCLA Kyodo Taiko is comprised entirely of UCLA students. They have performed annually at local K-12 schools, Nisei Week, Tofu Festival and the Lotus Festival in Los Angeles, the Intercollegiate Taiko Invitational, during halftime at UCLA basketball games, as well as the First Annual USA Sumo Open, in addition to many other campus, community and private events.

UCLA Kyodo Taiko has also become a fertile training ground for students who wish to continue with taiko after their college careers end, as many Kyodo alumni have become members of professional taiko groups.

The featured speaker at this year’s Pilgrimage will be Dr. Mitchell T. Maki, the lead author of Achieving the Impossible Dream: How Japanese Americans Obtained Redress, a detailed case study of the passage of the 1988 Civil Liberties Act, which documents the development of the redress movement from its earliest roots during World War II, the formal introduction of the idea during the 1970s, the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, the judicial battles during the 1980s, and the lobbying of the legislative and executive branches in the 1980s and 1990s.

Rose Ochi, a key figure in the establishment of the Manzanar National Historic Site, and long-time pro bono legal counsel for the Manzanar Committee, will be honored at the Pilgrimage with the 2012 Sue Kunitomi Embrey Legacy Award.

The afternoon program will conclude with the traditional interfaith service featuring ministers from Buddhist, Christian, Konko and Muslim faiths, as well as Ondo dancing, led by the UCLA Nikkei Student Union’s Odori dance group.

In addition to the daytime program, the popular Manzanar At Dusk (MAD) program follows that same evening, from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM, at the Lone Pine High School gymnasium, located at 538 South Main Street (US Highway 395), in Lone Pine, nine miles south of the Manzanar National Historic Site, across the street from McDonald’s.

MAD is co-sponsored by the Lone Pine Unified School District, Lone Pine High School, the Cal Poly Pomona Nikkei Student Union, the UCLA Nikkei Student Union, and the UCSD Nikkei Student Union.

Through a creative presentation, small group discussions and an open mic session, MAD participants will have the opportunity to learn about the experiences of those incarcerated in the camps. Participants will also be able to interact with former incarcerees in attendance to hear their personal stories, to share their own experiences, and discuss the relevance of the concentration camp experience to present-day events and issues.

Pilgrimage participants are advised to bring their own lunch, drinks and snacks as there are no facilities to purchase food at the Manzanar National Historic Site (restaurants and fast food outlets are located in Lone Pine and Independence). Water will be provided at the Pilgrimage.

Both the daytime program and the Manzanar At Dusk event are free and open to the public.

For more information, check the Manzanar Committee’s official blog at http://blog.manzanarcommittee.org, call (323) 662-5102, or send e-mail to 43rddpilgrimage@manzanarcommittee.org. You can also follow the Manzanar Committee on Facebook and Twitter.

The Manzanar Committee is dedicated to educating and raising public awareness about the incarceration and violation of civil rights of persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II and to the continuing struggle of all peoples when Constitutional rights are in danger. A non-profit organization that has sponsored the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969, along with other educational programs, the Manzanar Committee has also played a key role in the establishment and continued development of the Manzanar National Historic Site.

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Manzanar National Historic Site

Lone Pine High School

Click on the image above to download the media guidelines for the 43rd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage and the 2012 Manzanar At Dusk program (Adobe Reader software required)

The popular Manzanar At Dusk (MAD) program follows that same evening, from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM, at the Lone Pine High School gymnasium, located at 538 South Main Street (US Highway 395), in Lone Pine, nine miles south of the Manzanar National Historic Site, across the street from McDonald’s.

For further details on these events, please follow our press releases on our blog, http://blog.manzanarcommittee.org.

For the first time in the history of the Manzanar Pilgrimage and the Manzanar At Dusk programs, credentials will be required for all media, commercial photographers, and film crews. We encourage those covering the events to pre-register via e-mail, so that we can have a credential and media packet ready for you upon arrival. Send e-mail to 43rdmedia@manzanarcommittee.org no later than noon on April 23, 2012, to pre-register.

Please note that our media packet will be distributed on CD-ROM (Mac and Windows compatible; all files will be in Adobe Acrobat/PDF format). If you require a hard copy instead, you must let us know by April 23, 2012.

The Manzanar Committee has also established guidelines that all print, broadcast, and Internet media, along with any film crew, must follow while covering the 43rd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage and/or the 2012 Manzanar At Dusk program (click on the image above to download. PDF format; requires Adobe Reader software).

Be advised that the National Park Service (NPS), which administers the Manzanar National Historic Site, has established guidelines for media, and generally requires permits for filming. The guidelines for coverage of the Pilgrimage do not supersede those of the NPS. Rather, they are meant to complement NPS guidelines for the afternoon Manzanar Pilgrimage event only.

Please be sure to review their guidelines at http://www.nps.gov/manz/planyourvisit/permits.htm, and file the necessary permit requests, if necessary, before making the trip to Manzanar.

Questions and further information prior to the events should be sent to 43rdmedia@manzanarcommittee.org, or call (323) 662-5102.

The Manzanar Committee is dedicated to educating and raising public awareness about the incarceration and violation of civil rights of persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II and to the continuing struggle of all peoples when Constitutional rights are in danger. A non-profit organization that has sponsored the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969, along with other educational programs, the Manzanar Committee has also played a key role in the establishment and continued development of the Manzanar National Historic Site.

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Directions To Manzanar National Historic Site via Google Maps

Directions To Lone Pine High School via Google Maps

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Manzanar Committee Comment Policies

The following is an open letter to C.L. Max Nikias, President of the University of Southern California. It is published here with permission of the author.

Susanne Norton La Faver

C.L. Max Nikias
Office of the President
University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA 90089-4019

Dear President Nikias:

I’m writing as the great granddaughter of USC’s first dean of the College of Liberal Studies, Rev. W.S. Matthew, D.D. He also acted as USC President for a brief time during the 1880s, and raised funds for the fledgling university.

Reverend Dr. Matthew’s oldest child, my great aunt, Margaret Matthew D’Ille Gleason, served as Manzanar’s Social Welfare Director, 1942-1945. Fluent in Japanese from work as YWCA secretary in Japan, 1908-1918, she loved and respected Japanese people and culture.

I’m now grandmother to two babies in Alameda who are Gosei, fifth generation Japanese Americans. They will learn who supported the Japanese Americans during the dark days of World War II, and after.

USC must now act morally and ethically to atone for injustices done to Nisei students during World War II and their decedents.

• Invite family members to receive honorary degrees for deserving former students who are deceased.
• Officially apologize for USC’s racist policy of refusing to release official transcripts for Nisei students during World War II.

These are the right actions honoring my family, and those of all Nisei students during World War II. I hope you will heed our cries for justice and do what should have been done long ago.

Sincerely,
Susanne Norton La Faver, MPA
Adjunct Professor
Golden Gate University

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

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• PCC Graduation, 68 Years Late -Rafu Shimpo
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• Honorary Degrees Awarded At UCLA To Former Japanese American Students – Watch The Video Here
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Manzanar Committee Comment Policies

Rose Ochi, shown here during the
40th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, on
April 25, 2009, will receive the 2012
Sue Kunitomi Embrey Legacy Award.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

LOS ANGELES — On April 2, the Los Angeles-based Manzanar Committee announced that Rose Ochi, a key figure in the establishment of the Manzanar National Historic Site, and long-time pro bono legal counsel for the Manzanar Committee, has been chosen as the 2012 recipient of the Sue Kunitomi Embrey Legacy Award.

The award, named after the late chair of the Manzanar Committee who was one of the founders of the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage and was the driving force behind the creation of the Manzanar National Historic Site, will be presented at the 43rd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, scheduled for 12:00 PM PDT on Saturday, April 28, 2012, at the Manzanar National Historic Site, located on US Highway 395 in California’s Owens Valley, between the towns of Lone Pine and Independence, approximately 230 miles north of Los Angeles.

Ochi, 72, a native of Los Angeles, was three years old when she was shipped off to Rohwer, Arkansas, one of the ten American concentration camps where over 110,000 West Coast Japanese Americans, along with their immigrant parents, were unjustly incarcerated during World War II.

After the war, Ochi returned to Los Angeles, and went on to become an attorney, a civil rights activist, and a shrewd, highly effective political insider at local, state and federal levels. Ochi often used those talents in support of various causes, most notably, during the Japanese American community’s fight for redress and reparations, and her involvement with efforts to preserve and protect Manzanar.

“As a community activist, Sue lent her voice in the fight for social justice in what was viewed to be ‘unpopular causes,’ such as workers rights, farm workers, and feminism,” Ochi said in her tribute to Sue Kunitomi Embrey during the 38th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, on April 28, 2007. “For a Nikkei woman of her generation, this took a lot of guts because the negative consequence of her public outcries was that she risked being ostracized by her own community.”

“After Sue was carted off to Manzanar, she could have, understandably, become embittered and defeated,” Ochi continued. “Instead, experiencing this egregious deprivation of her constitutional rights fueled her passion to work ‘to keeping the memory alive.’”

Ochi worked hand-in-hand with Sue Kunitomi Embrey for 35 years, beginning in 1972.

“For more the thirty years, we had a quixotic journey together,” Ochi noted. “In 1972, I was a public interest lawyer at [the Western Center on Law and Poverty, and] Sue asked me to serve as legal counsel for the Manzanar Committee. I provided legislative advice and political support for Sue to realize her mission—the establishment of the Manzanar National Historic Site.”

“Honoring Rose Ochi is long overdue,” said Manzanar Committee Co-Chair Bruce Embrey, son of Sue Kunitomi Embrey. “Rose is one of a handful of unique Nisei women who played pivotal roles in the struggle for redress.”

“In so many ways, Rose Ochi and my mother were kindred spirits,” he added. “Both overcame the sexism of their time to become teachers, civil rights advocates, and fierce proponents of redress and reparations.”

Ochi went on to serve on the Manzanar National Historic Site Advisory Commission, succeeding Embrey as Chair in its later years.

“While Rose was the Manzanar Committee’s legal counsel, she was no passive ‘counselor,’ offering advice from afar,” Bruce Embrey noted. “Rose and my mother worked closely together from the early days of the struggle for redress, navigating that most difficult period together, all the way to the opening of the Manzanar National Historic Site Interpretive Center in 2004.”

“Rose has dedicated decades of her life to civil rights, and to preserving Manzanar, a site where those rights were ignored,” said Alisa Lynch, Chief of Interpretation, Manzanar National Historic Site. “She has been a key advisor to the National Park Service over the past two decades, particularly as part of the Manzanar Advisory Commission, along with Sue Kunitomi Embrey, and other members of the Japanese American and Owens Valley communities.”

“Manzanar would not be what it is today without their vision and guidance,” added Lynch.

Ochi currently serves as the Executive Director of the California Forensic Science Institute at California State University, Los Angeles.

For more information on the Pilgrimage, including bus transportation, and the popular Manzanar At Dusk program scheduled for 5:00 PM that same evening at Lone Pine High School, check the Manzanar Committee’s official blog at http://blog.manzanarcommittee.org, call (323) 662-5102, or send e-mail to 43rdpilgrimage@manzanarcommittee.org. You can also follow the Manzanar Committee on Facebook and Twitter.

The Manzanar Committee is dedicated to educating and raising public awareness about the incarceration and violation of civil rights of persons of Japanese ancestry during World War II and to the continuing struggle of all peoples when Constitutional rights are in danger. A non-profit organization that has sponsored the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage since 1969, along with other educational programs, the Manzanar Committee has also played a key role in the establishment and continued development of the Manzanar National Historic Site.

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Manzanar National Historic Site

Lone Pine High School

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COMMENTARY: USC must change course and award honorary degrees, not just to living Japanese American students who were forced to leave the campus during World War II, but also to those who have since passed away. USC should also apologize for its racist, unjust treatment of its Nisei students in 1942.

by Gann Matsuda

Unlike crosstown rival UCLA, USC has unjustly refused to award honorary
degrees posthumously to their former Japanese American students
who were forced to leave the campus during World War II.
Photo: Darrell Kunitomi

Of course, much of the boasting is based solely on emotion-laden loyalties, without basis in fact, not that there’s anything wrong with that. After all, loyalty to your school is a good thing.

But one issue where Bruins can say they are better than the Trojans, and know that they have the facts behind them, is how the two campuses treated their Nisei (second generation Japanese Americans, the first generation born in the United States) students during World War II, following President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066, on February 19, 1942, which authorized the forced removal of over 120,000 Japanese Americans from the West Coast, with over 110,000 being incarcerated in American concentration camps for more than three years.

Being smack dab in the middle of the exclusion zone, both UCLA and USC had a problem: What to do with their Nisei students?

Following the lead of then-University of California (UC) President Robert G. Sproul, UC Berkeley and UCLA, which was led at the time by Provost Earle R. Hedrick, worked to assist their Nisei students, as best they could, to transfer to colleges and universities in other parts of the United States that were not in the exclusion zone.

At the time, Sproul’s views on race were very, very progressive, compared to the majority, which was wrapped up in the racist, anti-Japanese sentiment of the time.

“We Americans, in spite of our democratic ideals, too often allow unreasonable prejudice to deprive people of races other than white of the full privileges that should be theirs as native-born citizens of the United States,” said Sproul. “This continuing problem threatens to become more acute now as Japanese American relations become more critical.”¹

“The American citizen of Japanese ancestry is likely to be discriminated against because of superficial physical characteristics that have no influence whatsoever on the quality of his mind, the strength of his character, or the depth of his loyalty to the United States,” added Sproul. “Every good citizen should recognize this danger and do all in his power to counteract it, whatever may happen on the other side of the Pacific.”²

As mentioned earlier, those views led Sproul, and the University of California, to lead efforts to assist Nisei students in their efforts to continue their education elsewhere.

According to the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, “The evacuation meant that some 3,500 Japanese Americans would be prohibited from attending colleges and universities on the West Coast—an incalculable loss to both the nation and the ethnic Japanese community. First to recognize and confront the problem was a group from the University of California at Berkeley led by Robert Gordon Sproul, then President of the University. Sproul and his colleagues set out to transfer as many students as possible to universities in the interior.”³

At UCLA, approximately 200 students were forced to leave the campus as a result of Executive Order 9066.

“The campus also witnessed the tragic loss of its Japanese and Japanese American students, approximately 200 of whom were swept with their families into internment camps,” wrote Marina Dundjerski, in her 2011 book, UCLA: The First Century.⁴ “Administrators tried to help interned students transfer into colleges away from the West Coast internment zones. They succeeded with a few, but not many. Whether students were drafted or interned, Bruins who left before midterms received a refund, and those who completed midterms earned full credit for that semester.”⁵

“All students who leave the University under government order, whether to join the armed forces or to comply with the enemy alien proclamation, will be treated alike,” said Hedrick.⁶

In stark contrast, Nisei students at USC had to deal with a hostile, uncooperative campus administration, led by then-President Rufus B. von Kleinsmid.

As Professor Roger Daniels pointed out in 2002,⁷ and as Rafu Shimpo English Editor Gwen Muranaka, and California State University, Dominguez Hills Professor Emeritus Donald Hata have recently noted, the von Kleinsmid regime acted with what can only be classified as hateful, racist vindictiveness, refusing requests by their Nisei students to send official transcripts to colleges and universities outside the exclusion zone so that they could continue their education (see “Ochazuke: Why Not, USC,” May 27, 2010, “Ochazuke: Political Theater and an Apology From USC,” March 21, 2012, “Letter To The Editor: On Nisei Degrees and USC,” March 26, 2011, and “Ochazuke: Alumni With An Asterisk,” March 29, 2012).

Indeed, in 1942, when representatives of the two campuses came together, agreeing to award the Victory Bell to the winner of the annual UCLA/USC football game, the schools could not have been farther apart in terms of their treatment of their Nisei students.

Sadly, despite the passage of seventy years, the two campuses continue to be rather far apart in how they have treated their Nisei students since World War II.

All UC campuses honored Nisei students who were forced to leave their respective campuses with honorary degrees, awarded to them, or posthumously to surviving family members.

UC’s action was prompted by the impending enactment of Assembly Bill 37, authored by Assemblymember Warren T. Furutani, on October 11, 2009, which required all California State Universities and California Community Colleges to retroactively grant honorary degrees to their Nisei students who were forced to leave their respective campuses due to Executive Order 9066. The bill also requested that the University of California follow suit.

But UC was ahead of the game.

Despite some initial resistance, about three months prior, on July 16, 2009, the Regents of the University of California voted to grant the special honorary degrees, making a one-time exception to suspend a 1986 moratorium prohibiting the granting of honorary degrees (UC had not awarded honorary degrees since 1972, but the Regents made it official in 1986).

“This action is long overdue and addresses an historical tragedy,” said UC President Mark G. Yudof. “To the surviving students themselves and to their families, I want to say this is one way to apologize to you. It will never be possible to erase what happened, but we hope we can provide you a small measure of justice.”

“I am extremely proud of the action that the Regents took today to address this unfinished business,” said UC Vice President of Student Affairs Judy Sakaki. “It means a great deal to me personally, to all former internees and to the entire Japanese American community.”

On May 15, 2010, in a solemn, yet still upbeat ceremony on the Westwood campus, 48 of the approximately 200 former UCLA students (or their representatives), received their honorary degrees, in front of jubilant, proud family members and friends

Across town, after efforts by alumni and the USC Diploma Project, USC, which was not subject to the state law requiring the honorary degrees, will follow suit during their annual commencement ceremony on May 11, 2012, awarding Honorary Baccalaureate or Master’s degrees to their former Nisei students who were forced to leave the campus during World War II.

But, unlike the UC campuses, USC will not award honorary degrees posthumously. In fact, only “…living former students who were enrolled at USC prior to February 1942, who did not complete their degree at USC as a result of the incarceration of individuals of Japanese ancestry during World War II” are eligible.

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that the vast majority of these students have passed away.

“We are privileged to honor the accomplishments and the dreams of the Nisei students who are highly deserving of receiving a college degree for the work they have done at USC,” said USC President C.L. Max Nikias. “Through the years, these students have been among the most passionate and dedicated members of the Trojan Family. We are honored that our Nisei students have an enduring devotion to USC, and we want them to know that the university is also devoted to them.”

But Nikias’ words ring rather hollow, as USC is, evidently, only devoted to those who are still with us, neglecting the memories of their former students who have since passed on.

Indeed, just like the injustice they inflicted upon their Nisei students during World War II by refusing to send official transcripts to schools outside the exclusion zone, thus preventing them from continuing their education, USC is compounding that injustice by denying family members the right to receive the honorary degree for deserving former students who are deceased.

Instead, these alumni, and their surviving family members, are being relegated to second-class status as “Honorary Alumni.”

USC must atone for their errors, past and present. The USC family—faculty, staff, alumni, and especially current Japanese American students at the campus—must demand that the honorary degrees be awarded posthumously, not just to those still alive, and that USC officially apologize for their racist policy of refusing to release official transcripts for their Nisei students during World War II.

Nothing less is acceptable.

The honorary degree that UC campuses awarded to their former Nisei students read, in part, Inter Silvas Academi Restituere Iustitiam, a Latin phrase that means, “to restore justice among the groves of the academy.”

The time has come for USC to do just that.

Gann Matsuda, the editor of the Manzanar Committee’s official blog, did his undergraduate work at UCLA, and worked at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center, and the now-defunct UCLA School Management Program. In 2010, he served on the UCLA Honorary Degree Task Force that planned the commencement ceremony honoring UCLA’s Japanese American students forced to leave the campus during World War II.

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

¹Sakamoto, James. (1942, January 1). University Head Asks Confidence: President Sproul Says that Japanese People Should Be Well Treated. Japanese American Courier. p. 9.

²Sakamoto, James. Japanese American Courier. p. 9.

³The Civil Liberties Public Education Fund. (1997). Relocation Centers. In Personal Justice Denied: Report of the Commission On Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians. Seattle: University of Washington Press. (pp. 180-181).

⁴Dundjerski, Marina. (2011). UCLA: The First Century. London, England: Third Millenium Publishing Limited. 

⁵Dundjerski, Marina. UCLA: The First Century.

⁶Dundjerski, Marina. UCLA: The First Century.

⁷Daniels, Roger. Incarceration of the Japanese Americans: A Sixty-Year Perspective. The History Teacher. 35.3 (2002): 32 pars. 31 Mar. 2012.

Related Stories:

• University of California To Grant Honorary Degrees To Japanese American Students Forced to Leave UC Campuses During WWII
• California Community Colleges To Honor Former Students Imprisoned During World War II
• California State University System To Grant Honorary Degrees To Japanese American Internees
• Japanese Americans Receive Honorary Degrees, 67 Years After WWII Internment Cut Short Their Studies At UC Berkeley
• UC Davis: Tears, Pride As Honorary Degrees Conferred
• PCC Graduation, 68 Years Late -Rafu Shimpo
• SDSU: A Measure Of Restitution
• UCLA: A Wrong Finally Made Right
• UCLA Seeks Japanese American Students Whose Education Was Interrupted During World War II
• SDSU: A Wonderful Gesture
• California State University Searches For Former Japanese American Students
• Fresno State: Public Help Sought To Contact Japanese American Alumni
• Honorary Degree To Fresno State Alumnus Interned In WW II
• San Diego State University Awards Honorary Degrees To Former Japanese American Students
• Honorary Degrees Awarded At UCLA To Former Japanese American Students
• UCLA: Bruins Return 70 Years Later To Receive Honorary Degrees
• More Japanese Americans Receive Honorary Degrees From California Colleges
• More California Colleges and Universities Bestow Honorary Degrees
• Honorary Degrees Awarded At UCLA To Former Japanese American Students – Watch The Video Here
• Open Letter To USC President C.L. Max Nikias Regarding Honorary Degrees To Japanese American Students Forced To Leave Campus During WWII

This story was reprinted by the Rafu Shimpo on April 26, 2012 (print edition), and on April 28, 2012 (web site).

Unless otherwise specified, all stories, images, video and audio content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story, image, video or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this blog are required.

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The following is a press release from the Eastern California Museum.

Toyo Miyatake
Photo: Ansel Adams, Library of Congress

The exhibit, Personal Responsibility: The Camp Photographs of Toyo Miyatake, opened April 7 at the Eastern California Museum, located at 155 North Grant Street, in Independence, six miles north of the Manzanar National Historic Site.

Before being incarcerated at Manzanar, Miyatake was a well-known and highly respected photographer in Los Angeles. His photographs included traditional portraits and cutting edge, modern photography featured in numerous exhibits in the United States and abroad.

The Miyatake family was incarcerated at Manzanar, and Toyo Miyatake later said he felt it was his responsibility to document camp life. His photos of Manzanar have been included in many books, and are often likened, in quality, technique and storytelling, to Manzanar photos taken by contemporaries such as Ansel Adams and Dorothea Lange.

After the war, he returned to his studio in Little Tokyo. Following his retirement, Toyo Miyatake’s son, Archie, who was also incarcerated at Manzanar, took over the studio, and created the museum-quality prints in the exhibit.

Funding to purchase the photo prints in the exhibit was provided by a California Civil Liberties Public Education Program grant in 2000.

In 2011, Toyo Miyatake’s contributions to his community and to photography, before, during and after his internment in Manzanar, led to him being honored and remembered by having a street in Little Tokyo named Toyo Miyatake Way, and the installation of a bronze relief of the photographer.

The annual Manzanar Reception, held during the same weekend as the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, is a relaxed event featuring light refreshments, and is a chance to reconnect with old friends and those new to the Pilgrimage experience. The Museum has an extensive collection of Manzanar artifacts, and hundreds of Manzanar photos on display in its Shi Nomura Collection.

For more information about the Miyatake exhibit or the reception, call (760) 878-0258. The Eastern California Museum is open daily from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM.

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Recreation Area in Firebreak, west of Manzanar Auditorium
Photo: Toyo Miyatake, courtesy Eastern California Museum

General Store, Block 21 at Manzanar
Photo: Toyo Miyatake, courtesy Eastern California Museum

Unless otherwise specified, all stories, images, video and audio content on this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License. You may copy, distribute and/or transmit any story, image, video or audio content published on this site under the terms of this license, but only if proper attribution is indicated. The full name of the author and a link back to the original article on this blog are required.

Manzanar Committee Comment Policies