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.

Draft resister Takashi Hoshizaki (right) listens during a small group discussion at the 2010 Manzanar At Dusk program.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

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

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.

The 442nd is the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in United States military history.

For more information, click on: 442-Live with Honor, Die with Dignity.

KTLA-TV 5 here in Los Angeles aired the following report on the KTLA Morning News on July 22:

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.

Here’s a wrap-up of the media coverage:

California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo (June 7, 2010)
Icing on the Cake: CSU Completes Its Nisei Diploma Project WIth Final Ceremony At Cal Poly – Rafu Shimpo
Dan Krieger: Unjust Past Rectified By Honoring Present – San Luis Obispo Tribune
Cal Poly Rights A World War II Wrong – San Luis Obispo Tribune

Los Angeles City College (June 8, 2010)
Monterey Park Woman, Placed In WWII Internment Camp, Finally Receives College Degree – Pasadena Star News

Imperial Valley College (June 12, 2010)
Imperial Valley College Awards Japanese Americans Of WWII With Honorary Degrees – Imperial Valley Press

Pasadena City College (June 18, 2010)
PCC Students Graduate In Historic Ceremony – Pasadena Star News
Degrees Come 68 Years Later For Japanese American Graduates Of PCC’s Class Of 1942 – Pasadena Star News

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

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.”

Also true to MAD’s origins is that college students remain the primary focus, and even after thirteen years, the event is as relevant and important as it ever was as young people are able to connect with the former prisoners to hear their stories.

“At the MAD program, when we were discussing things with those who had been interned, it was always something you don’t talk about,” said twenty-year-old UCLA undergraduate Eryn Tokuhara of Granada Hills, California. “But going to Manzanar opened my eyes to why they don’t talk about it, because it represents so much of America’s negative history that no one wants to talk about.”

“My Grandfather was interned, and as a kid, when we had to do family history projects, he never really spoke of it because it was always really taboo,” added Tokuhara, a member of the UCLA Nikkei Student Union and Co-Director of UCLA Kyodo Taiko. “So I knew of the camps and I knew what they were, but attending the Pilgrimage and MAD brought it to a whole new level for me in terms of what they had to go through for us to get where we are today.”

“I think being able to go to Manzanar was an experience that brought my own personal history up front for me to confront it and see how it shaped me and how it shaped my grandfather, especially, and his experiences in the United States.”

At the 2010 MAD program, held in the evening following the 41st Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage on April 24, 2010, more apparent than ever before was the dwindling number of former Japanese American prisoners in attendance.

Each year at the MAD program, participants are always most interested in hearing the stories of former prisoners, most of whom are in their late-80’s or older. But this year, there were not enough of them to go around.

Indeed, for the first time in the history of the MAD program, a few of the small groups had to be combined with other groups to ensure that every group had a former prisoner.

Edward Kobayashi (center) facilitates a small group discussion
at the 2010 Manzanar At Dusk program.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

“That’s the great thing about MAD, that we get to hear the different stories,” added Kobayashi, who participated in his fourth MAD program this year. “Because of that, I think it’s important to acknowledge [the Japanese American Internment] and discuss it.”

“These are the lessons future generations can learn the most from—the mistakes that have been made. That’s why Manzanar means so much to me as an individual and, I’m sure, to many other people, because [the Pilgrimage and the MAD program provide] an opportunity to discuss something that isn’t usually discussed.”

Although Arab Americans, primarily of the Muslim faith, have been present at the Manzanar Pilgrimage each year since the tragic events of September 11, 2001, they began to participate in large numbers starting in 2007.

“We talked about [making the trip to the Manzanar Pilgrimage] at the office and there had been other people in our office who had visited Manzanar,” said Affad Shaikh, Civil Rights Manager for the Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA). “It became a conversation where we said we should go as an office and do this as a trip that we all go on together, rather than just encourage each other to go when we have time.”

“The genesis of the first trip was this whole idea that we, as an office doing civil rights work and talking about issues that are affecting our community such as racial profiling, hate crimes and discrimination in the workplace, all these things are great and it’s wonderful that we’re working on it,” added Shaikh. “But we really wanted to understand and be part of that history that existed prior to our community having to face this, to look at that shared commonality of what it means to be American.”

Shaikh had already been to Manzanar and was able to encourage his colleagues to make the trip.

“The first time that I came, I didn’t expect the scope or size of the camp,” Shaikh explained. “I didn’t think of it as being so large, but when I went to the Interpretive Center and started reading some of the things, I was taken aback. It had so many people.”

“When I was talking to people, the reality of the situation sunk in, more in terms of the parallels that I saw between some of the social practices and norms of the Japanese American community and the Muslim community,” Shaikh elaborated. “It was like, ‘oh my God.’ If I was put into that type of situation, or if my parents were put into that type of situation, I can feel that. I can understand where they’re coming from. What a horrible thing it would be for anyone to be put into that type of situation. That’s what really stuck out for me, some of the social and cultural aspects of the camp experience.”

Once word got out that CAIR-LA staff were planning to attend the 2007 Manzanar Pilgrimage, others in the local Muslim community wanted to go on the trip as well.

“We started sharing that we were going together as an office, but when people started finding out, they all started expressing interest,” he said. “At some point, we thought that we could take more community members. We thought we should be doing this as a larger outreach and education effort.”

“People in our community didn’t know about [Japanese American Internment],” he added. “They didn’t understand what happened. They talked about being put in camps and being rounded up. That fear was something that was talked about, but very few in the Muslim community knew or understood that this was something that had actually happened to another community here in the United States.”

Since that first trip in 2007, CAIR-LA and CAIR-Sacramento Valley (along with the Florin chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League) have brought large numbers to the Pilgrimage and the MAD programs. But it is at the MAD program where they feel the strongest connection between the issues surrounding the Japanese American Internment and their own experiences.

A Muslim American student shares her experiences during a small group
discussion at the 2010 Manzanar At Dusk program.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

“The interactive aspect of the MAD program really helped me to not just digest [the history and the social justice aspects of the Japanese American Internment], but to also make it something that I could understand and then go out and talk about it afterwards,” added Shaikh.

Many in the Muslim community who attended the Pilgrimage and MAD were surprised that Japanese Americans were so supportive of their Muslim brothers and sisters in their current fight against racism, discrimination, racial profiling and hate crimes.

“The Japanese American community is very unique,” Shaikh noted. “It doesn’t have to go out of its way to do this. It’s established, it’s here, its loyalties, the community’s presence in the United States, for the most part, is accepted and it’s not questioned.”

“The fact of the matter is that most communities that are established don’t necessarily have to do anything,” Shaikh continued. “But the fact is that so many in the Japanese American community bring up [the similarities between Japanese American Internment and the racial profiling and other issues facing the Arab American and Muslim communities today] when they talk to me about it and I’m astounded. They see this as being their responsibility, that they have to step up and talk about it to remind people and make sure that this history isn’t forgotten.”

“A lot of them say it’s not because of the fact that it happened to them. It’s because of the fact that it shouldn’t happen to anybody because that’s not what this country is about and that’s why we need to talk about it.”

Because of the groundswell of support from the Japanese American community, Muslims in attendance seemed to feel like they were right at home.

“Being there at MAD, seeing the people, hearing some of the stories and the fact that there was so much support for the Arab and Muslim community, I felt that there was some sort of bond, a connection that I didn’t know about but felt comfortable with,” Shaikh explained. “It’s like an old friend, like when you see somebody after so many years—you can start talking about so many things, so many experiences that you’ve had with this person as if no time had passed.”

“I felt like that with a lot of people I talked to. It was a really heartwarming experience.”

Muslim high school students from Southern California who participated in this year’s MAD program were surprised to learn of support from the Japanese American community.

Young people from diverse backgrounds participate in a small
group discussion at the 2010 Manzanar At Dusk program.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

“I don’t think they ever imagined that they had allies like that,” added Shaikh. “Most of them are under the impression that they’re doing this by themselves as they face these issues at school and in the community. But to have members of the Japanese American community, as well as hearing from other diverse groups of people at the MAD program, they got the idea that they aren’t facing this alone, there are people who have their backs. At least three or four students kept emphasizing that when we were having our conversations about what did you walk away with from this program.”

The greater participation of Americans of the Muslim faith has added an entirely new dimension to the MAD program.

“When the Muslim American participants started opening up, talking about their experiences, it really showed why the internment is still relevant today,” Kobayashi stressed. “More than anything, the thing that was on my mind was the need to take what we learned from the Pilgrimage, whether it’s messages of respect or understanding, or making a difference today. We can make a difference.”

“The way the Muslim American community has come together with us to share the experience—I was shocked,” said Tokuhara, who attended her first MAD program this year. “That kind of support rarely comes around. Inter-cultural communication and support is very rare these days.”

“I was very moved to be able to have that experience and to talk to them because they all have their own individual perspectives,” added Tokuhara. “It opened my eyes a lot to what’s going on in the world and how applicable anything that has happened in the past is today. How much we can learn from that is invaluable.”

Japanese American high school students, also part of the Bridging Communities program that is sponsored by CAIR-LA, the National Coalition for Civil Rights and Redress and the Japanese American Citizens League-Pacific Southwest District, gained a new perspective at the MAD program as well.

“What made it even better was that we had Japanese American students also participating in the same process,” Shaikh explained. “The dynamics were incredible because you had fourth and fifth generation Japanese American students, who are pretty far removed from the redress struggle, listening to Muslim students whose parents had been pulled over and called terrorists or they themselves had been called terrorists at school, or having the FBI coming to their homes to interrogate their family.”

“You had Muslim students talking about these kinds of situations and the Japanese American students had an opportunity to listen to the stories and connect them to some of the experiences that existed in their own community both before and after World War II.”

Although Shaikh was mostly focused on the high school students in the Bridging Communities program and their participation at this year’s MAD event, he emphasized that he gets something from the program each year.

“This was my fourth consecutive Pilgrimage and my personal experience for each one has been different,” he said. “I’ve walked away from each Pilgrimage learning something new and I’ve been able to connect with it on a different level.”

“At the MAD program, the interaction is different each year,” he added. “It’s all dependent on the group of people you have there that year. This year, I got the whole aspect about the [Owens Valley] community and how some people [in the local area] were opposed to Manzanar becoming a National Historic Site while others just went in for this and knew it was the right thing to do.”

Shaikh was surprised to hear that there was a very vocal minority in the Owens Valley that opposed the establishment of the Manzanar National Historic Site.

“I never thought about that,” he exclaimed. “I never anticipated that there would be opposition. I never considered that possibility. That was definitely something I walked away with this year. It was something that totally made sense, but wasn’t obvious to me.”

A consistent message from MAD veterans was that they all stressed the importance of the annual Pilgrimage and MAD programs, especially for young people.

“For me, even though I’m President of UCLA NSU, I’m graduating,” said Kobayashi. “But I know that there are so many younger members who are going to come back [to the Pilgrimage]. For me, the most important thing is to make sure they expose themselves to the story of Manzanar and Japanese American Internment and that they’re willing to take on all these different experiences, learn from them and apply what they learn to today and make that connection that I was able to make through the experiences I’ve had.”

“It’s really important to get students invested in civil liberties and other social justice issues, to get them to see that these issues do affect them, not always directly, but they will affect other people and that it’s their responsibility to be concerned about that,” said Shaikh. “We have to make sure they understand that these issues are all connected and that’s important for them to be talking about them, to be part of the conversations and the action that’s happening around them.”

Related Stories:
41st Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage: Reflecting and Revisiting Living History
41st Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage: A Letter To Obaa-chan
41st Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage Highlights the Unfinished Business of the Civil Rights Struggle

Gann Matsuda, a member of the Manzanar Committee, is the Editor of the Manzanar Committee’s official blog and is the co-coordinator of the Manzanar At Dusk program.

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

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.

Ceremonies still on tap:

June 7, 2010: California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo
June 8: Los Angeles City College, Compton Junior College (now El Camino College – Compton Community Educational Center)
June 12: Imperial Valley College
June 18: Pasadena City College
July 12: Azusa Pacific University (private college)

Here’s a wrap-up of the news coverage from some of the CSU campuses:

Fresno State (California State University, Fresno)
Fresno State News – Public Attends Fresno State’s Historic Nisei Honorary Degree Ceremony
Rafu Shimpo – Fresno Honors Nisei Graduates

California State University, Dominguez Hills
Daily Breeze – CSUDH Honors WWII Internees
CSU Dominguez Hills – CSU Dominguez Hills College of Professional Studies Commencement – Keynote Address By Warren Furutani

San Jose State University
San Jose Mercury News – Nisei Woman, 87, and Other Japanese Americans To Be Honored By San Jose State
Spartan Daily (San Jose State) – Japanese American Detainees and Students Honored At SJSU Graduation

Bakersfield Junior College (now Bakersfield College)
Bakersfield Californian – Degree Long Overdue

Fullerton College
Rafu Shimpo – A Walk Delayed
Orange County Register – Diplomas, At Last, For World War II Internees
North County Times – OCEANSIDE: Woman To Get Degree After 68 Years

Sacramento City College
Sacramento Bee – Nearly 70 Years Later, Former Students To Get Diplomas

California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo (ceremony to be held on June 7, 2010)
San Luis Obispo Tribune – Dan Krieger: Future Poly President Stood Up For Japanese

Fresno State News also produced a news video reporting on their ceremony:

The San Jose Mercury News produced the following report on one of San Jose State’s honorees:

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

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.

This year marked the second year that I was able to attend the Pilgrimage. The first time, I was a freshman in college, barely learning about my own history as an Asian American and slowly understanding what this Pilgrimage was really all about. It only seems right that my second time attending, would be my senior year in college, with post-graduation prospects of continuing work with Asian Pacific Islander communities.

More rewarding than anything were the Manzanar After Dusk peer-led discussions, which I helped facilitate and as nervous as I was about helping lead these discussions, my nervousness quickly faded.

LiAnn Ishizuka (second from right) facilitates a small group discussion during
the Manzanar At Dusk program on April 24, 2010 at Lone Pine High School.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

I first asked them what they knew about Manzanar and what stories they heard from relatives and/or history books. I was surprised to learn that since most of the group members were not of Japanese descent, they had only learned of the internment experience from mainly history texts. Nevertheless, they knew there was a deeper meaning in what it really means to visit and be a part of the annual Pilgrimage.

There were stories of repeated histories and stories of what must still be done. Even current events and political issues like Arizona’s immigration law were constant in the discussion. Our former internee’s experience also brought back a sense of renewed strength for many who respected and learned about the over 110,000 people who were stripped of their civil liberties.

Manzanar continues to be a special place where I am able to reflect and revisit living history. I have learned that history is a repeating cycle, but it is also constantly evolving and is something that can always be taught, passed on and changed, if we only take the time to understand.

LiAnn Ishizuka is in her fourth year at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she is an International Development Studies major with a minor in Global Studies. The 21-year-old Yonsei from Fresno, California is a member of the UCLA Nikkei Student Union.

Related Stories:
Connections And Common Bonds Are Key At Manzanar At Dusk Program
41st Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage: A Letter To Obaa-chan
41st Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage Highlights the Unfinished Business of the Civil Rights Struggle

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

The Manzanar Committee encourages all those who may wish to share their thoughts, experiences and stories from the 41st Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage and Manzanar At Dusk 2010 programs, held on April 24, 2010, to submit them for publication. Whether it is a story, commentary piece, poem, photographs, audio or video, we welcome your contributions for possible publication here on our blog.

For information on submitting your work, click on: About the Manzanar Committee/Contact Us.

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.

For details, you can download a two-page flyer by clicking on the image at left (requires Adobe Reader software to view/print).

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.

In addition to a video on the AFSC, speakers include Joe Franko, former Regional Director of the AFSC, Esther Takei Nishio, former Nisei student who was assisted by the AFSC, Lane Hirabayashi, who will share photos and comments about Gordon Hirabayashi and Jean Hibino, representing the Nisei Student Relocation Commemorative Fund.

Seating is limited. A reception follows the program.

Adobe Reader software required to view/print flyer.

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 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.

Some of them went on to finish their degrees at Midwestern colleges that would accept Japanese American students, while others opted not to return to school. Still others, such as head yell leader Hitoshi “Moe” Yonemura, who was killed in Italy in 1945 while serving in the U.S. Army’s famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team, never returned home at all.

But for those who could come, this was a special day. Since 1972, the University of California had not granted honorary degrees, but in 2009 the Board of Regents approved a rare exception for these students. So these Nisei (second-generation) Bruins—most in their late 80’s and early 90’s—happily returned to UCLA from points across the country to receive an honorary degree from their alma mater.

“This morning, we will confer an honorary degree on our UCLA students whose education was interrupted due to Executive Order 9066,” said Chancellor Gene Block. “Yet all of us have come to recognize that it is you who have bestowed an honor upon us. Each of you has uplifted us by your grace and by the lives you have led. We know there are remarkable stories represented by each of the honorees today, as well as by those who are with us only in spirit.”

Tritia Toyota, a UCLA alumna who holds an appointment as Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Departments of Anthropology and Asian American Studies at UCLA, served as master of ceremonies.

She introduced the morning’s speakers, including Lane Hirabayashi, the UCLA George and Sakaye Aratani Professor of the Japanese American Redress, Internment and Community, and chair of the Department of Asian American Studies. Hirabayashi relayed the story of his father, Jim, who was denied admission to Washington State University because the school’s “quota” of Japanese American students had been filled.

Hirabayashi’s uncle, Gordon, is well-known throughout the Japanese American community for his efforts to fight the U.S. Government’s curfew and mass incarceration orders. Gordon served time in federal penitentiaries but insisted on working toward his bachelor’s degree, a feat that took nine years.

Representing current UCLA students was Edward Kobayashi, President of the UCLA Nikkei Student Union, who said he was grateful for the privilege of joining the honorees in the Class of 2010.

“For students of my generation, internment is a concept that is difficult to grasp, much less understand,” he said. “That is why I believe that this ceremony, along with all the other honorary degree ceremonies across California, has particular significance to the younger generation.”

“Today, we enjoy living in a diverse society, where most people of different ethnicities and sexual orientations are accepted and treated with respect. This is the privilege that exists today as a result of the foundations that previous generations have laid for us, and the struggles they have overcome.”

Fumio Robert Naka, who was selected to give the honoree address, traveled from his home in Concord, Massachusetts to attend the ceremony. Naka left UCLA as a sophomore but managed to obtain electrical engineering degrees from the University of Missouri (B.S. ’45), the University of Minnesota (M.S. ’47) and Harvard University (Ph.D. ’51). Naka went on to have an illustrious career as one of the nation’s foremost engineers, and his work on the U2 and Oxcart aircraft was the precursor to stealth technology.

“‘To restore justice among the groves of academia,’ that is quite an admission of the difficult times we faced under presidential decree in the spring of 1942,” Naka said. “The U.S. Government had dug a great, big hole into which we were thrust, and out of which we had to climb to make our way.”

The honorary degrees would not have existed had it not been for the efforts of the keynote speaker, California Assemblyman Warren Furutani (D-Long Beach), who wrote the legislative bill that made it possible to confer degrees upon those who were forced to leave postsecondary studies as a result of Executive Order 9066.

“What we celebrate today…what we honor today…what we acknowledge today really is not a lesson in history alone,” said Furutani, whose parents met at the Rohwer internment camp in Arkansas. “It is not a stroll down the path to nostalgia. It’s a reality that lessons learned must be codified; lessons learned must be embraced. And if not, those problems and those mistakes will be made again.”

The audience was then treated to a performance by Yukai Daiko, a UCLA student taiko (drum) group, followed by the conferral of the honorary degrees.

Chancellor Block and UCLA Registrar Anita Cotter distributed the degrees while the names of the honorees were read by Professor Emeritus Don Nakanishi, chair of the UCLA Honorary Degree Task Force, and Professor Valerie Matsumoto of the UCLA Departments of History and Asian American Studies.

In many cases, honorees who had died or who were too ill to attend were represented on stage by husbands, wives, sons, daughters, grandsons, granddaughters, nephews and nieces. The mood in the hall was lively as the announcement of each name drew loud and sustained applause. After the ceremony, attendees were invited to a reception at the Faculty Center.

Robert Nakazawa, still in his cap and gown, continued to snap pictures of his family after the ceremony was over. His four siblings had chosen him to represent their father, Masao Nakazawa.

“I think my father would have been very, very proud,” he said. “It was a very difficult time for Japanese Americans. But the Japanese Americans turned out to be a very strong and very accomplished people of whom we are extremely proud—not only my father, but all the other honorees who are here today.”

One of those honorees was Shigeo Yuge, Tritia Toyota’s uncle.

“He actually graduated in the Midwest because he got relocated from camp,” Toyota said. “He said to me, ‘This is not a big deal.’ And I said, ‘Of course, it’s a big deal!’ So it was kind of nice that he was here with my cousin and her husband. I wish that my aunt were still alive to see this. She would have loved it.”

The honorary degree ceremony took about six months to plan, according to Don Nakanishi, who said that the hardest part was trying to locate all the former students. The UCLA Honorary Degree Task Force relied on different methods to reach as many people as possible, including disseminating press releases and flyers to churches and community groups.

“I think it was wise for us to hold this event today as opposed to June, because it would have been lost in all the different Commencement activities,” Nakanishi said. “Fittingly, it was held during UCLA Day, when alumni come back to campus. This was an appropriate group to welcome into the UCLA community.”

In a quiet corner of the Faculty Center patio, Masaye Nagao Nakamura, 86, was enjoying the day with her granddaughter, Jill Nakamura. The two had driven down from the Bay Area with other family members to attend the ceremony.

“I thought it was wonderful,” Masaye said. “You know, at my age, to have something like this happen to me is pretty special. I can tell my grand kids I got an honorary degree from UCLA.”

Jill added, “I graduated from UC Irvine in 2008, and she was there for me. So this is great that I get to be here for her now. I’m just so proud of her.”

Related Stories:
Honorary Degrees Awarded At UCLA To Former Japanese American Students
UCLA: A Wrong Finally Made Right
UCLA Seeks Japanese American Students Whose Education Was Interrupted During World War II
University of California To Grant Honorary Degrees To Japanese American Students Forced to Leave UC Campuses During WWII

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.

“The Japanese American internment experience is an important chapter in American History,” said NPS Director Jon Jarvis. “The National Park Service is honored to be part of this shared effort to preserve these sites, which are a tragic reminder of a shameful episode in our past, and a compelling lesson on the fragility of our constitutional rights.”

The NPS grants range from: $17,295 to re-establish the historic Honor Roll at the Minidoka National Historic Site in Jerome County, ID (which commemorates Japanese American servicemen from that camp) to: $832,879 to build the interior of the Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center in Park County, WY. Also receiving grants are a project to develop plans to rebuild a guard tower at the Granada Relocation Center (Amache) in southeastern Colorado, the relocation and rehabilitation of a historic barrack from the Colorado River Relocation Center (Poston) in Arizona, and several oral history projects. Although the matching funds support preservation and interpretation work in 12 states, some of the projects are national in scope. These include a plan to create a reference and resource website that will hold research materials and curricula on the history of the camps.

Congress established the Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program in 2006 to preserve and interpret the places where Japanese Americans were sequestered after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The law authorizes up to: $38 million in grants for the life of the program to identify, research, evaluate, interpret, protect, restore, repair, and acquire historic confinement sites. The program aims to teach and inspire present and future generations about the injustice of the World War II confinement and demonstrate the nation’s commitment since then to equal justice under the law.

Congress appropriated: $3 million for grants in the current fiscal year. They were awarded in a competitive process, matching: $2 in federal money for every: $1 in non-federal funds and in-kind contributions raised by groups working to preserve the sites and their histories. Congress appropriated: $1 million for fiscal year 2009, the first year of the grants.

Locations eligible for the grants include the 10 War Relocation Authority camps that were set up in 1942 in seven states: Gila River and Poston, AZ; Amache, CO; Heart Mountain, WY; Jerome and Rohwer, AR; Manzanar and Tule Lake, CA; Minidoka, ID, and Topaz, UT. Also eligible are more than 40 other locations in 16 states, including civilian and military-run assembly, relocation and isolation centers.

Following are brief descriptions of the funded projects. Those marked with an asterisk (*) indicate that the applicant is from one state and the project relates to a confinement site in another.

Arizona

*Under California, see Japanese American Citizens League, Pacific Southwest District project, Passing the Legacy Down: Youth Interpretations of Confinement Sites in the Western United States.

*Also under California, see Poston Community Alliance project, Poston Preservation Project—Barrack Relocation and Rehabilitation.

Arkansas

Arkansas State University – Jonesboro, AR
Rohwer Relocation Camp Interpretive Project Rohwer Relocation Center, Desha County, AR::$100,502

McGehee Industrial Foundation – McGehee, AR
Jerome-Rohwer Visitor & Interpretation Facility Rohwer Relocation Center, Desha County, AR Jerome Relocation Center, Chicot and Drew Counties, AR: $419,967

*Under Hawaii, see the University of Hawaii, Center for Oral History project, Unspoken Memories: Oral Histories of Hawaii Internees at Jerome, Arkansas.

California

Friends of Manzanar – Independence, CA
Oral History and Research for Enhanced Interpretation and Education at Manzanar Demonstration Block 14 Manzanar Relocation Center, Inyo County, CA: $58,833

Japanese American Citizens League, Pacific Southwest District – Los Angeles, CA
Passing the Legacy Down: Youth Interpretations of Confinement Sites in the Western United States Manzanar Relocation Center, Inyo County, CA Tule Lake Relocation Center (Tule Lake Segregation Center), Modoc County, CA Colorado River Relocation Center (Poston), La Paz County, AZ Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID: $151,790

Japanese American National Museum – Los Angeles, CA
Nisei Oral History Project Multiple sites, counties and states: $42,573

Japanese American National Museum – Los Angeles, CA
Toward Justice for All: Exhibit Planning Multiple sites, counties and states: $75,713

Poston Community Alliance – Lafayette, CA
Poston Preservation Project—Barrack Relocation and Rehabilitation Colorado River Relocation Center (Poston), La Paz, County, AZ: $31,000

*Under Oregon, see Klamath County Friends of the Library project, Breaking the Silence: The Power of Remembering, Oral Histories of Tule Lake Internees

Colorado

Colorado Preservation, Inc. – Denver, CO
Building Stock Research and Inventory Related to the Granada Relocation Center (Amache) Granada Relocation Center (Amache), Prowers County, CO: $20,093

Colorado Preservation, Inc. – Denver, CO
Water Tower Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Plan at Granada Relocation Center (Amache) Granada Relocation Center (Amache), Prowers County, CO: $37,327

National Trust for Historic Preservation – Denver, CO
Granada Relocation Center (Amache) Guard Tower Reconstruction Plan Granada Relocation Center (Amache), Prowers County, CO: $34,980

District of Colombia

National Japanese American Memorial Foundation – Washington, DC
Recruitment and Training of Volunteer Docents for National Japanese American Memorial Foundation Multiple sites, counties and states: $38,909

Hawaii

Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii – Honolulu, HI
Hawai’i Confinement Sites Educational Documentary Honouliuli Internment Camp, Honolulu County, HI Sand Island Detention Camp, Honolulu County, HI Kilauea Military Camp, Hawai’i County, HI Kalaheo Stockade, Kauai County, HI Haiku Camp, Maui County, HI: $117,626

University of Hawaii, Center for Oral History – Honolulu, HI
Unspoken Memories: Oral Histories of Hawaii Internees at Jerome, Arkansas Jerome Relocation Center, Chicot and Drew Counties, AR: $29,080

University of Hawaii, West O’ahu – Honolulu, HI
Multidisciplinary Research and Education at Honouliuli Internment Camp, Phase 2 Honouliuli Internment Camp, Honolulu County, HI: $ 98,544

Idaho

Friends of Minidoka – Twin Falls, ID
Minidoka Honor Roll Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID: $17,295

*Under California, see Japanese American Citizens League, Pacific Southwest District project, Passing the Legacy Down: Youth Interpretations of Confinement Sites in the Western United States.

*Under Washington, see Wing Luke Memorial Foundation/Wing Luke Asian Museum project, First Person Stories Revealed: Historic Materials from Minidoka Preserved through the Higo Ten Cent Store.

Massachusetts

University of Massachusetts, Boston – Boston, MA
From Confinement to College: Video Oral Histories of Japanese American Students in World War II Multiple sites, counties and states: $68,852

Oregon

Klamath County Friends of the Library – Klamath Falls, OR
Breaking the Silence: The Power of Remembering, Oral Histories of Tule Lake Internees Tule Lake Relocation Center (Tule Lake Segregation Center), Modoc County, CA: $55,000

Texas

Friends of the Texas Historical Commission, Inc. – Austin, TX
Japanese Confinement Sites in Texas: An Untold Cultural Legacy of World War II Kenedy Internment Camp, Karnes County, TX Seagoville Internment Camp, Dallas County, TX Fort Sam Houston Internment Camp, Bexar County, TX Fort Bliss Internment Camp, El Paso County, TX: $20,167

Washington

Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial -Bainbridge Island, WA
Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Bainbridge Island/Eagledale Ferry Dock, Kitsap County, WA: $182,725

Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project – Seattle, WA
Japanese American Confinement: Reference and Resource Website Multiple sites, counties and states: $166,145

Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project – Seattle, WA
Stories Less Told Part II: Video Oral Histories of the Japanese American Incarceration Multiple sites, counties and states: $210,000

Wing Luke Memorial Foundation/Wing Luke Asian Museum – Seattle, WA
First Person Stories Revealed: Historic Materials from Minidoka Preserved through the Higo Ten Cent Store Minidoka Relocation Center, Jerome County, ID: $100,000

Wyoming

Heart Mountain, Wyoming Foundation - Powell, WY
Heart Mountain Interpretive Learning Center (Interior Build-Out) Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Park County, WY: $832,879

- NPS -