Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga « Manzanar Committee

Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga To Receive 2011 Sue Kunitomi Embrey Legacy Award at 42nd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage

April 8, 2011 7 Comments

Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga
Photo: Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga

LOS ANGELES — On April 8, the Los Angeles-based Manzanar Committee announced that Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, one of the seminal figures in the Japanese American community’s fight for redress and reparations, has been chosen as the 2011 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 42nd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, scheduled for 12:00 PM PDT on Saturday, April 30, 2011, 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 (see map below). Read more of this post

Filed under Manzanar, Manzanar At Dusk, Manzanar Pilgrimage, News Tagged with Aiko Herzig, Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga, civil rights, discrimination, Japanese American, Japanese American Internment, Manzanar, Manzanar At Dusk, Manzanar Committee, Manzanar Pilgrimage, racism

Two Views On Frank Seishi Emi: A True American Hero

December 4, 2010 8 Comments

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LOS ANGELES — Last April, at the Manzanar At Dusk program that follows the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage, when participants broke up into small groups to share their stories and insights about Manzanar, the Japanese American Internment experience, and how it remains relevant today, one thing struck me…

For the first time in the history of the program, we did not have enough former Japanese American concentration camp prisoners to go around.

Glen Kitayama (far left) joins NCRR members, including Frank Emi (second from right)
during a Los Angeles press conference hailing the signing of the
Civil Liberties Act of 1988 on August 10, 1988.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

At this event, young people, mostly college students, gather to share their feelings and insights about what they experienced at the Pilgrimage, and about the issues surrounding the camp experience. But, most of all, they come to the event to hear the stories directly from those who were forced to live behind barbed wire for more than three years, deprived of their constitutional rights. Read more of this post

Filed under Commentary Tagged with Manzanar Pilgrimage, Manzanar Committee, Manzanar, Manzanar At Dusk, Japanese American, World War II, NCRR, Japanese American Internment, civil rights, Tule Lake, Heart Mountain, National Coalition for Civil Rights and Redress, Fred Korematsu, Topaz, Glen Kitayama, racism, discrimination, Dale Minami, UCLA Nikkei Student Union, Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga, Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig, Aiko Herzig, Gordon Hirabayashi, NCJAR, National Coalition For Japanese American Redress, Postion, National Coalition For Redress/Reparations, Frank Emi, Minoru Yasui

Grateful Crane’s Soji Kashiwagi Weighs In On Use Of “Concentration Camp”

September 17, 2010 7 Comments

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Another voice in the debate on the use of euphemistic terms to describe the Japanese American Internment experience is that of playwright Soji Kashiwagi, Executive Producer of the Grateful Crane Ensemble.

Responding to Rafu Shimpo columnist George Yoshinaga, who has, for many years, argued that concentration camp is not an appropriate term to describe the camps that Americans of Japanese ancestry and their immigrant parents were imprisoned in during World War II, Kashiwagi criticized Yoshinaga’s stance in a piece submitted to the Rafu Shimpo and to the Manzanar Committee blog. Read more of this post

Filed under Commentary Tagged with Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga, Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig, civil rights, concentration camp, concentration camps, discrimination, George Yoshinaga, Grateful Crane, Japanese American, Japanese American Internment, Rafu Shimpo, Soji Kashiwagi

More From Okazaki On Use of “Concentration Camp;” Refutes Rafu Shimpo Columnist George Yoshinaga

September 14, 2010 8 Comments

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On September 8, 2010, Rafu Shimpo columnist George Yoshinaga once again railed against the use of concentration camp to describe the camps that Americans of Japanese ancestry and their immigrant parents were imprisoned in during World War II.

In Yoshinaga’s column, “Horse’s Mouth: Raku, A Japanese Restaurant” (Yoshinaga’s comments were also included in a separate column, “Horse’s Mouth: The Richest Countries In The World,” September 14, 2010), he claimed that the ten camps were not concentration camps because, “those who wanted to leave camp had no problem, contrary to her statements.”

Joyce Okazaki (second from right) during a meeting with
Manzanar National Historic Site staff, April 26, 2009.
Photo: Gann Matsuda

Yoshinaga went on to describe his exploits outside the barbed wire, more than implying that he and all other Japanese Americans at the Heart Mountain camp had complete freedom and could come and go as they pleased. Read more of this post

Filed under Commentary Tagged with Manzanar Committee, Manzanar, concentration camp, internment, Joyce Okazaki, Rafu Shimpo, Japanese American Internment, civil rights, Tule Lake, Heart Mountain, Roger Daniels, racism, Michi Weglyn, Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga, concentration camps, George Yoshinaga, discriminiation, Karen Ishizuka, Years of Infamy

Words Can Lie Or Clarify Criticizes Euphemistic Language Used To Describe WWII Camps Used To Imprison Japanese Americans

March 4, 2010 12 Comments

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Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga, was seventeen years old when she was imprisoned at Manzanar and later, at Jerome and Rohwer, Arkansas.

After camp, she became a community and political activist, but is best-known for poring over tons of documents in the National Archives, discovering evidence that the United States Government perjured itself before the United States Supreme Court in the 1944 cases Korematsu v. United States, Hirabayashi v. United States, and Yasui v. United States which challenged the constitutionality of the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga
Photo: Discover Nikkei

Herzig-Yoshinaga’s research uncovered evidence that the government had presented falsified evidence to the Court, destroyed evidence, and had withheld other vital information. This evidence provided the legal basis Japanese Americans needed to seek redress and reparations for their wartime imprisonment in American concentration camps.

Recently, she wrote a paper on the use of euphemistic language to describe these camps. Indeed, the US Government officially called them “relocation centers” during World War II. To this day, the debate rages on regarding what they should be called. Read more of this post

Filed under Commentary Tagged with Manzanar, Manzanar National Historic Site, concentration camp, Japanese American, Minidoka, World War II, Gila River, National Park Service, Japanese American Internment, civil rights, Tule Lake, Heart Mountain, Topaz, Amache, Jerome, Rohwer, euphemistic language, internment camp, Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga, Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig, Aiko Herzig, Words Can Lie Or Clarify, relocation center, Granada

Community And History Are Dominant Themes of Authors’ Works at March 6 JAHSSC Authors/Artists Faire

March 4, 2010

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The following is press release from the Japanese American Historical Society of Southern California.

Two recurring themes of “Community” and “History” typify authors’ works at the Japanese American Historical Society of Southern California’s Saturday, March 6, JAHSSC Authors/Artists Faire at the Katy Geissert Civic Center Library, 3301 Torrance Bl., Torrance, California, 90503, from 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Read more of this post

Filed under News Tagged with Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga, Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig, Carolyn Sanwo, Chris Aihara, Dale Ann Sato, Diana Bahr, Don Hata, Eiko Irene Masuyama, Glen Omatsu, Iku Kiriyama, JAHSSC, Japanese American Historical Society of Southern California, Kaori Tanegashima, Kathy Kobayashi, Katy Geissert Civic Center Library, Lane Hirabaysahi, Mary Emi, Mary Higuchi, Mary Nomura, Michi Weglyn, Midori Kamei, Naomi Hirahara, Qris Yamashita, Ruby Tabata, Sharon Yamato, Stanley Kanzaki, Sue Embrey, Sue Kunitomi Embrey, Tony Osumi, Traci Kato Kiriyama, Valerie Matsumoto, Wakako Yamauchi, Yasuko Sakamoto

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Manzanar Committee

Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga To Receive 2011 Sue Kunitomi Embrey Legacy Award at 42nd Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage

Two Views On Frank Seishi Emi: A True American Hero

Grateful Crane’s Soji Kashiwagi Weighs In On Use Of “Concentration Camp”

More From Okazaki On Use of “Concentration Camp;” Refutes Rafu Shimpo Columnist George Yoshinaga

Words Can Lie Or Clarify Criticizes Euphemistic Language Used To Describe WWII Camps Used To Imprison Japanese Americans

Community And History Are Dominant Themes of Authors’ Works at March 6 JAHSSC Authors/Artists Faire

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