"From Our Side Of The Fence" Presents Writings Of Former World War II Camp Inmates At Reading At Japanese American National Museum Sept. 29

Although comparisons have recently been made between the September 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S. and the consequences of Pearl Harbor, many voices from Japanese and Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II have yet to be heard on the subject. Eleven first-person accounts of what it was like to live in a World War II U.S. concentration camp where thousands of Americans of Japanese ancestry were unconstitutionally incarcerated by their own government have been compiled into a new volume entitled From Our Side of the Fence: Growing Up in America’s Concentration Camps. Readings from this new work will be presented by the writers on Saturday, September 29, from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Japanese American National Museum.

During World War II, the U.S. government imprisoned 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry in U.S. concentration camps in some of the most desolate areas west of the Mississippi River. Many of these prisoners were young people who spent up to three years of their lives in these camps.

The eleven accounts grew out of the Internment Autobiography Writing Workshop, sponsored by the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center of Northern California in San Francisco and taught by Brian Komei Dempster. The participants traced their personal journey through the war and gave a tangible voice to their experiences. Eventually, the accounts were pulled together into this book, which was edited by Dempster.

The writers lived in various parts of the West Coast, including Washington, Oregon, the San Francisco Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley, the Sacramento Valley, and Southern California. The ages of the inmates when they went to camp ranged from four to 19. They wound up in camps in Amache, Colorado; Heart Mountain, Wyoming; Minidoka, Idaho; Poston, Arizona; Topaz, Utah; and Tule Lake, California.

Many of the writers feel this anthology is significantly relevant today, in light of the recent terrorist attacks in New York and Washington D.C. and reported harassment of Arab Americans and Muslims.

“It’s so relevant today,” said Sato Hashizume, who spent her World War II years in the Minidoka concentration camp. “I hope the Islamic community won’t have to suffer as we did almost 60 years ago.”

“Right now it’s very significant because we don’t want other people put in camps because of their race, just like we were,” said Naoko Ito, who was incarcerated at Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in Wyoming.

“I think given the context of what happened [the attack on September 11], the anthology is important in the sense that we as a Japanese American community need to speak out against intolerance and the current racial bias against the Arab community. To that extent, I’m glad the publication is there,” said Ruth Okimoto, who was six years old when she was interned at the Santa Anita Assembly Center and the Poston Relocation Project. “I do think the Japanese American community should defend civil liberties of all minority groups,&rrdquo; she said.

Daisy Satoda, who spent her high school years in the Topaz concentration camp, said that the writers met once after the recent bombings and discussed their role as Japanese Americans. “We talked about making sure this doesn’t happen again. We will support the Arab community,” she said.

For other writers, the memory of internment has been highlighted as a result of the terrorist attack.

“I find that the current events remind me a great deal of the Pearl Harbor event and I have a feeling of constant uneasiness…It’s this terrible heavy overpowering feeling of helplessness.” said Fumi Hayashi, who was interned at the Tanforan Racetrack Assembly Center and the Central Utah Relocation Center.

But the decision to compile the internees’ stories into an anthology originated before the recent tragic events, stemming from Dempster’s 1999 autobiographical writing workshop.

“I was inspired by this group of internees who had the courage and motivation to share their experiences,” said Dempster, whose mother’s family was interned at the Topaz concentration camp in Utah and Crystal City internment camp in Texas. Dempster said that while interviewing his own family members, he “realized the issue of silence was complex.”

“There was a visceral, emotional connection that I felt with these students, and what the class allowed me to do was create a structure, indeed a vehicle, through which they could use memoir and creative writing to articulate their experiences of growing up in camp,” he said.

For some of the writers, difficult emotions arose as they began communicating their stories onto paper.

“I think in many ways, it was a difficult process to put our feelings from 1940–1942—to bring them up and reexamine them,” Hayashi said.

“As a 10-year-old child in camp, I had more friends than before. I had my first train ride, and it was all very exciting at the time. But as I began writing it as a mature adult, it became clear to me what a horrendous event it was,” Hashizume said.

For others, writing first-hand accounts became a healing process for the suffering endured during camp.

Satoda said that these stories are so precious to the internees because they have been repressed for many years. “Being able to talk about it now—well, sometimes it’s easier talking to strangers than our families,” she said.

“Writing it was a catharsis of sorts—to be able to put down in writing my thoughts and feelings of the events—the sad parts as well as the humorous parts,” said Florence Dobashi, who was interned at the Colorado River Relocation Center at the age of 14.

“It’s nostalgic in some way—it’s painful, embarrassing, and a healing process,” said Toru Saito, who was interned as a 5-year-old at Tanforan Racetrack, then Topaz concentration camp.

As the workshop progressed, Dempster began envisioning a book that would compile the writers’ stories and his lesson plans.

“We saw that our project had the potential to create social change and that our book could serve as a model for other internees who wanted to tell their own stories,” Dempster said.

“I think it’s important that everyone who was in the camp write their memoirs for the benefit of generations to come, so that they’ll have insight from a personal perspective—from the internees—of the effects, damage, and impact on our lives,” Saito said.

“The book is written in a form that will encourage other people with similar experiences—or even people who want to write about family history—to do some writing,” said Michi Tashiro, who was interned at Camp Amache, Colorado, for three years.

The writers hope the book will also serve as a personal historical record of past events.

“Something like our anthology will tell the community and the country and the world who we are. It’s important for others to understand—not through academia—but through people,” said Kiku Funabiki, who was imprisoned in Heart Mountain, Wyoming. “These voices will reach people more deeply than any other professor or historian,” she said.

“It would be our legacy for our children and grandchildren—so the world would never forget what happened to an innocent group of people in World War II,” Satoda said.

The program is co-sponsored by the Japanese American National Museum and the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center of Northern California. The anthology was produced by the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center of Northern California and published by Kearney Street Workshop. Major funding was provided by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program.

This event is free to the public. It is located at the Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. First Street, in the Little Tokyo district of Downtown. For more information or to make reservations, call (213) 625-0414.