Re-enactment of two trials of Heart Mountain resisters

A report is just in from Japan Culture NYC that students at Fordham Law School in New York City on April 6 will re-enact two of the trials of members of the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee, evidently as a moot court study in Constitutional law and incarceration history.

Heart-Mountain-trial-reenactment
Photo ©George and Frank C. Hirahara Collection, Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections.

We hope to obtain a report on the proceedings and perhaps some photographs to share. The title of the event has a familiar ring to it:

Heart Mountain: Conscience, Loyalty, and the Constitution

Wednesday, April 6 at 6:30 p.m.

Moot Court Room, Fordham Law School – 150 W. 62nd Street (between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues)

Admission: Free

During World War II the U.S. government interned 120,000 Japanese Americans in ten concentration camps, officially called “war relocation centers.” One of the camps was Heart Mountain in northwest Wyoming, home to the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee, a group of young resisters who challenged the government’s attempt to draft young Nisei men, arguing that they would not comply with their draft notices until the government restored the rights of the internees. That resistance led to the arrest and trial of sixty-three young members of the committee.

The Fordham Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA) presents a reenactment of two of the trials with a script written by Judge Denny Chin and his wife, Kathy Hirata-Chin, that will be read by Fordham law students.

The read through will be followed by a Q&A, refreshments, and a small concert with traditional koto player Kento Iwasaki and soprano Joy Tamayo.

4 thoughts on “Re-enactment of two trials of Heart Mountain resisters”

  1. Hi Frank,

    The event organizer used my father’s copyrighted photo from the George and Frank C. Hirahara Collection Washington State University Libraries Manuscripts, Archives, and Special Collections and did not give photo credit. If you could give photo attribution to the photo, I would greatly appreciate it.

    Thanks!

    Patti

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