Category Archives: Densho

"We Hereby Refuse", Audiobook, Densho, Jim Akutsu, Literature of Incarceration, Mitsuye Endo, News, Penguin anthology, Tule Lake

Fall 2024 events

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The weather is turning, and it appears to be time to hit the road again starting this weekend, mostly to promote the new Penguin anthology but also to meet continuing interest in the graphic novel and camp resistance in general. Here’s the list as it stands today of in-person and virtual speaking events for this fall, including serving as headliner for the Densho annual fundraiser. Check the Events page for further updates.

SALT LAKE CITY, UT
September 8-9, 2024
JAMP Topaz Pilgrimage

graphic— Sunday, Sept. 8, 11:00 am, at the Salt Lake City Public Library: Priscilla Ouchida and I will use the drawings by Ross Ishikawa for We Hereby Refuse to illustrate the personal story of Mitsuye Endo and her Supreme Court challenge. It was Priscilla’s personal conversations with Endo that informed the original story we were able to tell through the graphic novel form.

three authors— Monday, Sept. 9, 9:00 am at the Little America Hotel: In conversation with Nancy Ukai, I will present selections from The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration that represent the experience of camp at Topaz, including the telegram sent by the Topaz Residents Committee setting conditions before answering the loyalty questionnaire, and the poem by Iwao Kawakami on the shooting of James Wakasa. Followed by a pop-up bookshop and signing mounted by The King’s English Bookshop.

IDAHO
September 10-12, 2024
Friends of Minidoka
“Nisei Trials: 80 Years” Distinguished Lecture series
— Twin Falls — College of Southern Idaho, Sept. 10, 2024, 6:00 pm
poster— Idaho Falls – Museum of Idaho, Sept. 11, 2024, 6:00 pm
— Boise – Idaho State Museum, Sept. 12, 2024, 6:00 pm

For the 80th anniversary of the Boise trials of the Minidoka draft resisters, Eric Muller and I will speak in conversation with Robyn Achilles at a series of presentations in Twin Falls, Idaho Falls, and Boise on “Resistance, Resilience, and the Ethics of Justice.” Free registration here.

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, WA
Saturday, September 14, 2024, 10:50-11:30 am
National Asians and Pacific Islander American Historic Preservation Forum
Bainbridge Island Rowing Center
“Making Monuments through Storytelling: Beyond the Barbed Wire”

graphic

I’ll help introduce Beyond the Barbed Wire: Japanese American Stories of the Pacific Northwest, a web-based project for Friends of Minidoka that combines narration, oral histories, and visual content into online tours that create virtual “monuments.” The first tour is Resisters of the Pacific Northwest, for which we’re incorporating the stories of Jim and Gene Akutsu, John Okada, and the first-ever Day of Remembrance at Puyallup. We’ll present at the new Bainbridge Island Rowing Center facility, ahead of a group tour of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial.

ONLINE EVENT
Wednesday, September 18, 2024, 11:15 am
Washington Attorney General’s Office CLE
“Never Again Is Now: Japanese American resistance to wartime incarceration and what it means to us today”

logoSpeaking via Zoom to assistant state attorneys general across the state of Washington on wartime incarceration, the law, and redress for a 60-minute Continuing Legal Education diversity program.

FRESNO, CA
Thursday, September 26, 2024, 12:00 pm
California State University, Fresno

Fresno State logoSpeaking about We Hereby Refuse virtually with students of Prof. Alison Mandaville as part of their lunchtime comics makers series. We’ll talk about the process of creating a documentary visual narrative in the form of a graphic novel.

LOS ANGELES, CA
Sunday, October 6, 2024, 9:00 am
Japanese American Confinement Sites Consortium education conference
“Uncovering Myths About Tule Lake”
Japanese American National Museum

logoAt this annual conference with our national community of thought leaders and experts, I will present The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration and show how we scaffolded the selections to run up to and contextualize the segregation and renunciation crises at Tule Lake.

SEATTLE, WA
Thursday, October 10, 2024, 5:30-7:00 pm PT
Densho annual virtual fundraiser
“Unearthing History: Planting the Seeds for Densho’s Legacy“

Join Densho for our 2024 Virtual Fundraiser! Tune in on October 10th from 5:30 – 7:00 PM PT for an evening of dialogue, shared learning, and reflection featuring as we dig deeper into our history and continue planting the seeds for a lasting legacy. You’re invited to listen in as we are joined by honored guests Frank Abe, Floyd Cheung, and Andrew Leong. Each of them offer unique insights into some of the lesser known stories they’ve brought to light through the process of translating, compiling and editing their new anthology The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration. This powerful anthology serves as a grounding reminder there are still aspects of this history we’ve yet to unearth. Register here.

LOS ANGELES, CA
Saturday, October 12, 2024, 2:00 pm
Los Angeles book launch
Japanese American National Museum

bannerFor the Los Angeles book launch of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration, Floyd Cheung and I will be in conversation with Densho’s Brian Niiya. The program will also feature selections from the anthology read by some of the LA-based readers for our audiobook, including Keone Young, traci kato-kiriyama, and Ren Hanami. Free with museum admission, tickets here.

SAN DIEGO, CA
Sunday, October 13, 2024, 2:00-3:30 pm
San Diego book launch
San Diego Public Library
Shiley Special Events Suite
Central Library, 330 Park Blvd.

San Diego LogoJoin me downtown central San Diego Public Library for a discussion of The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration in conversation with UC San Diego Ethnic Studies Professor Christen Sasaki. This event is co-sponsored with the Japanese American Historical Society of San Diego. Audience Q&A will follow. Copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. Free registration here.

SACRAMENTO, CA
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society

Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society logoA joint program on reframing the story of Tule Lake with filmmaker Sharon Yamato showing her new film, “One Fighting Irishmen,” with me following up with the Tule Lake story in We Hereby Refuse and The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration.

SEATTLE, WA
Monday, October 21, 2024, 7:00 pm
Third Place Books, Seward Parkgraphic

An informal conversation with University of Washington professor Vince Schleitwiler around The Literature of Japanese American Incarceration.

Aiko Herzig Yoshinaga, Densho, Frank Emi, Heart Mountain, Mits Koshiyama, News, Podcasts, Tak Hoshizaki, Yosh Kuromiya

Interview with producers of new Densho podcast series

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podcast logoIn two forthcoming books, I try to capture the epic arc of the camp experience — whether through the voices of characters in our graphic novel on camp resistance, or in the selections we choose for a new anthology of camp literature. Producers Hana and Noah Maruyama take much the same approach with their new Densho podcast series, which expertly weaves scores of sound bites into an aural tapestry to create the effect of a single voice conveying the shared experience of camp.

Campu is a remarkable feat of knowledge and editing. Listen to the first 48-minute episode, centered around “Rocks” as an object-based theme.

Continue reading Interview with producers of new Densho podcast series →

"Conscience and the Constitution", Day of Remembrance, Densho, Fair Play Committee, Gordon Hirabayashi, News, Nisei draft resisters, Redress

The “Frank Abe Collection” expanded at Densho

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With the 32nd anniversary this week of the signing of the Civil Liberties Act, this is a good time to belatedly acknowledge one year’s worth of work by the good people at  Densho to scan and archive seven bankers’ boxes full of archival Day of Remembrance and redress materials from the decade that spanned 1978 to 1988, along with the raw materials that went into production of  Conscience and the Constitution from 1992 to 2000.
Continue reading The “Frank Abe Collection” expanded at Densho →

Densho, Immigration detention, News

A Day of Remembrance = A Day of Action

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The first Day of Remembrance in 1978 was political. We staged it as a car caravan from Seattle to a family potluck and program at the Puyallup Fairgrounds, but it was only to create a safe space for the Nisei to begin to express their long-suppressed rage at expulsion and incarceration, and channel it into a long-overdue petition for redress of grievances and a call for our elected leaders to right a wrong. Continue reading A Day of Remembrance = A Day of Action →

Allegiance, Densho, News

Guardian of history challenges historical integrity of “Allegiance”

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Only four weeks, and we are already fatigued with the daily barrage of demonstrable lies and outright propaganda coming from the new Administration. Terms like “alternative facts” and “fake news” have suddenly entered the lexicon. In his climate of misdirection, it’s more critical than ever to hold tight to a sense of reality and a common set of facts.

Densho logoIn that regard the Densho Project in Seattle has been a leader in the documentation of facts about the WW2 incarceration of Japanese Americans, both through the video capture of first-person narratives and the preservation of photos and documents. So it is worth taking note when Densho addresses the question we’ve raised before of the historical integrity of the musical Allegiance, screening again today on this Day of Remembrance.
Continue reading Guardian of history challenges historical integrity of “Allegiance” →

#Resistance, American concentration camps, Densho, Fair Play Committee, James Omura, News, Redress

What resistance means now: “Has the Gestapo come to America?”

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The Heart Mountain resisters refused induction in 1944 as a last-ditch attempt to clarify their status as American citizens and challenge the constitutionality of the American concentration camps in which they were held. With the actions being threatened by a new Administration, a new kind of resistance is now being called for in the 21st century.

It’s only been one week since the election, and an adviser to the President-elect is testing the public’s willingness to go along with creation of a national registry of all Muslims in America — a database whose only useful purpose would be to make it possible to round them all up for some kind of mass action.

Journalist James Omura saw the dangers of mass registration in February 1942, in his testimony to the Congressional Tolan Committee, which was preparing the public for acceptance of the mass exclusion of a feared racial minority perceived as the enemy. “Has the Gestapo come to America?,” he asked.


Continue reading What resistance means now: “Has the Gestapo come to America?” →

Densho, DVD, News, Teachers

CONSCIENCE DVD part of new online teachers course

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Densho Online CourseThe Densho online video archive is already a remarkable accomplishment: the filming, transcribing, archiving and posting of more than 1,600 hours of video interviews and over 12,000 historic photos, documents, and newspapers, all sharing the direct experience of incarceration in one of America’s concentration camps for Japanese Americans in World War II. The raw tapes of all 26 interviews we conducted for CONSCIENCE are archived there and available online, in what’s unavoidably dubbed the “Frank Abe Collection.”

Executive director Tom Ikeda and company have now taken their collection to the next level. After years of work they have synthesized the stories and images in their collection and organized them into a new online course, “Teaching WWII Japanese American Incarceration with Primary Sources.”

But there’s more. Among the benefits for completing the course and filling out an evaluation, teachers will receive a certification of completion to document professional development hours, and a copy of our new Two-Disc Collectors Edition DVD of CONSCIENCE AND THE CONSTITUTION, documenting the largest organized resistance to the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans.

“The online course helps teachers create classroom activities to encourage students to closely examine and question what people say,” says Ikeda. “The men in Abe’s film questioned the government’s action to draft them from behind barbed wire, which led to their civil disobedience. We want teachers and students to see how thinking deeply about an issue can lead to action.”

Thanks to Densho for its longtime support of our project and for sharing our DVD with new teachers and students. The complete course takes about six hours to complete and it’s completely free, so sign up now.