today we went to a film screening and talk at the japanese american national museum. it was about latino nikkeis in internment camps in america during world war 2. a great topic but sadly it was not advertised on the museum's own web site! i heard about it through the grapevine. the talk stated that this part of history is hidden. that we don't talk much about japanese-americans who were interned but we never talk about those that where living in latin america and put into the camps in america. by not advertising this event on the museum's own web site, i would say 'hidden' is exactly the word for it! this event was put on by the campaign for justice.

the film was entitled "hidden internment: the art shibayama story". art shibayama lived in peru. during WWII when he was 13, his family was forcibly removed from peru by the american government. they and others from peru were shipped to america and placed in internment camps. it seems there were separate camps for japanese-americans and japanese-latinos. art was in an interment camp in texas for 2.5 years. when he was released, he didn't have his papers anymore so he was classified as an illegal alien. there was nothing for him in peru or he couldn't get back so his family decided to stay in america and he worked on a farm for pennies. during the korean war he was forced to serve in the american military, still why technically being an illegal alien. he rose through the ranks and had to get security clearance for his new position. he could not attain it because he wasn't legally an american resident. it all seems ludicrous these days perhaps but this is what happened to many. eventually art had to go through some hoops (like going to canada) to get his papers in order so he could become a permanent resident and then finally a citizen.

now for a brief history lesson on what i learned today because it's true that this is a hidden part of our history. i have only heard about this in more recent years and i didn't know very much about it. during WWII, 2300 japanese living in 13 latin american countries were deported to america. our governments were working together so all parties are guilty to various degrees. there was already some hostility towards the prosperous japanese immigrants in the various countries so perhaps some locals were more than happy to see the nikkei taken away. most of these latino nikkeis were from peru. the purpose of this deportation was that america wanted to use these japanese descent people in a hostage exchange for american POW held by japan. does this make sense? why would japan want people of japanese descent and not actual japanese POW in the exchange? again, this is how it went. i didn't make the rules.

when the latino nikkei were deported, it was like the nazi camps without the extreme nazi cruelty. the papers of the deportees were confiscated. they were now citizenless persons. they were in a land whose language they did not speak. they were treated like diseased cattle and upon disembarking the ship they sailed in, they had to strip, were hosed down, and doused with disinfecting powder. think of the main character in "the shawshank redemption". a humilating experience.

not only did it not make sense to put legal citizens and residents of america in camps without cause and due process, it is absolutely absurd that our country would remove citizens of the same ethnic heritage in other countries and bring them over to our lands to throw them into prison. can you imagine if that happened to you right now? whatever blood is in your veins. perhaps even 5 generations back. can you imagine being seized and shipped to some camp in europe because of a war going on that your country is not involved in? simply because your grandfather is irish, or your wife's family is from denmark, etc. you arrive there and the officers in charge keep your passport. you cannot contact your embassy. you do not speak the language. you don't even know why you're here. months pass by. it's now 2 years later and you are free to go. but where? what money do you have? who has stolen your things and your home while you have been in prison?

the civil liberties act of 1988 granted an apology to the japanese-americans that were interned in WWII and granted $20,000 in reparartions to them. i know some are mad about this act because others who have suffered in various points in american history do not feel social justice has been served. but those who were interned do not feel that social justice was served for them either. what is $20,000 today when families lost their homes, businesses, everything? also, the act did not compensate the latin americans because they were not citizens or legal permanent residents at the time of internment. how could they have been legal when they were brought here illegally?! lawsuits later in 1996 resulted in an apology to latino nikkeis and $5,000 was offered. thanks but it's a slap in the face.

maybe because i'm half-japanese one might think that is why i care. actually, this did not happen to me or my family so why should i give a shit? my mother came here of her own volition in the 1970s! what is important is that i am american and this happened to americans. that i am american and how we treated non-americans. what can history teach us about today? as soon as the planes struck the twin towers and it was revealed it was done by muslims, i feared that history would repeat itself and war would be declared on arab-americans. i feared that the camps would return. the camps did not return. instead, people were grabbed by cover of darkness so we non-arabs would not know about it. instead our civil liberties have been eroded (for all!).

during the panel discussion, one panelist, grace shimizu, touched on these things. but her speech went on and on and covered too many things i think. if you go all over the place and touch every injustice in the world, it is too overwhelming and the audience loses focus. the lawyer working to help bringing about full social justice on this matter, robin toma, did not ramble on so much and was more concise. he actually did not seem like a lawyer, not that hollywood image or the uncaring cut-throat stereotype. also there was the congressman who has been supportive of the cause, xavier becerra. by his name you can tell he is not japanese-american so this does not concern him you might think but like i said, if you're an american or live in america, it concerns you. if you're a country that wages war, then watch out for camps and speak up before your voice is taken away. there was some q&a from the audience, some good questions were asked but there were some really ignorant ones from ucla students. i think that just shows you how the quality of uc students has really gone down. (why can't president fujimori in peru help or why didn't you speak english in peru, just ridiculous questions.)

on every seat there was a form letter to send in to your congressmaan to help with this issue of redress. i scanned it so if you're interested you can download this pdf version (which is a bit crap quality, sorry).