The first book I read about Japanese American history was Roger Daniels’ book, “The Politics of Prejudice.” It was 1966, and in my research as a college freshman, it was the rare book on Japanese American history, one that began Roger’s long and illustrious career as a historian documenting the story of Japanese Americans and […]
Life in the Tule Lake Stockade
July 21, 2022 by Leave a Comment
TULE LAKE STOCKADE DIARY: NOVEMBER 13, 1943-FEBRUARY 14, 1944 By Tatsuo Ryusei Inouye (Los Angeles: Nancy Oda Publishing, 2020, 256 pp., $40, hard cover) There now exists a richly diverse number of publications devoted to the World War II concentration camp for Japanese Americans generically called Tule Lake. This penal facility was initially known as […]
UC Davis scholar and activist Isao Fujimoto dies at 89: Lecturer leaves legacy of connections, curiosity and collaboration
March 17, 2022 by Leave a Comment
Isao Fujimoto, a beloved senior lecturer at University of California, Davis, known for his intense energy, curiosity and ability to bring people together across diverse communities, has died. Fujimoto, 89, came to Davis in 1967 and helped found the Asian American Studies and Community Development programs through which he mentored generations of students and faculty. […]
Bill Nishimura, vocal Tule Lake resister, dies at 101
November 11, 2021 by Leave a Comment
Toru “Bill” Nishimura, a former Tule Lake civil rights fighter, passed away on Oct. 19, 2021 at the age of 101. Nishimura was born in Compton, Calif., when the area was still farmland. He was the middle child of Tomio and Sada Ito Nishimura, both from Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, the […]
Graphic novel documents acts of resistance
July 22, 2021 by Leave a Comment
WE HEREBY REFUSE: JAPANESE AMERICAN RESISTANCE TO WARTIME INCARCERATION By Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura, illustrated by Ross Ishikawa and Matt Sasaki (Seattle: Chin Music Press/ Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, 2021, 160 pp., $19.95, paperback) The graphic novel, “We Hereby Refuse: Japanese American Resistance to Wartime Incarceration,†focuses on the real life experiences of Jim Akutsu, a Minidoka War Relocation Authority camp draft resister; Mitsuye Endo, a Topaz (Central Utah) WRA inmate who challenged the incarceration through a habeas corpus petition; and Hiroshi Kashiwagi, […]
Why Tule Lake matters
July 8, 2021 by Leave a Comment
In this post-Trump, post-Stephen Miller era where social media has brought to the fore the systemic racism that permeates U.S. society, it is time to see Tule Lake for what it was. Tule Lake had nothing to do with loyalty or disloyalty. That’s just government propaganda, perpetuated by the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL). What […]
Systemic racism, generational trauma and familial conflicts collide
January 1, 2021 by Leave a Comment
MASS MURDER IN CALIFORNIA’S EMPTY QUARTER: A TALE OF TRIBAL TREACHERY AT THE CEDARVILLE RANCHERIA By Ray A. March (Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press, 2020, 240 pp., $27.95, hard cover) Some in the Nikkei community have wondered why the Tule Lake Committee is feuding with an Indigenous tribe. Some have commented that it looks […]
Gag Order Lifted!: Update on Tule Lake Litigation and Preservation
November 7, 2019 by Leave a Comment
It has been over a year since the Tule Lake Committee filed a civil rights complaint in federal court to stop the sale of the Tulelake Municipal airstrip to an entity that vows to expand aviation activities on the site. This rural airstrip occupies two-thirds of the residential area of the Tule Lake concentration camp […]
JACL apologizes to Tule Lake incarcerees
November 7, 2019 by Leave a Comment
The new generation of JACL leaders and members should be congratulated for acknowledging and understanding the need for voting in favor of the resolution offering a sincere apology to Tule Lake incarcerees. The National Council of the JACL took the action on Aug. 3, 2019, at their national convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. In […]
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David and Goliath battle over Tule Lake
Nearly a decade has gone by in the Tule Lake Committee’s fight to stop the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) and the Tulelake community’s plan to fence off and expand the Tulelake airfield that covers two-thirds of the concentration camp’s barracks area. Tule Lake was unique as the only one of the 10 War Relocation Authority […]