Northwest Now Steve On The Street
Puyallup Japanese Memorial Gallery
(upbeat music) - KBTC, a viewer supported community service of Bates Technical College. (upbeat music) From KBTC, public television studios into Como, Washington. (upbeat music) - Welcome to the Steve on the Street podcast, a closer look behind the headlines. As public policy and current affairs impact the real lives of real people. (upbeat music) - Well, hello, welcome to the Steve on the Street podcast. Produced by KBTC Public Television's Public Affairs Program, northwest now. I'm your host, photojournalist and reporter Steve Kigman's. Today's podcast episode, we're talking about Japanese incarceration and what that looked like for families forced into a detention center in Pierce County, and then we'll hear from a couple of people who spent their childhood locked away inside government concentration camps. Also on the podcast, we'll talk about a new gallery down in Pierce County, it's an exhibit about local people, by the thousands and their stories that reach back to the 1940s. They share stories about their bravery and their resilience, and their heartache. The exhibit's new home is actually inside the Washington State Fairgrounds, underneath the grandstands, right across the hallway from the Fisher Scone booth. It's called the Remembrance Gallery. And with the names of more than 7,500 people were jailed with a U.S. Army once called the Puyallup Assembly Center. Once in a nickname called Camp Harmony, it's hard to imagine anything about it was harmonious. The gallery chronicles the lives of thousands of Japanese and Japanese Americans as they were rounded up from their homes across rural Pierce County, including some from Alaska, and then forced to basically take all they could carry in their hands to their new home inside the fairground. All this happening after the Japanese Empire attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. Contributing to this podcast is information from Denchow, a Seattle nonprofit organization started in 1996 to collect testimonies from Japanese Americans incarcerated during World War II. Later, they added documents and media to help tell those stories. President Franklin Roosevelt cited it necessary for the military to incarcerate more than 120,000 Japanese during World War II. Roosevelt signed executive order in 1966 that authorized the forced removal of any or all persons from designated military areas, and in our region that included Western haves of both Washington and Oregon, and also large portions of California and Arizona. Those any and all persons became Japanese and Japanese Americans who were forced to sell or close farms and businesses and give up their homes and give up education careers, give up everything, and they were forced into one of 14 temporary assembly centers really makeshift concentration camps. And in Washington, ours was located in Puyallup at the fairgrounds, surrounded by barbed wire. Barracks were hastily constructed by the government. Inside the fairgrounds and parking lots, and eventually they held more than 7,000 inmates. So-called apartments were described by inmates as rabbit-hutches or chicken sheds. Each apartment included, well, not all at first, but they included a wood stove and a single electrical socket hanging from the ceiling. These new homes included public mess halls and public laundries, public latrines, and it was just the beginning. The camp in Puyallup opened April 28th, 1942 and closed by mid-September that year. But Japanese Americans were then sent to multiple incarceration sites run by multiple government agencies, including actual prisons and detention sites run by immigration officials in the US Army and the Department of Justice. Plus 10 concentration camps across multiple states housed more than 120,000. The majority who first arrived in Puyallup were then sent by train to the Minidoka Relocation Center in South Central Idaho in August, 1942. More than 13,000 were incarcerated at its peak and didn't close until late October, 1945. So, the Washington State Fair, the Puyallup Valley Japanese American Citizens League, made space and exhibition about all those who were forcibly detained in Puyallup. Next in the podcast, listen to Northwest Now's coverage when the Remembrance Gallery became online and available to the public on the opening day of the Washington State Fair. (upbeat music) Since 1900, families visiting Washington's largest fair in Puyallup repeat a tradition that spans generations. We need to protect and preserve the legacy of what happened. But this year beneath the Washington State Fair grandstand, a new memorial offers a window cast with a darker shade on America's past. Two thirds of those names belong to American-born citizens. Me too, me, son. In August 30th, the Puyallup Valley Japanese American Citizens League unveiled the Remembrance Gallery, documenting the thousands of Japanese, Japanese Americans arrested and imprisoned inside the U.S. Army's Puyallup Assembly Center after Imperial Japan bombed Pearl Harbor more than 80 years ago. It's all deeply personal for JACL's president, Eileen Yamada-Lamfir, whose relatives were also inmates. It's very emotional, obviously. I'm hoping that my family's looking down and they're proud of me. They exhibit centerpiece for names of more than 7,500 people imprisoned at the fairground. A gallery includes images and tales of survival. An audio which begs visitors to imagine living in horse stables or crowded barracks that robs privacy and dignity. A lot of my friends had no idea that we were incarcerated for over three years. Janet Baba and Ruth Lobader, Matsumoto shared childhood memories when they were both forced into the Minidoka Relocation Center. A concentration camp in the Southern Idaho desert where summer sun baked the barracks and winter froze the streets. I came back in the middle of my kindergarten year, right in the middle of about January. And I came back when I was still four. The Remembrance Gallery is testament to their imprisonment and reminders how communities tie. I could see so many of my relatives there. Future relatives. The relatives when we were there and then as we grew up we got married. Artifacts and stories reveal how bigotry and injustice can prevail if we fail our responsibility to protect neighbors. We have a moral obligation to stand up for them because part of it is, nobody stood up for us. In Pierce County, Steve Kiggins, Northwest now. Next on the podcast, we'll hear an extended interview with Janet Baba and Ruth Lobader, Matsumoto, who say some of their very first childhood memories are from their time spent in a concentration camp in Idaho. I feel like it's an acknowledgement that they know that we've been there. What about the gallery? It stands out to you that maybe you didn't anticipate it. I didn't realize there were so many names on this, on the list, you know, because we were two years old and we thought we were in a small community, but there were so many people. Especially when we were incarcerated at Minna Dota, there were, you know, I have a book at home that has thousands of names and they're a new so you realize you're really part of a large community. I just remember we knew each other from elementary school. Yeah, we went to the same, I came back to the middle of my kindergarten year, right in the middle of January. And I came back when I was still four because I remember having a five year old roofing party. I wish you had a name too. And I only spoke Japanese at the time because everybody near me with Japanese and so on. I learned how to speak English at elementary school here. Bailey, Alaga, Bailey, Catsert in Seattle. What do you think about this, just even being here at the fairground? I think it's great. I think it's just an acknowledgement that they did have all the Japanese in turn and incarcerated. And this is more like proof that really this happened. I think it's nice to tell the story of the experience so that it'll never happen again. Because so many people have no recollection of this period of time. In fact, in fact, one of my friends that I grew up with had no idea until we talked about it. So it's really, it's part of history. It's a time of history that you don't wanna ever happen again. So I think it's good for this memorial to be shared by everyone. Because when we were living and when we were incarcerated, I think we just knew our lyrical blocks. So we just knew the people that were living with us, but as children, we had no idea that we're 1,000, 21,000 people were incarcerated. What I was surprised at was so I could see so many of my relatives there, future relatives. The relatives when we were there, and then as we grew up, we got married and we said, "Oh, their family's here, "and their family's here, and their family's here, "and how connected we are, and all of us." - That's quite fascinating. And probably on the other side of a list, down the wall. So here's names that pop up, but immediately, right? - Right. It's, you know, the frame here mentioned it's important to tell these stories. This happened quite some time ago. It's important to tell these stories so they don't repeat. What do you think about this concept that the two of you were born, and here you are as you are at this age? These stories might not be able to be told for much longer. - Right. Well, I don't know. I remember people telling me that before your parents die, you should talk to them and get their stories. Because once they're gone, you're not gonna remember, or you're not gonna know what happened, what they were alive, and what they went here, or their account, or what happened to them. As I'm getting older, and I think about that again, too, that probably I should give my experiences to my children. So they could remember, but haven't happened yet. - I think that it's important to share so that it'll never happen again to any other group of people of Americans. Just like in history today, there's so much trouble with racial problems. And I think stories like this will help tell us what important it is to realize we're Americans and that we should be treated as Americans always. - You know, I think it's really brave. Those two shared all that they did. And I also find it humbling to hear there's an understanding that some of these stories should be told, but telling them to some hasn't yet necessarily happened. And I think about if maybe for some, trauma plays a role in that decision. And I think about how many of those tens of thousands who are incarcerated might endure the same. And that's what makes the Remembrance Gallery so important to share those voices with some who might not otherwise ever hear these stories. So thanks to Eileen Yamada-Lamfier from the Puyallup Valley JCL, who invited us to cover the Remembrance Gallery opening and thanks to Ruth and Janet for sharing your voices on the broadcast. And thanks again to Denchow and its archives that have collected a huge number of primary sources and materials that document the experiences of Japanese immigrants beginning from their immigration to the US back in early 1900s. Denchow Archives also has a large collection of documents and images, videos, oral histories and more. There's a stunning amount of material in this archive. You can really get lost going through even just a portion of what's there and the resource is free. Go check it out online. Their website is encyclopediate.denchow.org. And finally, thank you. Thank you for your continued support of the podcast. You took the effort and time to meet with me here. Your support just by listening. It's really appreciated. Thank you. Again, I'm Steve Kigens, reporter and photojournalist with Northwest Now and host and receive in this free podcast. Until next time, cheers. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) [MUSIC PLAYING] [Music]