Final newswriting assignment
SWEAT, TEARS AND BLOOD went into this, so I figured I may as well let someone besides my professor take a look at it. I think I literally edited the story to death and sucked all the life out of it, which is too bad because it really was a great opportunity for a story. I didn't really have room for a lot of the details, either, like the No-No Boys (GREAT STORY) or the 442nd regiment or Chizu Iiyama's stand against the questionnaire (I have way too much of her in the story as it stands, but I couldn't help it, she was amazing). Anyway, here it is.
Eiko Yamaichi’s father wanted a fridge.
In the early 1940’s, a fridge cost $150. A far cry from the refrigerators of today, this fridge was an ice box that held blocks of ice delivered to the house by a man with a cart. Yamaichi’s father saved up his money for months to afford it, and the refrigerator was his pride and joy- until the order to evacuate came and he had to sell it for $10.
“It just broke my father’s heart,” Yamaichi said
Yamaichi was one of eight Japanese American internees who spoke to students at the Asian Student Union’s “Tell It Like It Was” event Monday night. Although her story seems to be from a distant time and place, the speakers made it very clear that the internment that happened over sixty years ago is still painfully relevant today.
The Japanese-American internment was the forced removal during World War II of all those with Japanese ancestry- including American citizens- from the West Coast. These individuals were relocated to one of ten War Relocation Centers, more commonly known as internment camps.
“I was incarcerated for over three and a half years,” said one of the speakers, Mas Yamasaki. “I was a prisoner in my own country.”
Nori Nishihira, ASU member and one of the student organizers of “Tell It Like It Was”, said that it was his Japanese heritage that inspired him to organize the event. His family came to the U.S. in 1965 and did not experience internment, but he said that he still felt connected to it as a Japanese American and wanted to hear the stories of those who had lived the experience.
Chizu Iiyama, who was a 20-year-old UC Berkeley student when she was interned, reminded students that civil rights violations are not just a history lesson. “Today,” she said, “when we read about a lot of what happens to the Arab Americans or Muslims, we can understand.”
She was referring to a post-9/11 climate in which discrimination against Muslim Americans has risen sharply in response to political events, with some even suggesting that they be subjected to internment. Japanese Americans sighed and shook their heads. They had seen this before.
Iiyama used the experience of internment to fuel a lifelong devotion to political activism and civil rights. “Japanese Americans are the first group to come out when the civil liberties of any American are in danger,” she said.
But politics were not her only concern during the internment. She also mentioned the lack of privacy in the crowded, hastily constructed camps, telling the story of a date with a boyfriend that ended with a lecture from her mother because everyone in the camp had seen them holding hands.
Iiyama went on to earn her bachelor’s degree while she was still living in the internment camp. “I got my BA while I was in the horse stall. Someone delivered the diploma to me while I was in the horse stall,” she said.
Christine Jiang, one of the event organizers, said that the event was intended as a workshop to prepare ASU members for a summer trip to Manzanar, one of the ten internment camp sites.
Pilgrimages to the various sites of the internment are common nowadays. One of the speakers, Mas Kawaguchi, wore a “Journey to Tanforan” T-shirt advertising an upcoming event at the former Tanforan Assembly Center, which is now a mall.
Such journeys, although they often take the form of social events, serve as reminders of a dark period for civil rights in American history. “It was just about the time when you’re starting to learn about the Constitution,” said Sadako Kashiwagi, who was in the third grade when she was interned at Tule Lake. “You’re being indoctrinated into the American way of life, and this is happening to you.”
Despite such indignities, however, life in the camps went on. Mas Yamasaki, who was twelve years old at the time of internment, said, “I get criticized because it seems like I had happy times over there.” He remembered playing sports in the spring and summer.
And in the winter? “I was fascinated by this card game called ‘poker’,” he said, chuckling.
However, it was Jimi Yamaichi, who was interned in the Heart Mountain camp, who perhaps best summed up why the events of World War II are still relevant today. Like Iiyama, he also drew a parallel between the internment and present-day attitudes toward Muslim Americans. On the wording of Executive Order 9066, which established internment for all Japanese “aliens and non-aliens”, he said, “Now, non-alien- I’m pretty sure all you people are non-aliens.”
“What happened to us can happen to anybody else,” he said. “That’s why we come out and speak up.”
Eiko Yamaichi’s father wanted a fridge.
In the early 1940’s, a fridge cost $150. A far cry from the refrigerators of today, this fridge was an ice box that held blocks of ice delivered to the house by a man with a cart. Yamaichi’s father saved up his money for months to afford it, and the refrigerator was his pride and joy- until the order to evacuate came and he had to sell it for $10.
“It just broke my father’s heart,” Yamaichi said
Yamaichi was one of eight Japanese American internees who spoke to students at the Asian Student Union’s “Tell It Like It Was” event Monday night. Although her story seems to be from a distant time and place, the speakers made it very clear that the internment that happened over sixty years ago is still painfully relevant today.
The Japanese-American internment was the forced removal during World War II of all those with Japanese ancestry- including American citizens- from the West Coast. These individuals were relocated to one of ten War Relocation Centers, more commonly known as internment camps.
“I was incarcerated for over three and a half years,” said one of the speakers, Mas Yamasaki. “I was a prisoner in my own country.”
Nori Nishihira, ASU member and one of the student organizers of “Tell It Like It Was”, said that it was his Japanese heritage that inspired him to organize the event. His family came to the U.S. in 1965 and did not experience internment, but he said that he still felt connected to it as a Japanese American and wanted to hear the stories of those who had lived the experience.
Chizu Iiyama, who was a 20-year-old UC Berkeley student when she was interned, reminded students that civil rights violations are not just a history lesson. “Today,” she said, “when we read about a lot of what happens to the Arab Americans or Muslims, we can understand.”
She was referring to a post-9/11 climate in which discrimination against Muslim Americans has risen sharply in response to political events, with some even suggesting that they be subjected to internment. Japanese Americans sighed and shook their heads. They had seen this before.
Iiyama used the experience of internment to fuel a lifelong devotion to political activism and civil rights. “Japanese Americans are the first group to come out when the civil liberties of any American are in danger,” she said.
But politics were not her only concern during the internment. She also mentioned the lack of privacy in the crowded, hastily constructed camps, telling the story of a date with a boyfriend that ended with a lecture from her mother because everyone in the camp had seen them holding hands.
Iiyama went on to earn her bachelor’s degree while she was still living in the internment camp. “I got my BA while I was in the horse stall. Someone delivered the diploma to me while I was in the horse stall,” she said.
Christine Jiang, one of the event organizers, said that the event was intended as a workshop to prepare ASU members for a summer trip to Manzanar, one of the ten internment camp sites.
Pilgrimages to the various sites of the internment are common nowadays. One of the speakers, Mas Kawaguchi, wore a “Journey to Tanforan” T-shirt advertising an upcoming event at the former Tanforan Assembly Center, which is now a mall.
Such journeys, although they often take the form of social events, serve as reminders of a dark period for civil rights in American history. “It was just about the time when you’re starting to learn about the Constitution,” said Sadako Kashiwagi, who was in the third grade when she was interned at Tule Lake. “You’re being indoctrinated into the American way of life, and this is happening to you.”
Despite such indignities, however, life in the camps went on. Mas Yamasaki, who was twelve years old at the time of internment, said, “I get criticized because it seems like I had happy times over there.” He remembered playing sports in the spring and summer.
And in the winter? “I was fascinated by this card game called ‘poker’,” he said, chuckling.
However, it was Jimi Yamaichi, who was interned in the Heart Mountain camp, who perhaps best summed up why the events of World War II are still relevant today. Like Iiyama, he also drew a parallel between the internment and present-day attitudes toward Muslim Americans. On the wording of Executive Order 9066, which established internment for all Japanese “aliens and non-aliens”, he said, “Now, non-alien- I’m pretty sure all you people are non-aliens.”
“What happened to us can happen to anybody else,” he said. “That’s why we come out and speak up.”