Students Take Alternative Spring Break Trip to Japanese Internment Camp

24

Author: Claire Diggins

Six Occidental students participated in an alternative educational trip to the former Japanese internment camp Manzanar over spring break. The trip was the culmination of a semester-long study and workshop exploring citizenship. The Office of Religious and Spiritual Life, Res-Ed and the Dean of Civic Engagement collaborated to organize the trip beginning last summer.

The trip took place from March 7–11, and the students spent three days at the Manzanar War Relocation Center and National Historic Site.

While at Manzanar, located in Independence, California, the students stayed in dorm-like rooms, learning about the camp’s history. One of the student leaders, Samantha Sencer-Mura (senior), had a personal reason for wanting to attend the trip.

“My grandparents were interned at Manzanar, so I wanted to go on the trip to get a better understanding of what that experience must have been like for them,” Sencer-Mura said.

Keeya Bighorse (senior), another one of the students on the trip, said it was quite a learning experience for him, opening his eyes to America’s disturbing ability to forget.

“In general, America has selective memory,” Bighorse said. “Few Americans know about Manzanar or its affiliate camps, much less the implications these camps might have on the Japanese American community. This selective memory allows events to repeat themselves because lessons from the past are not learned. For example, what happened to Japanese Americans during World War II is eerily reminiscent of what is happening to Americans with heritage from the Middle East post 9/11.”

After leaving the camp, the group spent two days exploring Little Tokyo. On Thursday, the students participated in a photo find, discovering the historical landmarks, cultural centers and interesting foods in Little Tokyo. Students  also attended lectures on post-war history, redress and issues of racism that have emerged since the 9/11 attacks.

On Friday, the group toured the Japanese American National Museum. Students attended a panel on 9/11 and its social and political impact on the Muslim community in the United States, comparing it to the situation of Japanese Americans during World War II. Panelists addressed the importance of building bridges between communities and creating dialogues that foster cultural understanding. The panel included speakers from the Japanese American Citizens League, a Buddhist minister, an Imam and professor Maeda from Occidental’s Critical Theory and Social Justice (CTSJ) department.

Students applied to go on the Manzanar trip in December and January and met several times throughout the semester to plan the trip and participate in communication and teambuilding exercises. These meetings were designed for the students and faculty members involved in the trip to get to know each other. Participants engaged in group discussions focused on understanding how individual identities shape a group and how the group dynamic influences personal reflection. The workshop also asked students to look at citizenship in the United States and examine the political, cultural and economic forces that have damaged the rights of Japanese Americans in the past century.

Director of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life Reverend Susan Young met with various professors from the Film, History, Urban and Environmental Policy and CTSJ departments, as well as Dominic Alletto from Occidental’s Intercultural Community Center (ICC), to get curriculum ideas for the trip. The students read books and articles recommended by various faculty members in preparation for the trip, including “Interracial Justice” by Eric Yamamoto and “Years of Infamy: The Untold Story of American Concentration Camps” by Michi Weglyn.

“We wanted it to be a really collaborative planning process, and the more we talked to folks, we uncovered how many people here are working in this area and had a strong interest in it,” Dean of Civic Engagement and one of the trip’s main planners Ella Turenne said. “We are really proud that this trip represents social justice and civic engagement across all different departments and how different disciplines can collaborate on a project and make something that’s really strong.”

Turenne is currently leading the creation of a portfolio documenting the trip. The portfolio will include informational material from the center, students’ written reflections of the experience and drawings, photos and films taken at the center. The group will use this as a presentation for the community, and it may be displayed in the library.

Prior to the trip, the students held the Sweet Heart Sock Hop to raise funds for, as well as awareness of, the excursion. The sock hop was held in Lower Herrick on Feb. 19, the Day of Remembrance: the day Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the incarceration of over 100,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. During this time, Japanese American men, women and children were forced out of their homes and into military-run internment camps, such as Manzanar. Occidental’s Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (API) also hosted a dinner on the Day of Remembrance, honoring alumni in attendance who were former internees.

Occidental has a collection of letters, articles, pamphlets, newspapers and other publications pertaining to Japanese internment in the U.S. between 1941 and 1946 called the Remsen Bird Archive of Japanese American Relocation. Former Occidental College President Remsen Bird and former Occidental librarian Elizabeth McCoy established the archive in 1941.

It was important to the organizers of the trip to share this archival resource with the greater community.

“The woman at Manzanar with whom I planned the trip did not even know about the Remsen Bird Archive, so it was important to share that. She was very happy to learn about it,” Young said.

Kisa Ito (senior), one of the student leaders of the trip, also shared that it was important to her to share the archive because it was important to her fatherNori Ito, an Occidental Alumnus and Buddhist Priest in Little Tokyo.

“He [Nori Ito] really wants the larger Japanese community in LA to know what Oxy has done in terms of preserving the history of Japanese American Relocation,” Ito said.

 

This article has been archived, for more requests please contact us via the support system.

Loading

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here