A living history
There is an amazing event coming to Cal State San Bernardino next week.
Survivors of the internment and forced enlistment of Japanese Americans during WWII will participate in a dramatic reading and play exploring the rifts that have remained between those who fought for America and those who languished in camps and prisons.
This period is especially crucial history for Americans, especially in a time of war. After FDR issued an executive order authorizing internment of Japanese Americans in detention camps, the Supreme Court supinely affirmed the violation of rights in its 1944 Korematsu v. United States decision.
The opinion, written by Supreme Court justice Hugo Black, held that the need to protect against espionage outweighed Fred Korematsu's individual rights, and the rights of Americans of Japanese descent.
The Korematsu decision has never been explicitly overturned. No definitive evidence has ever come to light that the internment of Japanese American citizens enhanced the nation's security.
The event is free:
What: “A Divided Community: Conscience and the Constitution During WWII,“ a dramatic reading performance about Japanese Americans‘ plight during WWII.
Where: Cal State San Bernardino San Manuel Student Union Theater
When: 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 23
Misc: Features live performances by surviving Japanese Americans who endured war and incarceration in the 1940s. Performance will be filmed by Japanese filmmaker for Japanese documentary.
Event is free. For information call Cherstin Lyon at (909) 537-7555
SAN BERNARDINO — They are solemn reminders of a grievous subversion on Constitutional rights.
Upwards of 120,000 Japanese Americans, living in California amidst world war, were rounded and interned in camps in the early 1940s. Some were confronted with a grave choice: Fight for America, or be imprisoned by it.
“They suffered constitutional attacks on their rights as citizens,” said Cherstin Lyon, a Cal State San Bernardino history professor and coordinator of public and oral history programs. “Some volunteered, and those who stood up in court went to prison. Those divisions among these groups of Japanese Americans persist today.”
In an effort to bridge those gaps and highlight the perils of Constitutional overreach in time of war, Cal State San Bernardino will host a live performance Wednesday, April 23, by and about Japanese Americans who endured WWII.
Total, 263 Japanese American men did time in federal penitentiaries because they refused the compulsory draft for a country that seized their property and interned them in camps, according to Momo Yashima, the play’s director.
But old wounds remain between the volunteers and the resisters.
“The Japanese American veterans were misled by the U.S. government into thinking the resisters criticized their stand,” Yashima said. “But that’s not true, they just resisted the process and their rights being trampled.”
A film crew led by Japanese director Junichi Suzuki will also be on hand, filming footage of a coming documentary about Japanese Americans’ divisive history and planned for wide-release in Japan.
But the real treat is aimed at Cal State students and others who attend the free event, titled, “A Divided Community,” Yashima said.
“Without bringing light to history, history is omitted,” Yashima said. “It is vital that all people, especially the young people who will be the movers and shakers of tomorrow, are aware of this history so that it can never happen again.”
robert.rogers@sbsun.com (909) 386-3855.
There's another don't miss at CSUSB this week: Award-winning Environmental Expo!
It's tomorrow, on campus, open to the public and worth a visit.
This is the largest event of its kind on the westcoast (or is it the western United States?)... IT'S __BIG__!
People come from all over the state and nation to attend this event!
Please see details for this CONFIRMED event (There was some confusion about it taking place, or not, this year), here:
http://events.csusb.edu/ViewEvent.asp?EventID=16198&BookID=116174
See you there! :-)