Never Again II

After the Japanese air raid on Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the incarceration of over 100,000 persons of Japanese heritage. Most of them were American citizens. In February of 1942, Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 (the image above), an order that gave military commanders free rein to set apart areas as military zones, to exclude "any and all persons". These zones were mainly on the West Coast, in California, parts of Oregon,Washington and Arizona. The U.S. government focused mainly on those of Japanese heritage as "any and all persons", removed them from their homes and livelihoods and sent them to various internment camps or centers around the country. The internment lasted from 1942 until 1946.

(source: Wikipedia)

Beginning in 2005, TVCC's Oral History Project, under the direction of Gerry Hampshire, sought to record the events that violated the civil rights of those who lived through the internment.

  (Photo taken by Dorothea Lange. Source: Wikipedia)

 
( Source: Wikipedia)

Our library has the collection of interviews of Japanese-Americans, conducted by the Project, it includes the recollections of a number of Treasure Valley residents who were deprived of their equal standing as American citizens as well as their civil rights. These citizens' lives were affected not only by the attack on Pearl Harbor, but also the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

As you see the images of the aftermath in Hiroshima during the exhibit that continues at the Performing Arts Center through May 13th, we invite you to watch and listen to the experiences of Japanese-American citizens who lived through the Internment.

In recent years, when events have prompted suggestions of interning other citizens, such as Arab-Americans, some of the Japanese-Americans who endured in the camps, are the first to come out and speak up and say "Never again!" Their voices continue to be needed and valued as we continue to live in a turbulent world.