City of Davis commemorates Japanese American internment at annual Day of Remembrance
The city and local organizations co-hosted a film screening of ‘Kintsukuroi’ and a poster contest for youth in the community
By ALMA CULVERWELL — city@theaggie.org
The City of Davis recently co-hosted its third annual Day of Remembrance event on Feb. 19 at the Veterans Memorial Theatre. Other cosponsors for the event included the Davis Phoenix Coalition, Davis Asians for Racial Equity, UC Davis Asian American Studies, Ethnic Studies Youth Organizing and Leadership Opportunity (YOLO) Academy and Historical Society of Winters.
The event offered a free screening of the film “Kintsukuroi,” as well as highlights from Rachel Maddow’s Burn Order podcast. The event also included a poster competition for younger children.
Pattie Fong, long-time community activist and third-time organizer of the event, described the significance of this year’s movie screening.
“This year's Day of Remembrance is even more important because we're seeing history being replayed,” Fong said. “The demonization and vilification of Japanese Americans during World War II is exactly the same as what refugees, immigrants and undocumented people are getting now. They're being blamed for everything and being called criminals and drug dealers. It's exactly the same sort of hysteria that was taking place back then. At that time, it was a ratio of prejudices against the Japanese. We need to keep on learning this stuff because it's just repeating.”
Fong provided backstory on the film and highlighted the unique perspective it offered attendees.
“The movie was produced by a filmmaker out of San Francisco who wanted to pull together all the stories he heard [throughout] his upbringing,” Fong said. “The cast is all volunteers, only three or four of them have any professional acting experience. So everyone's a volunteer and everyone's [an] amateur. It's a story of a San Francisco family.”
Fong also emphasized the importance of continuing to recognize the experiences of Japanese Americans who lived in internment.
“A lot of people went to their graves not sharing their stories, and we need to make sure that doesn't happen anymore,” Fong said. “That these injustices are communicated and shared and appreciated and acknowledged. That's the only way we're going to learn to stop it in its tracks early.”
Floyd Shimomura, local community member and expert at Winters Museum, explained the longstanding history of Japanese internment within Yolo County.
“Before Pearl Harbor, the Japanese community of Winters comprised about 300 of the 1,200 residents of the area — about a quarter of the total population,” Shimomura said. “They were the primary labor force supporting the Winters’ agricultural community. Of the 300 who were incarcerated, only about 45, or 15%, returned.”
Shimomura continued to explain the significant impact the internment camps had on Winter’s Japanese community.
“Therefore, the issuance of Executive Order 9066 signifies the beginning of the death of the Winters’ Japanese community,” Shimomura said. “It is a sad day and a day of mourning. It is a way of respecting the hardships and sacrifices of our elders.”
Shimomura expressed what he hoped attendees would take away from the event.
“The Constitution is not self-executing,” Shimomura said. “Occasionally democracy, when it is scared, can overwhelm all three branches of government and do horrible things. I hope they learn that freedom and personal liberty must be fought for by every generation of Americans. If we don’t, then the Constitution is just a piece of paper.”
Fong also echoed her hopeful outlook on future generations.
“I hope that people feel empowered,” Fong said. “I want to keep on empowering them. That's actually why we added in the poster contest, so that we can get kids to start thinking that they have a voice and they can add to the protest.”
Fong continued, describing how her neighbor became involved in the poster contest.
“Our one entry was really amazing, because I asked one of my neighbor's kids, ‘You want to submit a poster?’” Fong said. “And, in 24 hours, she dug something up. She's only in fourth grade, but she already knew about the camps. She drew something with barbed wire and a flag. It's pretty impressive that her parents or school taught her something about the Japanese internment because they didn't have to. She actually already had some of the basic facts in her brain, and she made a poster for me.”
Fong concluded by emphasizing the importance of community.
“We did the poster contest to encourage kids to think that they have a role in this whole thing, and also to encourage them to come attend,” Fong said. “We want to continue to develop a sense of community and show that the protest is broad-based and that people are not going to let this country go under [Donald] Trump.”
Written By: Alma Culverwell— city@theaggie.org