How NCRR Shaped the CWIRC Hearings
by Miya Iwataki. Posted September 1o, 2018.
Reflections on the 30th Anniversary of the Signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988
August 10, 2018 marks the 30th Anniversary of the signing of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, a victory in the long struggle for redress and monetary reparations for Americans of Japanese ancestry who were imprisoned in concentration camps during WWII. Survivors or their heirs received $20,000 reparations and a Presidential Apology, and an educational fund was established. As a founding member of NCRR (National Coalition for Redress/Reparations), it’s been a time for reflection back on this decades-long struggle, and lessons learned.
JA community packs CWIRC hearing in Los Angeles. Photo by Roy Nakano.
Many of the founding members of NCRR-LA were part of the Asian American Movement of the 60s and 70s. I believe that the grassroots organizing experience and the principles we shared in the Movement defined the character of NCRR. These Movement roots guided our strategy and style of work, and enabled NCRR to shape the character of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) Hearings and, ultimately the Redress and Reparations (R/R) struggle, from a potentially top-down business-as-usual legislative enactment – into a people-driven campaign. It was unprecedented, historic, unwieldy and dramatic. It was the work of a unified Community. No single person can claim credit for R/R.
This issue sent shock waves throughout the community; and unleashed a dormant strength and power and determination within Japanese Americans/JAs to fight for and win R/R. The turning point in the struggle, and one which had the deepest impact on many of us, took place during the CWRIC Hearings in 1981 where 750 survivors, mostly Nisei, STOOD UP and TESTIFIED!
Dr. Mary Oda testifying at Los Angeles CWRIC Hearing 1981. Photo courtesy of Unity Archive Project.
After going to camp, I developed severe palpitations, a psychosomatic reaction to the submerged anger and frustration I felt at being forced to leave school, losing my home and having my family divided.
The emotional toll taken on my family also was considerable. My younger sister suffered a nervous breakdown and was hospitalized in a mental institution for five months.
The physical toll was even greater. My older sister developed bronchial asthma in camp. It was a reaction to the terrible dust storms and winds. The asthma became intractable, and she died at the age of 26.
My oldest brother, the dentist, had been consuming a quart of milk daily for most of his life. In camp adults were not allowed to have milk, only children under five. And because of the diet of pickled vegetables and rice and all the other things I mentioned already, and also the dried fruit preserved with sulphur, he developed a stomach problem and finally developed a stomach obstruction.
Because by this time there were no competent surgeons left in camp, he was shipped to the Los Angeles County General hospital where he died after surgery. He had developed cancer of the stomach at age 30, three years after the evacuation.
My father, too, was sensitive to the winds and dust, and developed constant nasal irritation and died of nose and throat cancer.
All three had entered camp in good health and had died with seven months of each other, three years after evacuation.
– Testimony of Dr. Mary Sakaguchi Oda
Powerful, painful, searing testimonies put a human face on the Japanese American concentration camp experience, and ripped open this dark point in US history to the nation. After 40 years of silence and gaman, in front of the whole world, the Japanese people stood up!
Powerful, painful, searing testimonies put a human face on the Japanese American concentration camp experience, and ripped open this dark point in US history to the nation. After 40 years of silence and gaman, in front of the whole world, the Japanese people stood up!Today, it’s hard to imagine how controversial the issue of R/R was in the Japanese American (JA) community. There were endless family dinnertime arguments. Impassioned debates raged at churches, temples, civic and community meetings over supporting or opposing direct monetary payments, a Presidential apology or even just bringing up this terrible past. NCRR knew we had to take these questions beyond meetings and family dinners, and bring it to the community as a whole. As organizers, we needed to know the sentiment of the community. We developed a survey and took the issue directly to the people.
What are your views on the issue of Redress/Reparations:
______ Support the issue
______ Do not support the issue
______ Do not have enough information to take a position
______ Other, please explain
If you support Redress/Reparations, which of the following positions do you prefer:
______ Seek a Presidential apology
______ Seek the establishment of a Presidential Commission to look into the matter of Japanese American Redress
______ Seek direct monetary compensation for individuals interned in camp
______ Do not know
_____ Other, please explain
There was a space for people to put their name and contact information if they needed more information or updates. We took the survey everywhere: schools, churches, temples, family gatherings, civic and community meetings, shopping malls, etc.
The Rafu Shimpo Newspaper, respected and unbiased, ran the survey, tallied the responses, and published the results in July 1981. The verdict was clear.
95% of the almost 4,000 respondants supported Redress for JAs incarcerated during WWII.
89% favored direct monetary payments.
Our mandate was clear. The people had spoken! “Justice Now! Reparations Now!” became our slogan. (ed.note: See the Addendum for NCRR’s Principles of Unity, 1980).
These survey results were later presented during the CWRIC Hearings in Washington, D.C.
UCLA students join the redress/reparations campaign in Little Tokyo. Photo courtesy of VC Photo Archive.
Two prior Redress bills were introduced including a call for $25,000 monetary reparations for the 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry who were imprisoned in concentration camps. The first had been introduced by Rep. Mike Lowry (D-Seattle); then Rep. Mervyn Dymally (D-Gardena) worked with NCRR on a Bill. But instead, legislation was passed to establish a Presidentially-appointed Commission (CWRIC) which would conduct hearings to determine whether an injustice had been committed! People were angry and disappointed. There was a sense of urgency. We wanted our Issei, already well into their 80s and 90s, to live to experience winning Justice and Reparations. Holding Hearings would create a further delay. Heated discussion took place about whether to boycott the Hearings.
Then we saw the Commission’s intent. There was talk of only one main hearing in Washington, D. C. inviting primarily academics and legislative muckety-mucks to provide information gleaned largely from government records (many later proven to be inaccurate and untruthful), and prior scant research that had been done. This institutional approach disregarded these very people whose lives had been shattered and destroyed by these American concentration camps! Where were they on the agenda? How many could afford to fly to D.C. for a hearing? And not be intimidated by the atmosphere there?
We knew these hearings would take place with us or without us. Rather than boycott the Hearings, we needed to change the Hearings, to bring the Hearings to the People! To make this a People’s campaign for Justice and Redress.
NCRR immediately challenged the Commission on their limited vision. We lobbied the Commission hard – including meeting with CWRIC Chair Joan Bernstein, who Lillian Nakano and I first met with (Lillian recalled that Bernstein appreciated that NCRR sent two women to meet with her).
Lillian Nakano with her father Saburo Sugita. They were interned at Jerome, AR and Heart Mountain, WY. Photo by Alan Kondo/ Unity Archive Project.
We challenged the CWRIC to get outside of Washington, DC and to go to the people. To conduct hearings in every city in the US that had a significant JA population. To hold truly meaningful hearings. Ultimately, the CWRIC held 20 days of hearings in 7-8 cities hearing testimonies from over 750 people!
(Left to right at CWIRC hearing in Los Angeles): Roy Nakano, Alan Nishio, and Mike Murase from NCRR.
Getting Issei and Nisei to testify was a challenge. Many JAs had never even talked to their own families or children about this experience which remained a raw and painful wound. There were also language issues for Issei, memory issues, reluctance to speak publically – especially with such personal information.
Mrs. Martha Okamoto testifies at CWRIC Hearing in Los Angeles, 1981. Photo courtesy of Unity Archive Project.
My name is Martha Okamoto. (breaks down crying) I am trying very hard, excuse me. My brother, James, was killed in Manzanar. I have never been able to talk about this. More people come up to me—my own children don’t know that my brother was shot in the bac
– Excerpt from Testimony of Martha Okamoto
Learning from campaigns we led during the ’60s and ’70s, we went to churches, civic organizations, associations, events to encourage people to speak. We met, cajoled, helped them write and type up and submit their testimonies in the required format, along with the mandatory 20 Xeroxed copies. Most people had never spoken publicly, let alone at a “Presidential Commission Hearing.” We committed to working side by side with them. We set up sessions to practice presenting in a safe environment.
Mother and two sons at camp mess hall.
MY BABY ARRIVED A MONTH EARLY.
THE DOCTOR HAD DELIVERED THREE BABIES AND HAD COLLAPSED, SO HE HAD RETURNED TO HIS BARRACKS FOR A MUCH NEEDED REST. THERE WAS ONLY ONE OB-GYN FOR THE ENTIRE CAMP. I HAD LONG, LONG HOURS OF LABOR. I MUST HAVE LOOKED GHASTLY BECAUSE MY SISTER CAME TO VISIT ME IN LABOR AND LEFT THE ROOM ABRUPTLY. LATER SHE TOLD ME I LOOKED SO AWFUL THAT SHE WENT OUTSIDE TO VOMIT. AFTER 28 HOURS OF LABOR THE NURSE BECAME CONCERNED AND SENT FOR DR. WAKAMATSU WHO EXAMINED ME AND SAID: “YOUR BABY’S HEARTBEAT IS GETTING VERY FAINT. I WILL HAVE TO USE FORCEPTS TO DELIVER THE BABY, AND I WILL HAVE TO GIVE YOU A LOCAL PAIN KILLER BECAUSE WE DO NOT HAVE AN ANESTHESIOLOGIST. WE CAN’T WAIT ANY LONGER BECAUSE WE DO NOT HAVE A RESUSCITATING MACHINE TO REVIVE THE BABY.”
I REMEMBER MANY DETAILS IN THE DELIVERY ROOM. AFTER USING THE SCALPEL TO CUT ME, HE PICKED UP THE FORCEPS. I THOUGHT IT LOOKED LIKE THE ICE TONGS USED BY THE ICEMAN – ONLY THE ENDS WERE LONG AND FLAT – NOT CURVED AND POINTED. AFTER MUCH PULLING, HE FINALLY GOT THE BABY OUT.
WHEN I SAW HER, I NOTICED A LARGE SCAB ON THE BACK OF HER HEAD. SHE HAS A BALD SPOT THERE TO THIS DAY. MADELINE IS A DEVELOPMENTALLY DISABLED PERSON. SHE IS MENTALLY RETARDED AND HAS GRAND MAL EPILEPSY.
– Testimony of Mrs. Mabel Ota
The hearings were electric. Each testimony was a living narrative, a shared history which brought people closer together; never before had the community been so unified. NCRR, as a community organization, felt a responsibility for making sure the CWRIC hearings were accessible, meaningful, very respectful to JA people. I believe the LA Hearings set the tone and was the model for the subsequent hearings.
This was an historic moment for the community. To enable as many people to participate as possible, we helped get transportation/buses to bring people from San Diego, Santa Barbara, Oxnard and other outlying cities. The hearing room was in the State Building, not nearly large enough for the crowd. We demanded an additional room, and made sure the hearings were piped in. To broaden participation, we obtained interpretation headphones for those who did not speak English well, and coordinated a schedule of simultaneous interpreters. We were successful in getting the CWRIC to hold an additional evening hearing so that people who worked during the day could testify. And we billed the Commission for these expenses.
Day of Remembrance ceremonies in several cities helped rally support for redress/reparations. Photo courtesy of VC Photo Archive.
The camp was, as has already been described, a prison camp.
In camp I worked in the hospital… I saw the third death of the shooting (by armed Camp Guards) that occurred on December the 6th. The third death was a teenage boy who was an innocent bystander. And if it wasn’t for the surgical skills of Dr. James Goto, several others would also have died. There were altogether ten injured.
– Testimony of Dr. Mary Oda
During the lunch breaks, we ordered obento lunches and drinks brought in to the park outside. At that time in the park, Daily briefings were provided on what went on for those who could not get in. Press conferences were held every evening after the Hearings to keep our community informed and involved; and to make sure the hearings got continuous coverage in mainstream tv, radio and news.
And the hearings were electric. Against a hushed background, a Nisei woman shared haiku written in camp:
ENDURING
AND YET ENDURING
THE COLOR OF MY SKIN
We felt her words. Each story brought us closer and closer until we became one unified body… inspired by, and fiercely protective of those who testified. That feeling of pure unity, and love of my community was the most significant moment of my life. We made history! This was the power of the people brought to the Commission Hearings that we are talking about today. This was the day that the Japanese American people stood up.
We served as hostages in this country when the tides of war were against us. We were imprisoned without trial. No amount of compensation can repay us for the shame, humiliation, the lost lives, the lost time.
The treatment we received makes a hollow mockery of the noble inscription at the base of the statue of liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores; bring these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.”
Because of Executive Order 9066, we Japanese Americans became the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to be free.
– Testimony of Dr. Mary Oda
JUSTICE NOW! REDRESS NOW! The struggle for Redress and Reparations was the political education of the Japanese American community on several different levels.
It gave our community a visceral sense of the “Power of the People.” When they went up to testify, they knew that The Community had their back. Their testimonies along with groundbreaking research which exposed the lie of a “military necessity” for the camps, led to the declaration in the CWRIC Final Report that “race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership” were the true causes leading to imprisonment of JAs into camp.*
Furthermore, the Presidential Apology and monetary restitution won in R/R legislation helped to lift some of the hidden shame and feelings of being a second class citizen experienced as a result of the imprisonment and for many years after. Although for many, the anger is still there.
Manzanar Pilgrimage, 1973. Photo by Ed Ikuta/VC Photo Archive.
Importantly, it opened up communications within many families. And it created and/or deepened bonds between Issei, Nisei Sansei, and Yonsei generation
Making this a People’s Campaign de-mystified, de-crypted the Legislative system…for all of us. I can’t remember how many “How A Bill Becomes A Law” sessions we held during the Campaign. And people were prepared to take care of business during NCRR’s historic 140+ People’s Lobbying Delegation to Washington, D.C. in July 1987! (Another story)
The community learned the value of working with other communities of color. A deeper understanding of our shared history as racial minorities in the US broke down barriers between communities of color. Leaders from other communities stepped forward to testify during the Hearings. The unequivocal and unwavering support from my ex-boss Congressman Mervyn Dymally and the Congressional Black Caucus, as well as the Hispanic Congressional Caucus will not be forgotten.
We understood our history, and who was to blame. Because of our history, and our victory, and the implications of our victory, more people in our community feel a responsibility to stand up for other peoples who are facing an injustice by the US government. Japanese Americans were among the first to stand in solidarity with the Muslim community who were under attack after 9/11. A close working relationship today has emerged from that solidarity work. Today the community continues to speak out against the unjust actions against immigrants by the current administration forcibly separating families and imprisoning them, bringing up ghosts of past racially-based concentration camps.
WE WILL NOT GAMAN NO MORE!!
– Testimony of Professor Yuji Ichioka
NCRR members June Hibino, Carrie Morita, Kimi Maru protest at LAX in solidarity with Shakeel Syed, Islamic Shura Council of So. CA against Trump immigration policies.
*Footnote: *Personal Justice Denied, Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, Washington, DC, December 1982
Addendum:
NCRR’s Five Principles of Unity (1980)
Monetary compensation to individuals who suffered evacuation and/or incarceration, or to their heirs of at least $25,000 per individual;
Restitution to the Japanese American community in the form of a community fund;
Overturning the legal basis that has justified the mass evacuation and incarceration;
Support of others who have suffered or still suffer from unjust actions by the United States government; and
Education of the American public so that future generations may learn from the mistakes of the past and not knowingly allow them to happen again.