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Her family couldn't talk about it. Now she educates others about this dark point in US history.
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Hanako Wakatsuki has dedicated her life to remembering what her family wouldn’t talk about: the mass incarceration ofJapanese Americans during World War II.
Eighty years ago, on Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which eventually led to rounding up roughly 120,000 Japanese Americans forced to leave everything behind.
“We lost everything, like I lost my heritage,” Wakatsuki said. “I had four generations of my family incarcerated at Manzanar,” one of 10 camps Americans with at least 1/16th Japanese ancestry were confined to.
The historian also had relatives incarcerated at Minidoka and Tule Lake.
“Our family never talked about it because it was super traumatic,” she said. “That’s why I got so interested in learning about this.”
Over the years, she has shared what she learned at various sites within the national park system, including former camp locations and Pearl Harbor. She is now superintendent of Honouliuli National Historic Site, which is still in in development to preserve Japanese American confinement history in Hawaii.
SURVIVOR STORIES:In 1942, Camp Amache held 7,500 Japanese Americans prisoner. Here’s what they want the world to remember.
‘GO FOR BROKE’:How Japanese Americans in the 442nd broke barriers at home and fought fascism abroad
Both the National Park Service and Wakatsuki are intentional about the language they use to share these stories.
“It is important to accurately describe the history of the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II without perpetuating euphemistic terms that the U.S. government and others employed at the time, or incorrect terms later substituted that do not adequately describe the injustice experienced by more than 120,000 people,” reads Park Service’ guidance around language.
“We got it institutionalized into the Harpers Ferry editorial style guide, which is helping us move forward as, first, the Park Service to tell these stories, but also institutionalizing it kind of at a governmental level to recognize that, hey, we haven’t been using the proper terminology to describe these situations,” Wakatsuki said.
Saturday marks the 80th annual Day of Remembrance of Japanese American mass incarceration. Starting Friday and throughout the weekend, the National Park Service, Smithsonian National Museum of American History and Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation will co-host a series of free, live, virtual events addressing what happened, how it impacts what’s still happening today and what can be done moving forward. Times, topics and details can be found here.
ONGOING TRAUMA:Terrifying attacks on Asian women continue. Here’s what advocates say needs to change.
All year long, the conversation and reflection continue at various sites dedicated to remembering that history, including:
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