KOKORO KARA HEART MOUNTAIN WYOMING FOUNDATION Summer 2017 •Arthur & Estelle Ishigo: In A Heart Mountain Love Story This •2017 Pilgrimage Program Details Issue •Inside Peek: Incarceration in Focus •Heart Mountain Babies! www.HeartMountain.org What Does It Mean to be American?—Chair Shirley Ann Higuchi he question of what it means to be will discuss the Heart Mountain ob- of wartime imprisonment by juxta- TAmerican has resurfaced in light of jects saved from the auction block while posing them with the current political the current national political climate. It Bacon will talk about his experienc- climate and events in recent years. is one that the Japanese American com- es with Estelle during and after camp. G, who gave a moving performance munity first faced when theIssei arrived Thanks to Bacon for his lifelong com- at our 2015 Pilgrimage, will join more than 100 years ago and again with mitment to keep these stories alive and David and Jeff to host a separate Pearl Harbor and the incarceration. his steadfast dedication to the Founda- Spoken Word/Video Workshop on the Today, that question differs for each tion (look at opposite page to see Bacon incarceration experience in concert of us depending on where we live, our being honored by the Foundation at the with the Pilgrimage. ethnic and religious backgrounds, and April 2017 Santa Anita Reunion). The Honorable Norman Y. Mineta commitment to the ideals that shaped The historical trauma caused by and retired Senator Alan K. Simpson our nation. the incarceration still lingers 75 years are pillars of support for the Founda- As we explore these issues during later, rippling from one generation to tion and have attended almost every our July 28–30 Pilgrimage, we will also the next. We hope the Friday afternoon Pilgrimage since the Grand Opening. demonstrate the Foundation’s progress Multigenerational Discussion will allow They are wonderful mentors and their over the last six years and highlight how visitors of all ages to share their expe- guidance helped me to not only under- our organization has achieved nation- riences and thoughts on this period of stand the needs of the Japanese Ameri- al significance (read the full story on American history. can community but those outside of it. pages 3–4). This year’s theme, “The Norm, in his capacity as an esteemed American Self: 75 Years After E.O. 9066,” Heart Mountain advisor and Chair of will be launched by two Educational Trustees for the Japanese American Sessions on Friday morning. “Memories National Museum (JANM), will intro- of Five Nisei: The Untold Stories of For- duce keynote speaker Ann Burroughs, mer Prisoners” will be chaired by board CEO/President of JANM. Ann, who member and Heart Mountain incar- was imprisoned as a young activist ceree Sam Mihara. I’ll always remem- because of her anti-apartheid stance in ber when Sam traveled to Washington, her native South Africa, will now speak D.C. immediately after the 2011 Grand at the very site of Norm’s confinement Opening expressing his desire to help 75 years ago. I first met Ann at JANM the Foundation. He recalled the pain during last fall’s Town Hall when she of being imprisoned and his memories was its interim director. Then as now, of Cody and Powell. Yet after attending I was captivated by her generous spirit, the opening of our Interpretive Center, understanding of the Japanese Amer- he felt embraced by the local commu- ican community, and support of the Shirley Ann Higuchi nity and his fellow pilgrims. Sam epit- All Camps Consortium initiative. I omizes what it means to be an Ameri- We are also excited to premiere am thrilled that she is leading JANM can by traveling around the country to “Facism,” the latest documentary from and joining us at Heart Mountain this talk about his incarceration experience. David Ono and Jeff MacIntyre, featur- summer. Many thanks to Sam for not letting this ing acclaimed artist Roger Shimomu- Our ability to be a successful and important history be forgotten. ra and National Poetry Slam cham- sustainable national organization is “Rescued Heritage: Heart Mountain pion G Yamazawa. Roger, a former due to our talented staff and dedicated Artifacts and Estelle Ishigo’s Works” Minidoka incarceree, will unveil his leadership. Our commitment to tell our will be led by Nancy Ukai and Bacon original artwork at our Interpre- story of the fragility of democracy Sakatani, an Advisory Council member tive Center on Saturday afternoon. is deeply rooted in the World War II and Heart Mountain incarceree. Nan- His work addresses sociopolitical Japanese American incarceration ex- cy and I met in 2015 when we helped issues of ethnicity by pairing seemingly perience. Please join me at this year’s lead a grassroots movement to halt the contradictory images through figures in Pilgrimage to share your stories and to public auction of 450 artifacts made be- Japanese woodcut prints and contem- be a part of the answer to: What does it hind barbed wire. Given our connection porary and pop art. He recognizes and mean to be American? and her enthusiasm for the artwork, she challenges the ironies and complexities 1 Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation | Summer 2017 Former Heart Mountain Incarceree Receives Proclamation or more than four decades, Bacon Sakatani has Fdevoted his time and energy to organizing periodic reunions for those individuals who were held at the Pomona Fairgrounds and the Santa Anita Racetrack assembly centers before being sent to the Heart Mountain Relocation Camp. He received a Proclamation issued by the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation to recognize his work Photo courtesy of Darrell Kunitomi during the Santa Anita Racetrack reunion held on April HMWF Board Member Takashi Hoshizaki presents 15, 2017 at the Japanese American National Museum in the Proclamation to Bacon Sakatani. Los Angeles, California. www.HeartMountain.org 2 Special Exhibits his year’s Pilgrimage features an unprecedented three special exhibits which will Tbe adorning the Interpretive Center’s walls. Visual art is an excellent medium to explore the complicated idea of the “American Self” in layered, discernible, or some- times less obvious imagery, proving the old adage “a picture is worth a thousand words.” Duality is a characteristic that runs through our displays for this event: dual perspectives of incarceration through photography, dual representations of person- al interactions with definitions of American identity and race, and dual identities of Heart Mountain barracks. “Incarceration in Focus: A Comparative Look at the Photographs of Ansel Adams and Yoshio Okumoto,” was made possible with the generous support of the Wyoming Arts Council, and is on display in our temporary gallery. Read more about this special exhibit on pages 11–12. Roger Shimomura spent his earliest years behind barbed wire as an incarceree with his fami- ly at the Minidoka site in Idaho after being forcibly removed from Seattle. The Interpretive Center will have the pleasure of displaying several pieces of art in an array of Yellow No Same #4 by Roger Shimomura Friday, july 28 Shimomura’s styles, from American pop art to Japanese woodblock art. His artwork is also inspired by wartime propaganda, 9:30am–12:00pm which dehumanized the enemy but also played into the stereotypes, prejudices, and Educational Sessions generalizations that accompany racism, xenophobia, and fear of the different and • “unknown.” Another source of motivation and material came from Shimomura’s grandmother, who kept a diary throughout her life and gifted her thoughts to her 1:30–4:00pm grandson. Multigenerational Shimomura’s work represents the strength he gleans from adversity, taking all Discussion of the most hate-filled and misunderstood depictions of Asian Americans and • reproducing them in a sophisticated, almost comic book-style look which allows 6:30–10:00pm penetration into popular culture, speaking a language everyone can understand. Shimomura laments that “[f]ar too many American-born citizens of Asian descent Dinner Banquet, continue to be accepted as only ‘American knockoffs.’” His paintings remind us that featuring premiere of stereotypes and racism continue to exist, deep in the collective consciousness. Spoken Word Videos, Stan Honda, a New York-based photographer and photojournalist explores the followed by Dessert varied lives the Heart Mountain barracks have had since they were first constructed Reception in 1942 in his photography exhibit “Moving Walls: Heart Mountain Barracks in the Big Horn Basin.” Originally the living quarters of incarcerated Japanese Americans 3 Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation | Summer 2017 during World War II, the structures later found (and con- tinue to find) multiple uses by resourceful Wyomingites Saturday, july 29 across the state. The project brings into focus key figures 10:00am–4:30pm of 20th century Wyoming history through powerful im- Presenters: Ann Burroughs, Norman Y. Mineta, ages and narratives. Those figures include the incarcerated Alan K. Simpson, & G Yamazawa Japanese Americans; Wyoming farmers and ranchers; the Special Exhibits: Roger Shimomura, Stan Honda, changing landscape; and the barracks themselves. Yoshio Okumoto, & Ansel Adams Honda, a child of former incarcerees, says of his Documentary Film Premiere of “Facism” and experience on this project: “Learning about the home- Panel Discussion moderated by steaders and hearing their stories was fascinating. Doc- Jeff MacIntyre & David Ono umenting the people in their homes, of which many are former barracks buildings, was a truly memorable expe- rience…the artifact that was the common physical expe- rience of all the Japanese American incarcerees has taken on a new meaning for this community in northern Wyo- ming.” The photographer has been collaborating with Los Angeles-based writer/filmmaker Sharon Yamato for the project of documenting these barracks and their various inhabitants. Honda’s photographs will continue to be on display at the Interpretive Center throughout the autumn, accompanied by a premiere of Yamato’s new documenta- ry film in which the homesteaders and former incarcrees of the images are interviewed.