Discover Nikkei

https://www.discovernikkei.org/en/interviews/clips/1783/

Impact of her father

He was very stern and stork, a typical Nisei man, didn’t talk about anything. I’ve learned about everything through my mom, but my images of him being shunned by the camp leadership, because of his advocacy for the Issei, I’ve always been most proud of that. Standing up for the people that were the most unpopular and who were deliberately being disempowered by the majority of the leadership in the camp was the only image that I would invoke at the worst times doing the kind of work I do thinking about where I came from and I think about him I think you know, it’s a life well lived. If it’s always in in in search of some noble objective that’s about the common good, then it’s always worth it. No matter what you lose in process. So I know that not everybody has looked at the camps the way I do but I do feel as though it’s a legacy that I’ve got to live up to and that I’ve gotta fight for the people who are being mistreated because of their race. That’s what I’ve been given and that’s what I’m gonna go with. That’s a legacy and it’s a way for it not to be wasted on me. That you know that I got this gift, in many ways, of a perspective that not everybody has. That White people will never have, that is so valuable despite the pain of it.


activism families fathers imprisonment incarceration social action World War II World War II camps

Date: July 14, 2020

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Matthew Saito

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum; Japanese American Bar Association

Interviewee Bio

Mia Yamamoto is a Sansei transgender attorney and civil rights activist. She was born in the Poston concentration camp in Arizona in 1943 where her parents were incarcerated. She joined the Army and served in the Vietnam War. Inspired by her father's courage to speak out against the unconstitutional incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, she attended the University of California Los Angeles's School of Law and has been a leader in the field of social justice, including working with the Japanese American Bar Association. (March 2021)

*This is one of the main projects completed by The Nikkei Community Internship (NCI) Program intern each summer, which the Japanese American Bar Association and the Japanese American National Museum have co-hosted.

Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
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Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Feeling imprisoned at camp

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

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Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
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Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

Institutionalization as a bad aspect of camp

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

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Aiko Yoshinaga Herzig
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Herzig,Aiko Yoshinaga

State Department records show concern for treatment of Japanese American internees

(1924-2018) Researcher, Activist

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Francis Y. Sogi
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Sogi,Francis Y.

Remembering December 7, 1941

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

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Francis Y. Sogi
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Sogi,Francis Y.

Meeting Japanese Americans from the mainland in MIS

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

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Francis Y. Sogi
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Sogi,Francis Y.

Awareness of concentration camps as a Japanese American

(1923-2011) Lawyer, MIS veteran, founder of Francis and Sarah Sogi Foundation

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Fred Korematsu
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Korematsu,Fred

Manhunt

(1919 - 2005) Challenged the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066.

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Fred Korematsu
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Korematsu,Fred

The Final Verdict

(1919 - 2005) Challenged the constitutionality of Executive Order 9066.

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William Hohri
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Hohri,William

Trying to get back into camp

(1927-2010) Political Activist

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William Hohri
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Hohri,William

Education in camp

(1927-2010) Political Activist

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Dale Minami
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Minami,Dale

Reasons for conformity and competitiveness in Gardena, California

(b. 1946) Lawyer

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Dale Minami
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Minami,Dale

Role of the redress movement in helping Nisei to open up about their wartime experiences

(b. 1946) Lawyer

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Mako Nakagawa
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Nakagawa,Mako

Search of family home by the FBI following the bombing of Pearl Harbor

(1937 - 2021) Teacher

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Mako Nakagawa
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Nakagawa,Mako

Not recognizing father after reunion at Crystal City, Texas

(1937 - 2021) Teacher

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Mako Nakagawa
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Nakagawa,Mako

A child's memories of activities at Crystal City, Texas

(1937 - 2021) Teacher

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