Entrevistas

1. Parents were willing to send her to medical school

2. Differences in discrimination

3. Getting good guidance

4. Unable to work when the war broke out

5. Traumatic experiences before camp

6. Joining the hospital unit in Santa Anita Race Track

7. Lost respect for the flag after incarceration

8. No use in having citizenship

9. Never married

10. “Everybody went in like sheep”

Shigekawa,Sakaye

(1913-2013) Doctor, especialista en obstetricia en California del Sur

Traumatic experiences before camp

I know my father was coming home from Long Beach, he was..from the hog ranch, you know and he didn’t come home. And he was put in jail, my father came out – but he was released the next day – and his experience there must have been quite traumatic because he could hardly talk about it. He said he saw these drunks in there being hit over the head and, you know, mistreated. And, I mean, he told about it just once – he never talked about it after that. I mean, it was quite traumatic to him I think, that experience.

But worst of all though, at least my father got, was released the first day afterwards, but so many of them, like if they were head of an organization or if they held any position of merit, you know, they put them in the…well they took them away without the family knowing where they were gonna go.

So, the rumors at that time was, be sure – to the men – you have a coat or something to wear, cause they’ll take you, just spirit you away. And I think that was such a traumatic experience for me to see, when I was there. So I couldn’t even talk about it for a long time, but you never hear about it from anybody else, you know. Yeah, you only hear about the camp experience, but to me, I think the experience before was even worse.

discriminación detención encarcelamiento relaciones interpersonales racismo Segunda Guerra Mundial

Fecha: March 31, 2005

Zona: California, US

Entrevista: Gwenn M. Jensen

País: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Entrevista

Dr. Sakaye Shigekawa nació el 6 de enero de 1913 en South Pasadena, California. Cuando era niña, su padre fue hospitalizado por una doble neumonía y mientras lo visitaba, conoció a los médicos y enfermeras y decidió seguir la carrera de medicina. Tras estudiar en USC, fue aceptada en Stritch Loyola Medical School y fue 1 de las 4 mujeres en su clase. Perseveró estudiando pese la discriminación de los instructores y compañeros y empezó practicando medicina en la zona de Los Ángeles.

Fue una de las primeras encarceladas en Santa Anita Race Track el 1 de marzo de 1942. La invitaron para trabajar con el Dr. Norman Kobayashi y Dr. Fred Fujikawa para atender los pacientes. Al principio le permitieron tratar las condiciones de la piel pero luego de un tiempo se le pidió realizar otros trabajos y empezó a realizar obstetricia y otras partes cuestiones de medicina.

Luego de la Guerra, continúo practicando medicina y abrió su propio consultorio. En sus 39 años de carrera como obstetra, calcula que ayudó a nacer más de 20 mil bebés y nunca perdió a una madre. Falleció el 18 de octubre de 2013, a los 100 años. (Abril de 2020)