Interviews

1. Parent's immigration to Peru

2. Finding family’s barrack on map of Crystal City

3. His sister Kiyo was like a second mother to him

4. His sister secured reparations for the family

5. Help received in fighting deportation

6. Seabrook Farms sponsored Japanese Peruvians for cheap labor

7. Checking in with Immigration once a month

8. Relating to Hispanic immigrant families at detention center in Laredo, TX

9. Proud to be Japanese Peruvian

Kazumu Naganuma

(b. 1942) Japanese Peruvian incarcerated in Crystal City

His sister secured reparations for the family

Kiyo was, again, this outspoken person in the sense that when the government sent — this is during the redress period, during the late 1980s — the spokesperson came to the JCCNC (Japanese Chamber of Commerce of Northern California) center here, community center. And while he was speaking, my sister went right up and showed him this one document that says, each of us have this, that says that we were arrested by the FBI. And surprisingly he said, on the spot, that, "You qualify." So like we were kind of shocked. The other Japanese Peruvians that were there didn't have the same papers.

We all have it somewhere, yes, every one. They give one to individuals, not a whole family, it's individual.

The key was the letter of apology from Ronald Reagan, and to receive the twenty thousand.

Japanese Peruvians Redress movement

Date: September 20, 2019

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Tom Ikeda and Yoko Nishimura

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum and Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project.

Interviewee Bio

Kazumu Julio Cesar Naganuma was born in Lima, Peru to his Issei parents on July 28, 1942. Before World War II, his parents ran a laundry business and father was a prominent community leader. When the war started, the FBI arrested his father and sent the entire family to the Department of Justice camp at Crystal City, Texas. They remained there even after the war had ended, without a place to go, becuase the family was not allowed to return to Peru. They were able to leave the camp with a sponsporship of Seabrook Farm in New Jersey, and later with the help and sponsorship of a Shinto church reverend in San Francisco, California, where they were able to find jobs and housing. Kazumu established successful design firm. (June 2020)