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Executive order 966 was signed in February of 1942, ordering the removal of all people of Japanese descent into detention camps.

Thousands came through the temporary holding camp at the Puyallup Fairgrounds, known euphemistically as camp Harmony.

Now, the Japanese American Citizens League is opening a permanent memorial to those who pass through.

And that's next on northwest.

Now, You.

one of the easy traps to fall into when it comes to history is when it seems like some event is just too crazy and too far pass to ever happen again.

But history teaches us that's not true.

And that's why the Puyallup Valley Japanese-American Citizens League is just finishing a $1.6 million memorial under the grandstands at the Puyallup Fairgrounds, the site of what was euphemistically known as camp Harmony, where, starting in the dark days of 1942, 7600 people of Japanese descent would eventually pass through on their way to permanent camps in Idaho, Utah, and California.

Steve Higgins has more.

Since 1900, families visiting Washington's largest fair policy repeat a tradition that spans generations.

We need to protect and preserve the legacy of what happened.

But this year, beneath the Washington State Fair grandstand, a new memorial offers a window cast with a darker shade on America's past.

Two thirds of those names belong to American born citizens.

Each side.

In August, studying the Quad Valley Japanese-American Citizens League unveiled the Remembrance Gallery, documenting the thousands Japanese Japanese-Americans arrested and imprisoned inside the U.S. Army's Puyallup Assembly Center after Imperial Japan bombed Pearl Harbor more than 80 years ago.

It's all deeply personal for Jackie's president, Eileen Yamato Lanphier, whose relatives were also inmates.

It's very emotional, obviously.

I'm.

I'm hoping that my family is looking down.

And the problem?

The exhibit center appears the names of more than 7500 people imprisoned at the fairground.

The gallery includes images and tales of survival.

And audio, which begs visitors to imagine living in horse stables or crowded barracks.

That robs privacy and dignity.

A lot of my friends had no idea that we were incarcerated for over three years.

Janet Barba and Ruth Lobato Matsumoto shared childhood memories when they were both forced into the Minidoka relocation Center, a concentration camp in the southern Idaho desert where summer sun baked the barracks and winter froze the streets.

I came back to the middle of my kindergarten year right in the middle of January, and and I came back when I was still four.

The remembrance gathering is testament to their imprisonment and reminders how communities time.

I could see so many of my relatives, their future relatives, the relatives when we were there, and then as we grew up, we got married.

Artifacts and stories reveal how bigotry and injustice can prevail if we fail our responsibility to protect neighbors.

We have a moral obligation to stand up for them, because part of it is nobody stood up for us in Pierce County.

Steve Higgins, northwest now.

Joining us now are Puyallup Valley, Japanese American Citizens League president Eileen the Armada, Lanphier project manager Sharon Sobey, Seymour and JCL board secretary Liz Dunbar.

Welcome, all of you to northwest.

Now, great to have a discussion about the new memorial hub at the Puyallup Fairgrounds.

It's been a long time in the making, and we want to talk about those details and about what it represents as well.

Eileen, let's start with you.

The JCL, you know, a big force, amongst Japanese-Americans.

Statewide, frankly.

Talk a little bit about the organization's role in dreaming this up.

Where did this come from as an idea?

Well, first of all, JCL is a national organization, and Puyallup Valley is one of its it's chapters.

We have been very much involved nationally and locally in creating some kind of, a remembrance for those that were imprisoned on the Puyallup Fairgrounds, which is, something that a lot of people do not know was in 42.

It was the largest concentration camp.

So when you talk about time, this has been over 82 years in the making because that's when they were incarcerated there.

For the project that we're talking about now, the remembrance Gallery, we started about two years ago.

Okay.

So it really came together pretty fast in the, in the, in the relative distance of time.

It came pretty quickly.

That part of it.

But it was actually a continuation of what we started way back in 2000 and 16,017 at the fairgrounds.

We had what we called a remember, 75th Remembrance of Executive Order 966.

That was the law that, gave the military the authorization right to incarcerate people of Japanese descent.

So we've been walking that path in that journey and coming to where we are now.

Eileen, makes the point, Sharon, that, a lot of people probably don't even realize when they go to the polit fair what happened there.

Talked a little bit about that.

And, and I don't think fairgoers probably understand, the grounds they're walking on.

Absolutely.

Well, we actually when we started back in 2017 for the event, we I think we felt that first of all, there was such a big interest.

We had such a big crowd, even after our own, event and with our own community coming out.

We were able to have an exhibit in the fair museum, and the response was phenomenal.

We just had a lot of people interested.

And even having that over seven years ago, still today, as you know, Eileen and I have gone and Liz, when we've promoted this the last few years at the fair, there's still many people who are absolute shocked.

Or even if they know something happened, they did.

They didn't realize it happened at the fair.

Yeah.

Or, you know, or some didn't even realize that happened in our country.

Right.

So the Remembrance Gallery is just a wonderful opportunity for us to bring this awareness to all the fairgoers.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Liz, we're going to talk about, fundraising specifically in a little bit here, but just, build on what Sharon said about the interest that you perceive that's out there.

How how did, how how did the momentum, this flywheel get turning?

And, what do you think?

What do you think is that spark that really got people interested in this as a as a project?

Well, you know, Tom, I think many people who are aware of, of this history, their first response when I would talk to them about it was, oh, this is long overdue.

This should have been done a long time ago.

I want to get on board.

I want to support it.

So when we started asking for support, it was just immediate.

And, it was amazing to me how many people in the Japanese American community and in the broader community just said, oh, yes, I want to support this, this need.

The story needs to be told.

We need to make sure it never happens again.

And so, it was just people's, awareness of the importance of it.

Yeah.

Eileen, I have a note here.

I originally was going to ask you about camp Harmony.

Yes, I now have it in quotes.

And I want you to talk a little bit about that, about the power of language.

And, historically, it was called camp Harmony by the U.S. government.

Talk a little bit about how we should think about that and, and what the reality of the situation is.

So the, the government actually did call it the prop assembly center.

What happened was, a Seattle Post-Intelligencer, reporter was sent down to the fairgrounds to watch the people of Seattle get off the busses and go through the main gate of the fairgrounds.

He made a comment in his report back to his editor that the people that came off the busses, they seemed to be cooperative.

They seemed to be, harmonious, that there was no rioting.

There was no conflict, no pushing and shoving.

So he sent that back to his editor and the editor picked up on that word harmonious.

So on the front page of the pie, it has Seattleites enter camp Harmony.

So now the military and the government, they're not going to complain about sending 7500 people to camp Harmony.

If the if the greater public wants to believe that it's Kumbaya and, you know, s'mores around the campfire.

They allowed that to happen.

So it became a euphemism, and it became a, a nickname that has lasted 82 years.

So we don't want people to think that people that were imprisoned on the fairgrounds were living in a camp.

It was not like a Boy Scout camp.

It was not like a a Girl Scout camp.

It was a prison camp.

And go ahead.

And that's another piece of language that I want you to address.

Even just as a matter of conversation, I will call it an internment camp, thinking that's the proper term.

That was a little more controversial.

I know once you start saying, listen, people, is a prison camp or a concentration camp.

That upset some people because they think of Nazi Germany and some of the things that go along with that extermination camps.

Very subtle shades of language here.

Talk a little bit about internment, in your view.

So internment it is a legal term.

It is an actual term, but it's not quite correct for the whole experience.

A whole wartime experience.

So internment still kind of it's more about immigrants and that they are the ones who are being incarcerated.

But when they extended that to all the camps, it's incorrect because 75% of those in the camps and permanent temporary concentration camps, American citizens.

So it it lends the idea that, oh, we just put people who were Japanese in there, not oh, we just put people who were Japanese and American citizens of Japanese descent.

I'm glad you mentioned that, because that was a fact I was looking for when I was researching this that I really couldn't find is what the percentage was of American citizens.

75%.

75%.

Okay.

And, Liz, you may be able to, talk about this a little bit, too, because, you know, the geography of this is important.

We've told the story on northwest now about the experience on Bainbridge Island.

We're very familiar with the Japanese American community in the Pilot Valley, and with the agriculture.

But I mean, talk about, where the where this facility drew from.

I mean, there's a lot of people from a lot of, a pretty wide ranging area that came through this facility.

Talk a little bit about that.

Yes.

And actually, I learned a lot in the process.

I'll.

Working on this.

Yes.

The first people who came to this camp were from Alaska.

Again, just like with Bainbridge Island, the government was worried that they were closer to, you know, to the enemy and or or to military targets.

And so, the Alaskans were moved first, to Puyallup, and then the bulk of the people who came to Puyallup Assembly Center were from the Seattle area.

Ironically, there were, you know, when you think about 7500 people that doubled the size of the city of Puyallup, that the the folks from Seattle and Alaska and so on filled up the camp.

And so then they had to find other places to send people from Tacoma or Sumner or those areas, because there just simply wasn't anymore room at the fairgrounds.

And so those people were sent to California or, people from central Washington were sent initially to Portland.

So, it was not necessarily logical, but none of it was logical.

Yeah.

But as the smaller trans trans shipment, if you will, facilities filled up before the permanent, facilities were built and ready to go.

Yeah, they end up with a capacity problem.

You.

I want to build on the fundraising piece a little bit.

With so much of it being Seattle oriented.

Is was most of the funding for this memorial coming out of Seattle because so many families are tied there, or is it more broad based?

Talk a little bit about that.

Well, certainly from, individuals and families.

Yes.

Much of the, contributions came from, survivors or, family members of survivors.

So a lot of people from the Seattle area or other parts of, of Washington who ended up there, from the foundations and government sources, it was all kinds of things.

So we got funding from the state of Washington, from Pierce County government.

We got funding from national foundations, like the Gates Foundation, the Japanese American Community Foundation, but also local ones like Northcliffe and Sequoia and Bamford.

So, it was really a mix of different, sources.

Yeah, yeah.

And I'm sure there's a lot of, interest in and wanting to participate in this.

It's one of those things that I think a lot of people want to be a part of.

It sounds like to me, Eileen, talk a little bit about, some of the sections in the memorial.

We we know that you want to memorialize the 7000 names.

That is that an ongoing process?

Do we know all the names?

Can more be added?

What's what's the approach on that?

So we have about 80ft, linear feet.

And the names will take up about 40ft of that.

Okay.

And so what we have right now is over 7500 names that we have been able to find and to, to verify.

One of the things that we had to do early on was a kind of an all call if if you think your, your parents were here or your neighbor or whatever.

We had an excellent, researcher who dug into the weeds to verify, that they were at Puyallup.

And so now they are what we call monument.

Is it easy to update?

It's it can be done, but it can't be done on a regular basis because it's it's, etched and or printed on ceramic, panels.

Yeah.

But we do have a current list on the website.

So as we get new, new names, we can update on the website.

We'll have to wait until we get kind of get a critical mass.

Yeah, to change out the panels, but we call it monument.

And and again, we also when we were reaching out for survivors, we wanted to make sure their names are spelt correctly.

Yeah.

You know, some of the Japanese names are pretty long and there's only so many little boxes, right.

So a lot of times, the, the ending vowel would be left off.

So it's been a community and, effort to make sure that the names are collected and are correct.

I haven't seen the memorial, but I but thinking about other memorials were all the names of something are listed.

There's a real power to that.

There is.

And when you first walk into the main entrance, that's what you see.

There's a couple of things about monument.

We did not want anybody to have to walk up a step ladder to find grandma's name.

We wanted no one crawling on the floor to find grandpa's name.

Right?

Or have to give you a magnifying glass so that the, the monument itself.

If you are to step back, you'll see that there's a wave of light because we want it to represent the river.

Puyallup River, white River, that's where people came from.

The other thing is, using technology as you approach monument, then there's a responsive light that will light up those panels.

So it becomes a little bit interactive.

Yeah.

And a little bit eye catching for the for the visitor, even if they may not have a family member there to just walk up and see how, how it's responding to them.

Yeah.

Well I think that's an important the the design piece is obviously a very important way of engaging people.

Yes.

And I will also say to that you have a real advantage in the you're right by the stones.

Yes.

So but that's going to help.

So when you talk about the areas that is the, the main section is the names, because that was our main objective was to permanently display all those names.

But to the, to the left is what we call we call through line.

But that's using technology that we can talk about what happened before, during and after the war, because many people think that the discrimination against the Japanese happened on December 7th, 1941.

But that kind of negates the 100 years before of anti-Asian sentiment.

Yeah, the Chinese, the Filipinos, the East Indians.

And then using different, screens, you could listen to oral histories of primary sources, people talking about what was the food like at Puyallup, you know, who were the people that helped them in their communities?

There are two interactive maps.

Maybe my family did not go to Up.

We went like, like lists as many of them went to Portland.

Well, what was Portland like?

You can touch the screen.

Okay.

And we'll show you where the Portland stockades were.

And a little bit of information about that site.

So a big educational piece, almost a curriculum.

It.

Yes.

Is this going to be in the schools or.

That is an interesting question.

Like it should be.

Maybe there's mention that we got a, a grant from the Washington State Legislature, and we have to thank our the representatives from, Puyallup who were our sponsors.

And one of them was Representative Jacobson.

And after she got to preview, she said, Eileen, every single student in the Puyallup school district should have the opportunity to come and visit.

And it's like, well, what would that look like?

She said, well, fourth graders go to the hatchery and they get to learn about the the salmon, the lifestyle, she said.

Why can't fifth and sixth graders come down to the gallery?

And I said, you, you great idea.

Yeah, you let me know what supporting role I can take.

The the other piece that I think a lot of people will be interested in is we have a recreation of a horse stall, because that's where horses were kept before and after their races, but they were also converted into living quarters.

So again, interactive speakers that will change the sounds and also lighting that will change the environment.

And you will actually be able to walk in and feel what does eight by ten space feel like.

And I'm going to live here for 4 to 6 months.

Yeah, sure.

And that confinement piece was one I wanted to hit you with to to spread this around a little bit.

Talk a little bit about exactly what that experience is when you walk in there and what, what you want people to.

I guess, feel well when you first of all, on the outside of our confinement site, we have barracks and then we have windows and these windows have pictures and actually they're changing pictures every 30s just to kind of set the tone and then, as you kind of round the corner and see the horse stall, you will step in.

And we do have a mannequin there and sitting and we have clothes hanging around the, the room, because when they launder their clothes by hand, and this is an area where they actually did have washers and dryers, but they did this by hand there, and it was very damp.

As we get here in the northwest.

And so they had to hang their clothes up around the room.

Some had clotheslines, some did not.

It's also very small.

The room that we have is an eight by ten.

It has, and I was going to say stovepipe oven, but, potbelly potbelly stove and, and then two cots and two army cots and the, the mattresses, not our mattresses.

They're stuffed with straw as well as the pillows.

So to it's, you know, they were originally, thought to have just people who were single, but by the time they filled everything up, there were families living in that smallest space.

Right?

Liz, you with other teammates?

JCL had had a role in the funding and and seeking for funding, funding for this.

Talk a little bit about the ongoing piece.

It's one thing to get it built, but there's always, you know, a hole.

This got to be repaired.

Another story that should probably be captured and put into the video.

So it needs to be re-edited.

What provision has been made for that?

And talk a little bit about the ongoing funding.

And is is that in place?

Some of it is in place, but we will be continuing to look for funding.

You know, we focused a lot on, people who or organizations who are willing to fund a capital project.

Right.

There are some people who don't want to do that but will fund education, will fund ongoing, program operations.

And so we still have work to do to raise money for that.

But we, there are sources out there, and we will keep working at it.

Because, yes, we want to keep refreshing and there's still time to get involved in this and, absolutely have.

So they can go on our website and find out more about how they can support it.

Go ahead and drop that website on us.

Is Puyallup Valley.

Jaclyn.

Org.

Great.

You know, Eileen, it's tempting to think that, 966, could never happen again, but that's not what the the gallery is about.

In our last question here, when we look at the rise of anti-Asian hate, because of Covid and some of those things, what's what's the ongoing message of of this memorial right up.

Two things.

Number one, I want people to to find this not just a memorial for things that happened in the past.

Yeah, but but, a hopeful place because we look at it back at our, our ancestor waters and this, this happened to them.

But you know what?

They they took lemons and made it into lemonade and kept going.

Right?

So there is hope for the future.

The legacy, though, is people need to understand that those human rights, civil rights, constitutional rights that were violated in 42, happen are happening today.

And as Sharon pointed out, you know, we had American born citizens, not naturalized American born.

And this is what happened to them.

So as a newcomer to the United States, whether you're a refugee, whether you're an immigrant, even if you're undocumented, you know, you kind of have to step back and say, wait, if this what happened to American citizens, what can I expect?

What kind of treatment?

And and we know that there are sites around the country where people are being housed, and, so for the new generations, the young people coming up, they need to be aware of what happened in 42 and be advocates for those that are living right now.

Great conversation.

I encourage people to look at, to go to the fair, to have a good time, but also to see this sounds well worth it.

Thank you, thank you, thank you very much.

Having us here.

More than a million people go to the Washington State Fair every year, many probably never having the first clue that the fairgrounds is the site of a former detention camp.

The bottom line.

History doesn't repeat, but it echoes.

And that's why I try to build awareness as a sort of inoculation against future.

But similar mistakes is so important.

I hope this program got you thinking and talking.

You can find this program on the web at kbtc.org, stream it through the PBS app or listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

That's going to do it for this edition of northwest.

Now until next time, I'm Tom Layson.

Thanks for watching.

You.