Natalie Chen

April 14, 2015

Period 1 LA Period 4 SS
Legacy Project
Internment camps in Hawaii

Introduction
Discovered only in 2002 (Wang, Kai-Hwa), there was little
known about internment camps in Hawaii. The spread of the
knowledge of the camps is very important, in that not many people
know about it. Learning of such experiences will help the U.S. as a
nation to reflect on what theyve done in the past, and not to repeat
history. Im Japanese, and my mother, grandmother, and greatgrandmother all grew up in Hawaii. I think that if we can educate
enough people about the internment, then soon the knowledge of it
will spread rapidly like a domino effect.

Connection to Community and Culture

Ive known about Japanese Internment (in general) for a long
time. Its been something my Japanese side of my family and Japanese
friends have always known about. Ive always held a particular interest
in Japanese Internment, especially since the cause was mainly of the
attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, near where my mother grew up. I
remember going when I was younger, to see the Pearl Harbor
memorial. I never really understood it, though, since I was in maybe
first or second grade. Somehow, though, Ive always known at least a
shadow of what the Internment was, maybe because of my heritage, or
because I grew up going to a Japanese church. When I first heard about
the internment in Hawaii, I was surprised. After soaking it in, thought, I
though, Well, they werent going to get off that easily. Now, this
makes me want to explore more about it, figuring out the conditions
because my great grandfather and great grandmother ma have been
interned there.
My more personal connection to this issue is that I feel very
compelled to make sure people know that this happened, just because
it may have been a part of my personal/family history (I dont know for
sure, because both my great grandparents would have been alive
during the time of the internment, and they have both passed away).

Ever since I really learned about it in third/fourth grade, Ive felt an

urgency to make sure people know that this happened, and the
conditions of it. As a result of this urgency is that Ive researched it a
lot, choosing the Japanese internment for multiple past school projects,
which has caused me to gotten closer to the topic.

Export Report
The issue is that not enough people know about the internment
in Hawaii. Knowing the conditions of the camp, and what happened to
the people that were interned could potentially help future decisions on
how we treat people. This awareness could even help us on how we
treat people now, for example, with the controversy with Muslim
people. The issue that this really represents, I suppose, is the
treatment of others based on race or religion. Not recognizing or
otherwise not taking action on the fact that we have committed this
crime of negatively treating others before is the issue. Hopefully, more
knowledge and awareness of what has happened in the past will be
recognized as a similarity between how we treat people now.
The cause of this issue is that the Japanese Internment was very
shameful for the Japanese, so most families kept quiet about it until a
few years ago (Memoli, Michael A.). Most of the people interned
returned quietly to their daily lives after the war was over, and most

people that werent interned knew very little about the camps, and
many people, not at all.
For many of the families, The internees did not talk about it,
the pain was so deep, says Carole Hayashino, they president of the
Japanese Culture Center of Hawaii, in an interview with NPR.
The families often were shunned [because in Hawaii mostly
heads of households were taken, and their families left to fend for
themselves], is what my interviewee, Jane Kurahara, tells me.
The impact of this silence of the Japanese internment in Hawaii
wasnt large, and in fact, didnt have much affect at all. Though the
result of the silence was curiosity, there wasnt much spoken about the
internment. One could say that the real issue is and was the racial
discrimination, which had and still has a great impact on how we treat
others and how we act politically today. The real impact was that of the
revelation of the camps. Knowing this history, as I said, will help us
reflect on what we have done and how we have treated others so that
we may not make those mistakes again. The point of learning history in
general is so that we may not make the mistakes that were made and
that we may learn from the good things that happened. I want to do
this through a school curriculum, because I know that most kids or
teens wouldnt pick this up on their own. There interest level may not
be high, but that doesn't matter so long as when students learn about
it, they recognize similar situations (for example, racial discrimination

against Muslims). From this theyll be able to say, Okay, this happened
in the past (the internment, the cruelty towards those of a specific
race), this (whatever current event) is happening now, these are
similar. This is what was a result (of the discrimination), and this is how
we felt about it (the internment) after we did it.
Many things have been done to try and resolve this issue, though
more exclusively in Hawaii. For example, Camp Honouliuli, one of the
internment camps in Hawaii, is being signed as a national park, so
hopefully it will gain national recognition. Other things such as
curriculum binders, a movie, and a book have been created to educate
high school students in Hawaii. The curriculum binders have been
given to every high school class on every major island in Hawaii, Jane
Kurahara, a leader in the search for Camp Honouliuli, tells me. There
are also many articles published online by news sources such as NPR,
the LA times, and NBC News. The Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii
has also created a website, sharing about the internment and the
timeline of the Japanese internment camps in Hawaii. The website also
helps make it so that those who would like to share stories can share
stories. The website also has access to a curriculum on the Japanese
internment. As you can see, the leading effort in this cause is the JCCH
(Japanese Culture Center of Hawaii). The federal government has also
somewhat supported the cause in making Camp Honouliuli, one of the
largest internment camps (Hawaiis largest internment camp now a

national monument), in to a national park along with several other

internment camps across the U.S.

Real Right Now Solution

My solution to this issue is to learn more about the internment
in Hawaii and my ancestral history pertaining to the World War II era,
and educate people about it through my presentation. Hopefully,
others will choose to be educated about it, and tell others who will tell
others, etc., like a domino effect. For a longer term goal, I would like for
the Department of Education in Washington state to recognize
internment in Hawaii (and internment in general) as an event in history
that requires a greater attention to, and perhaps devote an entire
school curriculum to it.
I think that if I am able to educate more people through my
presentation (first educating myself, though), then they will tell more
and more people about the internment. The recognition of the
Japanese Internment in Hawaii will hopefully be noticed, and called to
attention. If, like I said, we can create a school curriculum for the
internment in Washington state, then this may cause more and more
states to create curriculums if they see that the education of the
internment is important and having an impact. This will solve my
solution by having people educated about it, and hopefully have it in
mind the next time that our country comes to judgement of people for,
perhaps, terrorism. Their education of the internment and our nations
history will help us reflect on how we should treat those people of the

same race or religion, and what can happen if we choose to treat

everyone negatively.
Hopefully, an outcome of this (in short) may be that there is
better behavior towards other human beings. We, (as a state, nation,
species) will be able to reflect on what mistakes we have made in the
past and how they have affected our people. Then, we can compare
what we did then to what we are doing now. If we are doing something
similar to what we were doing wrongly in the past (for example:
judging others based off of race or religion, rather than judging people
based off of character), then we can correct our behavior and remind
others to also act in such a way that we do not offend others. The
outcome or change will be obvious in that when we ask, perhaps,
immigrants of their experiences so far in the U.S or wherever they
immigrate, that they are comfortable and life has maybe improved for
them.
I came up with this solution by first thinking about what I
would like to do now, and what an ultimate goal would be, if I were to
continue this project. I think by starting small and communicating to
people just through my presentation, that I will get a lot of people
interested in the internment, so that they will talk more and more
about it, more and more people will acknowledge the internment, and
it may be recognized by our state, or even nation, as something that
we need to educate our students on for the benefit of our nation. I

think that this may work because I know that by making something
interesting enough (for example: a math problem, a black and
blue/white and gold dress, etc.) and there is enough talk about it, that
people will recognize on a national scale. If I can describe the harsh
conditions of the camp, the shaming of those whose family members
went to those camps, how in Hawaii the internment was much more a
prisoner of war camp or prison, people may listen because there is
something compelling about hearing about the pain people have gone
through, but are somehow still resilient.
Ethical questions that may be asked are: what is the point of
learning this? Will people really pay attention to this? How will this help
us? If we start teaching students this now, will they be interested
enough to remember the concepts? Will students actually process the
information as important, and use it in their lives? What is taught in
Japan about the camps and World War II?

Works Cited
Kurahara, Jane. Personal Interview. April 4, 2015.
Frances Kai-Hwa Wang. Oahus Honouliuli Internment Camp
Designated National Monument. NBC News. Web. April 14,
2015.
Michael A. Memoli. Obama making WW II internment camp in Hawaii a
national monument. LA Times. Web. April 15, 2015.
Molly Solomon. Once Lost, Internment Camp In Hawaii Now A National
Monument.
NPR. Web. April 16, 2015.
Carol Kuruvilla. Muslim Mom To Women Who Harassed Her On A Delta
Flight: I Forgive You.
Huffington Post. Web. April 27, 2015.
Unknown. Hawaiis largest internment camp now a national
monument.
Seattle Times. Web. April 28, 2015.