Katsuishi Fujita, a Hawaiian-born Japanese American, shared his story of incarceration and survival with the CWRIC.

• Early Life: Born in Honolulu, moved to Los Angeles in 1925. As an immigrant worker, his opportunities were limited to farm labor, markets, and fieldwork—often 10–15 hours a day.

• Evacuation: In 1942, Fujita and his family were forced into an assembly center, living in horse stables for six months. His young son contracted a contagious disease and the family was quarantined for weeks.

• Camp Life: Transferred to Rohwer, Arkansas, where conditions were harsh—scorching heat in summer, freezing cold in winter. Later relocated to Utah, where he stayed in camp for about 15 months.

• Postwar Struggle: Returned to California in December 1945. Few Japanese Americans had yet come back. With three young children to support—including one only three months old—he had to work multiple jobs to keep the family afloat.

• Career & Retirement: Eventually entered the trucking business, hauling fertilizers for Kellogg Supply, where he worked for 24 years until retirement.

• Closing Note: At age 76, Fujita spoke with humility, grateful for his life but clear about the hardships endured.

Enosuke Amemiya, a nurseryman from Gardena, California, testified before the CWRIC with both a personal history of service to the U.S. and a detailed account of financial devastation caused by incarceration and discrimination.

• Service to the U.S. Military: Before WWII, Amemiya proudly supplied produce to Navy bases—selling apples, onions, and cabbage during WWI in Seattle, and later lettuce and tomatoes to San Diego. He emphasized how vital Japanese American farmers were to the armed forces’ food supply.

• Discrimination Beyond Camp: He described a devastating $1.2 million loss in California cemetery investments, where he believed discrimination tainted the courts. His lawyers discovered that the judge, district attorney, and defense counsel were close friends—leaving him convinced he never received a fair trial.

• Forced Removal: In 1942, Amemiya had 100,000 potted plants ready in his greenhouses, worth around $60,000. Army officials even asked him to raise tomato plants for military use—but within months, he and his family were forced into the Santa Anita racetrack, then later to Poston camp in Arizona.

• Camp Hardships: Conditions were so extreme in the desert heat that he engineered his own cooler using a Sears motor to keep his family alive.

• Return & Losses: When he returned to Gardena in 1945, he and his family of seven had no home—living for a year on the floor of a former store and then helping run a hostel at the Buddhist church for other displaced families. His greenhouses, taken over by another grower, produced 60,000 boxes of plants, but Amemiya received only ten cents a box for labor.

• Economic Devastation: He estimated his direct losses at $50,000, and the profits he would have earned during the war at $150,000—amounts he demanded in compensation.

• Psychological Toll: Amemiya stressed that beyond money, he and his community “suffered mentally” from the trauma of uprooting, confinement, and the indignity of rebuilding from nothing.

Frank Chuman, a prominent attorney admitted to practice in Maryland and California, testified before the CWRIC with a legal lens on the incarceration of Japanese Americans.

• Rejecting Euphemisms: Responded directly to Senator Hayakawa’s claim that the camps weren’t “concentration camps.” Chuman cited court rulings by Judge William Denman, Judge Louis Goodman, and Justice Owen Roberts, all of whom explicitly called them concentration camps. He insisted the term was not just rhetorical but a matter of legal record.

• On Property Loss: Highlighted works by historian Carey McWilliams (Prejudice) and Morton Grodzins (Americans Betrayed), which documented devastating financial losses suffered by Japanese Americans. He emphasized that Federal Reserve estimates of $400 million only covered household goods, ignoring massive agricultural and business losses.

• Myth of Military Necessity: Quoted historian Roger Daniels, affirming that the claim of “military necessity” was a fig leaf for racism.

• Legal Remedy Proposed: Urged the commission to recommend judicial review of Yasui, Hirabayashi, and Korematsu. Cited the rarely used English common law writ of coram nobis, which allows courts to correct fundamental errors in past rulings. He argued the Supreme Court should revisit its own wartime rulings and declare them unconstitutional.

• On Reparations: Supported $25,000 per person as reasonable, but also proposed a lasting memorial fund. Suggested scholarships, health care, studies on prejudice, and U.S.–Japan relations as ways to make reparations meaningful for both survivors and future generations.

• Economic Devastation: Cited Carey McWilliams’s estimate of $1.25 billion in agricultural losses (1942 dollars) in California alone. Noted $65 million in farmland and improvements, $35 million annually in crops, and $25 million in wholesale/retail produce business—all stripped away.

• Setting the Record Straight: Stressed that without Supreme Court reversal, the rulings upholding incarceration would remain a “shameful record.” He called on the commission not only to recommend redress but also to demand judicial correction of history.

Mas Fukai, a city councilman from Gardena, California—the city with the largest per-capita population of Japanese Americans in the continental U.S.—testified before the CWRIC with a deeply personal account of internment and its generational costs.

• Personal Roots: Born and raised in Gardena, Fukai returned as an elected official to speak not from books or lectures but from lived experience.

• Farm Lost: His family’s 20-acre farm was stripped away with only 30 days’ notice. His father, after a lifetime of hard labor, had just purchased a new tractor for $750—sold under duress for only $75.

• Incarceration: Fukai’s family was confined first at the Tulare Fairgrounds and then at Gila River, Arizona. He remembered living behind barbed wire for nearly three years.

• Leaving Camp with Nothing: At age 70, his father was forced off the land with no compensation, no housing, and nowhere to go. His parents, like many, died heartbroken and unfulfilled.

• Family Torn: Fukai’s wife and her family were exiled to Arkansas and then sent to Japan in a government exchange. Her father was killed by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima.

• Fighting While Imprisoned: His brother volunteered from camp in 1943, and Fukai himself was drafted in 1945—both serving while their family remained confined.

• Aftermath: Upon returning, the only jobs available were menial: gardening, dishwashing, cannery work. His mother labored into her late 70s to support the family.

• Discrimination Beyond Camp: Even as an elected official, he recalled being unable to rent or buy in Gardena 30 years earlier. He described trash thrown at him and ongoing hostility when redress was raised.

• Call for Education: He stressed the need to place this history in school textbooks and to remind the nation that it was Americans of Japanese ancestry—citizens—that were targeted, not foreigners.

• On Reparations: Fukai dismissed the idea that an apology alone would suffice. He argued for either individual compensation or a foundation to fund housing, health care, and education for the community. He called it ironic that the U.S. spent billions rebuilding enemy nations after WWII while neglecting its own citizens who had been unjustly imprisoned.

• Closing Plea: He warned the commission that unless reparations were made, “this commission is not doing its job.” He demanded not only acknowledgment but action for the older generation, many of whom were dying without justice.

Tom Bradley, the first Black mayor of Los Angeles and a powerful voice for civil rights, addressed the CWRIC with both personal reflection and political conviction.

• Personal Connection: Bradley recalled growing up in Los Angeles and watching his Japanese American classmates and neighbors suddenly uprooted. He described the removal as “unconscionable,” a betrayal he and his peers could not explain.

• Government Failure: He emphasized that internment was not just a presidential order but was reaffirmed by Congress and upheld multiple times by the U.S. Supreme Court—official sanctioning of injustice. He noted that leaders, including the president and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, possessed evidence contradicting claims of danger but moved forward anyway.

• Nightmare Story: He shared a striking anecdote: a woman told him of a dream where she was jailed simply for being a Democrat—illustrating how easily civil liberties can be stripped when group identity, not evidence, becomes the basis for persecution.

• Constitutional Betrayal: Bradley declared that no group in America should ever again be denied due process because of race, ancestry, or any category. He called internment a travesty that violated the Constitution’s promise of equal rights.

• On Remedies: While cautious about prescribing specific monetary compensation, Bradley urged the commission to recommend long-term solutions—such as institutional remembrance, Days of Remembrance, and protections—that would ensure history does not repeat itself.

• Elders’ Pain: When asked, he acknowledged that Japanese American elders carried unique psychological and economic burdens from the wartime experience, though the community often remained too proud to voice them.

• Legal Context: He compared the Court’s approval of internment to infamous cases like Dred Scott and Plessy v. Ferguson—decisions later overturned by history. He urged that the internment rulings too must be “thrown in the ashcan.”

Edmund Edelman, then Chairman of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, addressed the CWRIC with reflections on law, justice, and the dangers of wartime hysteria.

• Welcome & Context: Spoke on behalf of 7 million residents of Los Angeles County, welcoming the commission to hear directly from those who lived through internment on the West Coast.

• Law vs. Justice: Acknowledged that while the Supreme Court once upheld internment as constitutional, justice requires reassessment. Urged the commission to reconsider the so-called necessity of Executive Order 9066 in light of democratic principles of freedom and justice.

• Guilt by Association: Criticized the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans as a policy based on collective guilt—“alien to our democracy.” Emphasized that Americans should be judged as individuals, not as groups.

• On Remedy: Stated that Japanese Americans sought more than monetary damages—they wanted recognition of the injustice and remedies that honor democratic ideals.

• Personal Memory: Recalled being 11–12 years old in Los Angeles during WWII. Described the hysteria—anti-aircraft guns at his grammar school and widespread fear—that fueled discriminatory decisions.

• Looking Back: Stressed that hindsight allows a clearer view beyond wartime panic, and called for remedies consistent with the Constitution and democracy.

• Support Noted: Acknowledged City of Los Angeles leaders who expressed support for the commission, including councilmembers and the mayor’s office.

Barbara Marumoto, then a member of the Hawaii House of Representatives, testified before the CWRIC about her childhood experience of internment and its lasting impact on her family and community.

• Personal Story: Barbara was not yet three years old when her family was forcibly removed from San Francisco in 1942. They were first confined at Tanforan racetrack, where she recalls the lingering smell of horse stalls.

• Family Separation: While her immediate family was released after about 100 days when her parents secured work teaching Japanese at the University of Colorado, her grandparents were incarcerated at Topaz camp in Utah, where Barbara vividly remembers visiting them among the desolate desert barracks, barbed wire, and guard towers.

• Lasting Impact: Even a short confinement disrupted their lives—forcing her father to liquidate his business at a loss, uprooting the family from their home and community, and leaving economic hardship and deep psychological wounds.

• Hawaii Context: She reminded the commission that while fewer Japanese Americans were incarcerated in Hawaii, martial law was imposed across the territory, suspending civil rights for everyone.

• On Redress: Barbara stressed that restitution was justified but difficult to measure in dollars. She supported ideas like community centers, scholarships, and, above all, education.

• Call for Remembrance: She urged the establishment of a national day of observance on the anniversary of Executive Order 9066, to ensure that civil liberties violations are remembered and never repeated.

Show Notes: Barbara Marumoto – Hawaii House of Representatives

This is a recording of Shizu Sue Lofton's testimony at the public hearing during the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians in Chicago, September 1981.

Link to Transcript:

http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/nei_japan/id/2436/rec/1

Citation:

Archives, Northeastern Illinois University, "013 Testimonies of Kazuko Ige, Shizu Sue Lofton, S. Garry Oniki, Akira Arai, Lillian K. Hayano, Panel on Impact on Family" (1981). Hearing before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (Chicago), September 22-23, 1981. 16.

The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) was created in 1980 to investigate the constitutional and ethical objections of Executive Order 9066. The CWRIC executed an official evaluation of the order and its impact on the formerly interned and their families, starting the process of reparations to the Japanese Americans for the time, property, and liberty they had lost. The CWRIC reviewed the facts and circumstances surrounding Executive Order 9066 and its impact on the affected; the Committee also sought appropriate remedies. In order to fulfill that mandate, the CWRIC held twenty days of hearings in cities throughout the United States: Anchorage, Cambridge, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. The CWRIC heard testimonies from more than 750 witnesses of the internment experience. The results of these national hearings led to the passage of the Civil Liberties Act, which was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. This federal law granted the victims of the internment a formal government apology and financial reparations for the losses they had suffered.

Learn more at www.RedressRadio.com

Music: Sunset (Prod. by Lukrembo).wav

File number 007-04

This is a recording of Shigesato Murao's testimony at the public hearing during the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians in Chicago, September 1981.

Link to Transcript:

http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/nei_japan/id/1609/rec/1

Citation:

Archives, Northeastern Illinois University, "007 Testimonies of Masayuki Tashima, Jitsuo Morikawa, Henry Tanaka, Shigesato Murao, and Monica Sone, Panel on Individual Psychological Impact" (1981). Hearing before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (Chicago), September 22-23, 1981. 10.

The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) was created in 1980 to investigate the constitutional and ethical objections of Executive Order 9066. The CWRIC executed an official evaluation of the order and its impact on the formerly interned and their families, starting the process of reparations to the Japanese Americans for the time, property, and liberty they had lost. The CWRIC reviewed the facts and circumstances surrounding Executive Order 9066 and its impact on the affected; the Committee also sought appropriate remedies. In order to fulfill that mandate, the CWRIC held twenty days of hearings in cities throughout the United States: Anchorage, Cambridge, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. The CWRIC heard testimonies from more than 750 witnesses of the internment experience. The results of these national hearings led to the passage of the Civil Liberties Act, which was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. This federal law granted the victims of the internment a formal government apology and financial reparations for the losses they had suffered.

Learn more at www.RedressRadio.com

Music: RAINING IN ＯＳＡＫＡ (Lofi HipHop)

File number 007-04

This is a recording of Monica Sone's testimony at the public hearing during the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians in Chicago, September 1981.

Link to Transcript:

http://collections.carli.illinois.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/nei_japan/id/1647/rec/1

Citation:

Archives, Northeastern Illinois University, "007 Testimonies of Masayuki Tashima, Jitsuo Morikawa, Henry Tanaka, Shigesato Murao, and Monica Sone, Panel on Individual Psychological Impact" (1981). Hearing before the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (Chicago), September 22-23, 1981. 10.

The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC) was created in 1980 to investigate the constitutional and ethical objections of Executive Order 9066. The CWRIC executed an official evaluation of the order and its impact on the formerly interned and their families, starting the process of reparations to the Japanese Americans for the time, property, and liberty they had lost. The CWRIC reviewed the facts and circumstances surrounding Executive Order 9066 and its impact on the affected; the Committee also sought appropriate remedies. In order to fulfill that mandate, the CWRIC held twenty days of hearings in cities throughout the United States: Anchorage, Cambridge, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. The CWRIC heard testimonies from more than 750 witnesses of the internment experience. The results of these national hearings led to the passage of the Civil Liberties Act, which was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. This federal law granted the victims of the internment a formal government apology and financial reparations for the losses they had suffered.

Learn more at www.RedressRadio.com

File number 007-05