The 2024 VC Film Fest will present the documentary “One Fighting Irish-man,” which tells the story of legendary civil rights attorney Wayne Mortimer Collins and his work at the Tule Lake Segregation Center, on Friday, May 3, at 3 p.m. at the Tateuchi Democracy Forum of the Japanese American National Museum.
Featured as part of the film festival’s “Manzanar to Tule Lake” program, the half-hour film will be preceded by music from the film “Manzanar, Diverted,” and followed by a discussion with director Sharon Yamato, co-director Evan Kodani, and “Manzanar, Diverted” director Ann Kaneko.
Because the Tule Lake Segregation Center has had a controversial history as the camp for the so-called “disloyals” and renunciants, it has been little talked about, even among family members of those imprisoned there, many of whom were even shunned by their own community. Descendants of Tule Lake survivors are encouraged to attend the screening to learn about what led to its turbulent history and why their ancestors never spoke about it.
Wayne Collins was among the few attorneys who stepped up to fight for the rights of these thousands of Japanese Americans deprived of both their constitutional rights and their citizenship during wartime. Both the National JACL and the National ACLU refused to step forward to help those who were American citizens ultimately in danger of being deported to Japan, a country that many of them had never been to.
Among them was George Takei, whose mother was saved from deportation by Collins. Takei’s mother, a U.S. citizen, was among the many who were segregated and victimized at Tule Lake. Collins was responsible for getting her citizenship restored after she was coerced into renouncing it.
Although the screening is free of charge, tickets must be ordered through the VC Film Fest website at https://vcfilmfest2024.eventive.org/schedule/manzanar-to-tule-lake-66138f73819db20041f791b0. DVDs will also be available for purchase at the screening.
Funding for this film was provided by the Department of the Interior, National Park Service (NPS) through a Japanese American Confinement Sites (JACS) grant to Visual Communications. Additional funding was provided by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program.
For more information on this project, contact Sharon Yamato at sharony360@gmail.com. For questions regarding the JACS grant program, contact Kara Miyagishima, JACS program manager, at (303) 969-2885.