On Sunday, Oct. 23, the Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition will have a one-day show of the new edition of the “Only the Oaks Remain” exhibit, sponsored by a grant from the Reissa Foundation, at the San Fernando Valley Japanese American Community Center, 12953 Branford St., Pacoima, from 1 to 4 p.m.
Featured speaker will be Kathy Masaoka, a descendant of Soshi Kadota, who was imprisoned at the Tuna Canyon substation at Griffith Park for the night of Feb. 21, 1942, and transferred the next day to Ft. Lincoln in North Dakota.
Masaoka’s journey to find her identity and purpose is an inspiring story. As a Sansei in the 1960s, she found that the newly created Asian American Studies program at UC Berkeley shaped her values and direction.
Since 1971, she has worked on issues related to youth, workers, housing in Little Tokyo, and redress for Japanese Americans while she worked as a L.A. Unified School District continuation high school teacher.
Through the Nikkei Progressives/NCRR Reparations Committee, she is able to help build solidarity and support of long overdue reparations for African Americans. Don’t miss this powerhouse presentation for multigenerational audiences.
Kyoko Nancy Oda, SFVJACC president, feels that Yonsei and Gosei will be impacted by Masaoka’s honesty describing the losses from 80 years ago that still resonates today. “It’s time to stand up for others who are oppressed.”
The Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition’s mission is to illuminate the U.S. government’s World War II incarceration of Japanese, German, and Italian immigrants and others at the Tuna Canyon Detention Station so that such injustice is never again experienced by any group.
COVID protocol mask-wearing recommended unless eating or drinking. Admission is free.
Preregistration: fooge-jkf@sbcglobal.net
For more information, email nancyoda64@gmail.com or nt.high.mtn@gmail.com.