We, the Wakasa Memorial Committee, are issuing this public call to action and cooperation, with the goal of having the community move forward to protect and preserve the Wakasa sacred site and its memorial stone, the most significant artifact discovered in any of the World War II Japanese American concentration camps.
Four years ago, the Topaz Museum in Delta, Utah, whose mission is to preserve the Topaz concentration camp, forcibly removed the murder memorial from its site and relocated it to the grounds of the museum. This was done without archaeological supervision, ceremony or the participation of the Japanese American community.
Four years later, the hallowed site remains unprotected. The stone has never been the subject of collaborative community discussion. In a time in which the telling of historical truths is under unprecedented attack, the story that the Wakasa memorial stone is telling is under threat.
With the Topaz Museum Board in the preliminary stages of hiring its first executive director, this is a critical moment in determining the future of the site, the stone, and how our history is told.
We are a group of survivors and descendants of the Topaz (Utah) concentration camp, other members of the Japanese American community, and allies, who came together in alarm over the Topaz Museum’s 2021 pre-emptive actions. Our members and advisors include scholars, archaeologists, museum and preservation professionals, civil rights leaders, writers, artists, filmmakers, and activists.
We are committed to professional preservation and interpretation of the Wakasa site and stone; the centering of survivor and descendant voices; and incorporating collaborative community input and public education.
On April 11, 1943, James Hatsuaki Wakasa, 63, was walking his dog at Topaz when he was shot and killed by a watchtower guard. His fellow prisoners erected a stone memorial at the site of his murder. When the U.S. government ordered it destroyed, the prisoners chose, instead, to bury it.
The stone remained hidden for nearly 80 years, until September 2020, when it was identified by two archaeologists visiting the site.
Ten months later, on July 27, 2021, a backhoe company working at the direction of the Topaz Museum Board dug up and removed the Wakasa Monument. The stone was dragged out with a chain and construction strap, placed on a pallet, trucked to the Topaz Museum in nearby Delta, and deposited next to the museum building where it remains today.
Although videos of the stone’s removal were made at the time, the museum has not shared them or made them public, despite multiple requests from the Wakasa committee that it do so.
Since then — and in the spirit of responsible stewardship and for the sake of the archaeological record — the Wakasa Memorial Committee has made repeated requests of the Topaz Museum for steps to be taken to professionally protect and preserve the stone and the site, for information about the removal to be made public, and to partner with the WMC on community education and engagement. We are still waiting for a response; we are still awaiting for significant progress to be made.
Instead, the museum has created further delays, including by: unilaterally setting up “community meetings” that did not actually give community members a meaningful opportunity to communicate; taking part in Utah State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) meetings about the site and stone but then stopping; inviting the public to comment about the Wakasa stone via QR code but providing no information about any feedback received or what will be done with the information.
The committee has now been notified that the museum has hired consultants to privately interview some 40 unidentified “stakeholders”; we were asked to submit names of three members to participate.
We were further dismayed to discover that one consultant tried to initiate a back-channel communication with one of our advisors, rather than initiating a direct conversation with the Wakasa Memorial Committee itself. This does not inspire confidence that this process is being conducted in a manner that is professional, transparent, and even-handed.
More fundamentally, there has been no statement about what the goal of this project is and how it will achieve that aim.
We are concerned that two directors on the Topaz Museum Board have described the dragging of the stone from its site as “respectful.” It is painful to see cement artifacts still lying on the ground near the backfilled hole from which the monument was removed.
We acknowledge the decades of work that Jane Beckwith, former board president, and the Topaz Museum Board have dedicated to preserving Topaz and its history. However, a museum must address the facts of a tragic history that began in 1943 and continues today with the board’s failure to collaboratively address the harm caused by its actions.
This threatens to leave a lasting stain on their legacy and a permanent undermining of community trust. While we appreciate the expressions of apology made by museum board members, concrete actions are needed.
We call for the following:
Community Archaeology: Carry out a community archaeology project modeled after those pioneered by the National Park Service unit at Manzanar, Calif,, where local people, students and camp survivors and descendants are invited to work under the supervision of a professional in an investigation of the Wakasa site.
Transparency: Release the videos of the 2021 excavation for the sake of the historical and archaeological record and so that the public can understand what occurred and learn from it. Transparency is the basis for building trust and preventing future mishaps.
Professional Standards: All work should meet professional archaeological, conservation and interpretation standards so that the Topaz Museum will be a trusted place for discussion and the truthful telling of history.
Inclusive Decision-Making: Let’s talk. In four years, there has never been a formal meeting between board members and community members, including our committee members who deeply care about this history; whose advocacy is supported by the National Trust for Historic Preservation; and who have presented at national conferences on the Wakasa Monument to record our WWII history and its relevance today.
Formal Partnership Framework: Create a clear, professional path for a partnership to ensure that both the museum’s institutional needs and the community’s cultural concerns are addressed.
The Wakasa Memorial Committee and the Topaz Museum want the same things: to preserve this sacred memorial stone, to honor James Wakasa’s memory, and to ensure that future generations learn from our shared American story. We call on the Topaz Museum and the community to join together to ensure that this happens, without further delay. Time is running out, especially at the sacred land where the soil erodes and, with it, historical memory.
Please show your support. Sign the petition and visit our website to receive our newsletter. Please feel free to contact us to let us know how you would like to support efforts to preserve Japanese American history.
In solidarity,
Wakasa Memorial Committee, Advisory Committee, and Supporters
WMC and Supporters
Patrick Hayashi, Topaz survivor
Kiyoshi Ina, Topaz, Tule Lake, Crystal City survivor; Bismarck, N.D., Santa Fe, N.M. descendant
Hiroshi Shimizu, Topaz, Tule Lake, Crystal City survivor
Chizu Omori, Poston survivor
Emiko Omori, Poston survivor
Paul Tomita, Puyallup, Minidoka survivor
Lauren Araki, Topaz descendant
Midori Hogg, Topaz descendant
Mari Matsumoto, Topaz, Poston descendant
Glenn Mitsui, Topaz, Tule Lake, Heart Mountain descendant
Gail Nanbu, Topaz descendant
Barbara Suyehiro, Topaz descendant
Diana Emiko Tsuchida, Topaz, Tule Lake descendant
Nancy Ukai, Topaz descendan
Julie Abo, Minidoka, Tule Lake descendant
Paula Fujiwara, Tule Lake descendant
Janis Hirohama, Poston descendant
Karen Kiyo Lowhurst, Heart Mountain descendant
Erin Shigaki, Minidoka descendant, Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee co-chair
Brandon Shimoda, Fort Missoula, Heart Mountain, Poston descendant
Barbara Takei, Tule Lake descendant
Bif Brigman, historian, Minidoka Pilgrimage Planning Committee past co-chair
Mary M. Farrell, retired U.S. Forest Service archaeologist
James E. Russell, Ph.D anthropology
WMC Advisory Committee
Stacey Camp, archaeologist; director of Campus Archaeology Program; associate professor of anthropology, Michigan State University
Marian Carpenter, John & Neville Bryan senior director of museum collections, National Trust for Historic Preservation
Bruce Embrey, Manzanar descendant, co-chair, Manzanar Committee
Art Hansen, professor emeritus history, Asian American Studies, CSU Fullerton
Donald Teruo Hata, Gila River survivor, professor emeritus of history, CSU Dominguez Hills
Tom Ikeda, Minidoka descendant, Densho founding executive deirector
Satsuki Ina, Tule Lake, Crystal City survivor; Topaz, Bismarck, Santa Fe descendant
Japanese American Citizens League, Northern California-Western Nevada-Pacific District
Tetsudan Kashima, Topaz survivor, professor emeritus, American Ethnic Studies Department and Sociology, University of Washington
Dr. Karen Korematsu, Topaz descendant, founder and executive director of Fred T. Korematsu Institute
Michelle G. Magalong, University of Maryland presidential postdoctoral fellow in historic preservation, founder of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Historic Preservation
Roger Shimomura, Minidoka survivor, distinguished professor emeritus
Renee Tajima-Peña, Heart Mountain/Tule Lake/Gila River descendant, UCLA professor of Asian American studies; filmmaker
Masako Takahashi, Topaz survivor, Takahashi Family Foundation
Karen Umemoto, Manzanar descendant, UCLA professor of Asian American studies and urban planning
Duncan Ryūken Williams, Buddhist priest, professor of religion/American studies and ethnicity, University of Southern California
Archaeologist; Director of the Campus Archaeology Program; Associate Professor of Anthropology, Michigan State Universit