Descendants shed light on the importance of internment camp preservation in ‘From Amache to Denver’

Stacy Shigaya speaks about her parents’ experience in internment camps. [Photo by Lauren Schmidt]

Experts and descendants of internment camp residents alike came together to discuss the history of the Amache internment camp here in Colorado and why it’s so important we preserve it in an enlightening lecture on May 4. 

With this month of May being Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, the lecture, hosted by Historic Denver, could not have come at a more appropriate time. 

First to speak was Jennifer Orrigo Charles, who, as executive director of Colorado Preservation Inc and with almost a decade of experience in preservation, could not have been more perfect to give the audience an introduction to the history of Amache and Japanese Americans in the West.

“From August 1942 until October 1945, Amache operated as one of 10 internment centers established by the War Relocation Authority”, explained Orrigo Charles. She continued on to describe how these centers came about after an executive order from President Roosevelt authorizing exclusion and forced evacuation of Japanese Americans from the west coast due to fears resulting from the attack on Pearl Harbor. 

Gil Asakawa then spoke about post-war life in Denver for Japanese Americans. Asakawa has an impressive resume in the field; a journalist, author, and blogger on Asian American culture and social justice as well as the Vice President of the Japanese American Citizens League. 

Asakawa emphasized the success that the Japanese American community managed to achieve economically in Denver during the post-war period; he discussed the many businesses set up in the community and how prosperous they were throughout the 50s and 60s. This was particularly impressive, he noted, due to the harsh racism that many Japanese Americans faced in the wake of the war. 

Possibly the most poignant speakers, however, spoke from personal experience, the first of which being Derek Okubo, of whose family three generations were sent to live at Amache. 

“There was a fine line between hope and despair on a daily basis”, described Okubo, quoting his father. He explained how many adults felt a sense of duty to radiate hope for the sake of the children, teachers being a particular source of faith for younger residents, but the harsh reality was that they had no clue what their futures held. 

Okubo reflected on how his father told him, “I guess we’re going to really have to become good Americans”, and how he interpreted that as “giving up our culture, giving up our language. That was what the perception was of what they were going to have to do to survive”. This sentiment was particularly hard-hitting; the idea that to simply live in peace one must give up their entire identity. 

The concluding speaker was Stacy Shigaya, a third generation Japanese American who works as a program director for the Sakura Foundation, a nonprofit supporting Asian American heritage through events, grants, and scholarships.

“The more I listen…the more I definitely feel like there is generational trauma in my family”, Shigaya confessed. Both her parents lived in internment camps during the war; her father in Wyoming and her mother in Utah, which she credited as an explanation for many of her parents’ mindsets that she noticed growing up.

For example, Shigaya shared an anecdote about her mother receiving poor service at a restaurant, which she immediately attributed to racism. Whilst Shigaya didn’t understand at first why she’d assume that, the more she learnt about her mothers past the easier it was for her to understand how her trauma shaped her worldview. 

This is why, Shigaya clarified, it is so important that the nine internment camps across the country are maintained and considered reserves. “We’ve all seen these pictures…but until you go and step on that ground and look out at how many barracks there were, that is something that’s extremely powerful”.