S moke S ignals
NOVEMBER 15, 2017
13
Camas harvest
Photos by Danielle Frost
Local student got their hands dirty and learned more about culturally
significant plants on Thursday, Nov. 2. Preschool through third-graders
harvested camas bulbs at the Natural Resources Department off Hebo
Road as part of an educational opportunity. Above, Grace Macon
and Riker Bailey dig with pencils while Violet Zimbrick and Bryson
Redd inspect their bulbs. The harvested bulbs were outplanted at the
Herbert Farm natural area south of Corvallis by Natural Resources and
Institute of Applied Ecology staff members and volunteers as part of
the Plants for People Phase II. The purpose is to restore prairie, oak and
riparian habitat within five sites in the Willamette Valley and establish
partnerships between Tribes, the agricultural community and public
land managers.
Photo courtesy of Chris Cherry
Gage Hernandez looks at the traveling exhibit “Architecture of Internment:
The Buildup to Wartime Incarceration,” which documents the life of
Japanese-Americans during World War II, that was part of a viewing of the
Minoru Yasui Film Project in the Tribal gym on Thursday, Oct. 26.
Community Fund sponsors
Yasui film presentation
Area residents learn
about Japanese-American
incarceration during World War II
By Angela Sears
Community Fund program coordinator
‘Are you feeling right about
keeping that belonging?’
HISTORY continued
from page 10
as a teaching tool, while keeping
it age appropriate and accurate,”
Holsclaw said.
Tribal Environmental Resources
Specialist Meagan Flier discussed
her experiences coordinating with
Tribes up and down the West Coast
to engage in marine planning.
“Basically, we are designating
who gets to use what and when,”
she said. “It is a voluntary program,
not regulatory. It is people, agen-
cies and Tribes coming together,
and sharing data and resources.”
During the historic preserva-
tion session, Edwards discussed
resource protection and how the
Historic Preservation Office devel-
ops tools for efficiently recording,
monitoring and coordinating efforts
so that future generations have
access.
He also sat on a breakout ses-
sion panel on repatriation, which
involves the process of returning
an asset or item of symbolic value
to its owner or place of origin or
citizenship.
Repatriation can be a long,
time-consuming process. Tribal
Cultural Collections Coordinator
Veronica Montano cited an example
of how the Tribe was recently given
objects from the Fort Vancouver
National Historic Site.
“It took two years, and that was
because no other Tribe had a claim
on these items,” she said. “Mu-
seums are hindered from actions
through processes (they must go
through).”
Edwards said that convincing
a private collector or museum to
return an item sometimes involves
what he calls a “gut check” ques-
tion.
“I ask them, ‘Are you feeling right
about keeping that belonging?’ If
the answer is ‘no,’ then we have a
commonality, we have options. It
still may be an arduous process, but
sometimes it is about finding the
first-person connection.”
Tribal and community members
and members of the Japanese An-
cestral Society of Portland gathered
in the Grand Ronde gym on Thurs-
day, Oct. 26, to view the Minoru
Yasui Film Project.
Spirit Mountain Community
Fund awarded a $35,000 grant to
the Ancestral Society in May to
complete the film.
The film, “Never Give Up! Minoru
Yasui and the Fight for Justice,” is
a documentary about the life of a
Japanese-American who fought for
the freedom of more than 110,000
Japanese-Americans who were
imprisoned in internment camps
during World War II.
Yasui, who was born and raised
in Hood River, was the first Japa-
nese-American attorney in Oregon.
He is known for challenging the dis-
crimination that Japanese-Amer-
icans faced, such as opposing the
curfew imposed on them. On the
first night of the curfew, he walked
the streets of Portland and eventu-
ally marched into a police station,
demanding to be arrested.
He took his plight to the Supreme
Court, but was unsuccessful. After
serving his sentence, he was sent
back to an internment camp, where
he stayed until the end of World
War II.
Once released, he moved to Den-
ver and continued to practice law,
advocating for justice of not only
Japanese-Americans, but for all
Americans. He dedicated the last
years of his life to seeking an of-
ficial apology and reparations for
Japanese-Americans imprisoned
during World War II.
He passed away in November
1986 while his case was being
heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals.
On Aug. 10, 1988, President Ronald
Reagan signed the Civil Liber-
ties Act, granting reparations of
$20,000 per person and an official
apology to all Japanese-Americans
held during World War II.
On March 28, 2016, Gov. Kate
Brown declared March 28 Mino-
ru Yasui Day and more than 200
people joined a march for justice
in Portland, retracing Yasui’s
footsteps during his walk from his
law office to police headquarters
in 1942.
After the film was shown, Hol-
ly Yasui, director and Minoru’s
daughter, answered questions and
audience members shared their
memories of living in Oregon as
children during World War II.
Before the film was shown, Anne
Galisky of Graham Street Produc-
tions set up a traveling exhibit
“Architecture of Internment: The
Buildup to Wartime Incarcer-
ation,” which documents life of
Japanese-Americans during World
War II.
“This is not primarily about the
Japanese-American experience
before, during and after incarcer-
ation,” Galisky said. “Rather, it
is the story of how individuals,
organizations, businesses and
elected officials advocated for the
incarceration of Oregonians of Jap-
anese ancestry or stood by while it
happened. Those who did stand up
before, during and after incarcera-
tion, in small and large acts, were
especially brave.”
Galisky said her favorite moment
of the event was when two Grand
Ronde afterschool students read
the captions of the entire exhibit
out loud to each other and discussed
each panel.
“I listened in to some of their
discussion and was absolutely de-
lighted that they got it,” she said.
“It was our hope to make the exhibit
accessible to a wide range of ages
and education levels. Their inter-
est, comprehension and outrage
has been one of the most gratifying
moments of the project for me this
year.”
For more information about how
to view the documentary, visit
www.minoruyasuifilm.org and for
dates and locations of the traveling
exhibit, visit www.grahamstreet-
productions.com/exhibit.