What the Amache National Historic Site Establishment Means for Survivors

As a young boy, Ken Kitajima remembers the day a presidential executive order was signed that would place him and other Japanese Americans in internment camps across the U.S. He recalls the barbed wire fences surrounding the camps and the guard towers with soldiers armed with rifles, machine guns and searchlights.

At 91, Kitajima has never forgotten what it was like to live in the Amache camp in Granada, Colorado, during World War II. Now, he feels honored to see the camp he and his family were forced to live in becoming a National Historic Site. "I have found that millions of U.S. citizens, young school children, and young adults and some old ones knew little or nothing about the true history of the shameful act," he told Newsweek in a statement.

On Monday, a bill establishing the Amache camp as a National Historic Site was passed in the Senate. This week marks the 80th anniversary of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's signing of Executive Order 9066, which displaced and incarcerated over 100,000 Japanese Americans in 1942. The highly controversial war policy meant that persons considered a national security threat were forcibly evacuated from the West Coast to relocation centers inland.

Vicki Shigekuni Wong remembers her father's work with the Amache Preservation Society after being an internee there. "His entire life was fueled by the humiliation and outrage he felt being contained in Amache," Shigekuni Wong told Newsweek. "And he always cautioned us: 'It can happen again.'"

The stories of incarcerated people at the camp are the driving force behind the heart of the Amache project. At 12 years old, Shigekuni Wong's father, Thomas Shigekuni, refused to say the pledge of allegiance in an Amache classroom.

"He was told, 'You're here for your own protection,'" Wong recalled. "He asked, 'Then why are the guns on the guard towers pointed at us?'"

Wong and film director David Leaf made a documentary about Thomas for his 90th birthday. He died four months later. "To me, this historic designation means my father's life work was not in vain. I'm delighted beyond belief," Wong said.

The legislation for the preservation of Amache was led by Colorado Senators Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper as well as two U.S. representatives from the state, Joe Neguse and Ken Buck.

"The incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II at sites like Amache is a shameful part of our country's history. Our bill will preserve Amache's story to ensure future generations can learn from this dark chapter in our history," Bennet said on the Senate floor on Monday.

"My family's story along with 10,000 other Amache-related stories are a part of American history," said Mitch Homma, a descendant of Amache occupants. "No family should have to live through what they did."

The bill will move the ownership and management of the site, which is already public land overseen by volunteers, into the hands of the National Park Service.

The establishment of the historical site has allowed family members and survivors to reflect and remember the injustice they faced.

"The original roads they walked and the barbed wire are still present," said Homma.

"Amache is part of a story," said Ken Hideo Tsukada, a descendant of incarcerated parents. "It celebrates an 'uncovered truth' of the history of the United States of America. Without these truths, our present becomes corrupted and our future will be built on a false foundation of lies. Amache is a symbol of that truth and deserves to be recognized."