OLLI Presentation

October 14, 2019

A Osher Life Learning Institute (OLLI) brown bag presentation provided a Humboldt connection to the internment of Japanese American citizens during World War II and how current US policy of immigrant segregation and detention echoes the past incarceration of Japanese Americans.

The featured presentation was by Jack Bareilles on the Humboldt County trial of Japanese American citizens from the Tule Lake Internment Camp who were accused of illegally refusing military conscription (The Draft). Mitch Higa provided a brief presentation on his pilgrimage with other Japanese Americans to WWII Crystal City Internment Camp in Crystal City, Texas which ended with a peaceful protest outside the present-day immigrant detention center in Dilley, Texas. Presented information about the Swingposium which employed the power of performance to teach about the Internment, foster dialogue around civil rights and honor the resilience of those who lived through the Internment. It was a living history performance that will transports people back to the days of World War II and tell the story of big bands in the Japanese Internment camps. It also included the first Pop-up museum of family objects from the WWII Japanese Internment Camps loaned by Humboldt County Japanese American families.