Internment Experience Unites Sierra College and Placer County JAs
The College's 'Standing Guard' project was the brainchild of one professor, but after six years it is still ongoing and has left a lasting legacy.
Rebecca Gregg was a 25-year-old teacher at Sierra College in Rocklin, Calif. when she first heard the stories: a baseball coach drove to the Tule Lake internment camp so he could give an imprisoned Japanese American freshman his block letter; an agriculture teacher took his students to help prune the orchards of absent JA farmers during World War II.
There was also the one about the Starbucks coffee shop across from the main campus - it used to be JA-owned farmland fire bombed by residents who were against their return after the War.
These stories told of the history of JAs in Placer County, Calif. and their WWII internment experience, stories that in 1968 Gregg had never heard of even though she had been a history major back in Texas.
"In 1968 I came as a young teacher. I had never heard of the internment. I had never met a person of Japanese descent," said Gregg, 64, now chair of Sierra College's photography department. "I couldn't believe such an injustice had happened."
Before long she became acquainted with several of the College's JA staff and faculty and even back then, "I was determined I wanted to do something to tell this story. I wanted to honor these people."
For the past six years Gregg has been fulfilling that promise.
With the help of several faculty members and students at Sierra College the group has worked alongside local members of the JA community to develop "Standing Guard," a multidisciplinary project that has included a book of oral histories, art exhibits, pilgrimages to Tule Lake (about 2,000 JAs from Placer County were sent there), and a ceremony honoring WWII JA veterans.
In April a Japanese American Remembrance Garden in the center of campus was unveiled. They also held a moving honorary degrees ceremony for former JA students who had their education abruptly interrupted by the War and for those who have contributed to the Standing Guard project.
"I am amazed," said Gregg of the project's success. "I have had many rich experiences in my life but nothing has ever enriched my life like this has been."
If You Build It, They Will Come
"You know the saying, 'If you built it, they will come,'" Gregg said with a laugh. "And they did."
In 2001 Gregg set out to do a simple art exhibit for the 60th anniversary of the internment and set up a meeting to see if anyone wanted to help her. About 15 colleagues from a wide variety of disciplines came out for that first meeting. Before long the simple art exhibit had turned into the multidisciplinary "Standing Guard" project.
"I knew of the history of internment ... but I didn't know of the impact in Placer County," said Dr. Debra Sutphen, 49, dean of the Liberal Arts Department, who attended that first meeting.
Sutphen and Gregg immediately began collaborating on an oral history class to tell the story of Placer County JAs - Sutphen's students would do the oral interviews and Gregg's students were in charge of the photos.
"At first people didn't want to talk to us. We were just two white women," said Sutphen. So on the advice of their colleague Bill Tsuji, they enlisted the help of the local Placer County JACL chapter.
Soon the students had accumulated 64 oral histories and they had enough material to publish the "Standing Guard, Telling Our Stories" book. The book sold out and a second publication is currently underway with updated information and an additional 30 oral histories.
"I never thought it would get so big. It just snowballed," said Tsuji, 64, who retired last year as dean of Sierra College's Liberal Arts Department. "The students got involved with this big time."
Thaya Mune-Craig, a Placer County JACL board member, worked with Gregg and Sutphen to convince reluctant JAs to take part in the oral histories. One of the published stories is that of her mother Hisa Mune.
"This project was of importance so their stories could be told, so the students could learn about the JA experience," she said.
Living Histories
Marie Hayashida's husband Jack was a freshman at Placer College (now Sierra College) in 1942 when he and his family were sent to Tule Lake. One day he received a visit from his baseball coach Howard Woodside who handed him his baseball block letter.
"Baseball was my husband's first love. He would always say I was only his second love," said Marie, 82, with a chuckle. After the War, Jack developed a lifelong friendship with his teacher often joining Woodside at his home for backyard barbecues.
Marie was one of the 86 JAs who were presented with honorary associate in arts degrees from Sierra College in late April. She had been a junior at Placer High School when she was sent to Tule Lake during WWII. Sadly her husband Jack passed away last year although he too received an honorary degree.
"It would have meant a lot to him to receive his college diploma," said Marie.
The honorary degrees ceremony also included a number of JA WWII veterans including 442nd vet Frank Kageta, 87.
"I think it's a big surprise that any organization or school would take the time to recall the things that happened to JAs, especially in Placer County," he said. "We JAs are lucky to have a college who put on this thing."
Amongst the honorees was Ida Otani, 84, former registrar of Sierra College and Gregg's longtime friend.
"Rebecca was very adamant she wanted to tell the story," she said. "I was very moved" by the ceremony added Otani, "thinking of the many years Rebecca and her colleagues devoted to this project."
Upholding Constitutional Rights
While the Standing Guard project was just getting off the ground in 2001, the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks took place. The subsequent animosity towards Arab Americans closely mirrored the JA WWII experience and the irony wasn't lost on the project's participants.
"The importance of protecting the Constitution and what happens when you don't. It's an important lesson for our students," said Sutphen.
Six years later this message entwined in the Standing Guard project still resonates.
Gregg and Sutphen became members of the Placer County JACL chapter and they continue to have close friendships with members of the JA community. For everyone involved, the project continues to have a lasting impact.
"We've been told by so many people that they did not know anything about internment till Standing Guard," said Gregg. "Our Japanese American influence here is so strong. For everyone, Standing Guard was a way to honor that."
The project also proved to be cathartic for many of the former internees.
"By their participation you could see something needed to be brought out. You could see the bitterness melting away for many of the JA veterans and internees," said Tsuji.
"The JAs who lived in Placer County before this project didn't talk about [the internment]. Many have never told their children," said Sutphen. "Many have told us the project has had a cathartic effect."
The Standing Guard project is now focusing on perpetuating the Remembrance Garden - bamboo fencing is going up soon. The group also hopes the second book of oral histories will be published in a couple of years.
"This was one of the greatest projects the college has ever undertaken," said Tsuji.
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