By SHARON YAMATO
Having recently completed a short documentary on attorney Wayne M. Collins (“One Fighting Irishman”), the man who not only defended Fred Korematsu, Iva Toguri (aka “Tokyo Rose”) and, perhaps most steadfastly and courageously, over 5,500 Japanese Americans who renounced their U.S. citizenship in 1944, I’m embarking on a mission to make him a household name.
Showing it at the Tule Lake Pilgrimage in July was a coming-out party as most of the 375 pilgrims already knew about “Mr. Collins” and were eager to celebrate him. Like our narrator, George Takei, many Tule Lake descendants owed their American citizenship to the man who fought for 23 years to make sure no renunciant was left unrepresented and/or on a boat to Japan.
Several weeks ago at a San Francisco Public Library screening, I was once again reminded how important Collins was to so many. Tule Lake survivor Sadako Kashiwagi, now 91, firmly announced to the audience that we all owed Mr. Collins a huge debt of gratitude for what he did for fellow Japanese Americans, especially at a time when organizations like the National JACL and National ACLU were doing nothing.
I couldn’t help but think of how her husband, the late actor/poet/playwright Hiroshi Kashiwagi, had encouraged me to keep telling the story of the mass incarceration despite all those who may not want to listen.
Remembering how Hiroshi was among the first to talk about the Tule Lake Segregation Center while being surrounded by name-callers and shame-callers, I could hear his voice challenging me to keep the Collins story alive so that all Americans — Japanese or not — could hear it.
He was symbolically by my side when I presented the film last week at the 2024 Klamath Falls Film Festival in the same theater where the Tule Lake Pilgrimage holds its closing program every year. On this historic Ross Ragland Theater stage, Hiroshi’s voice once again could be heard on the loudspeaker reciting, “We’ve lived with a fence all our lives … never mentioned Tule Lake, that we were segregated as ‘disloyals’ and ‘troublemakers’ because we asserted our rights as American citizens.”
I hope Hiroshi would’ve been proud to see the faces of this responsive Klamath Falls audience with no Asian Americans, listening attentively and posing serious questions about how the mass incarceration could somehow have been avoided, both then, now, and in the future. Though many knew general facts about existence of the camps, few were aware of the horrific situation at nearby Tule Lake, which became a hotbed for insurrection and violence caused by massive governmental duress served up to inmates they considered “disloyal.”
I was moved by their interest in the story as they asked difficult and thoughtful questions about how the mass incarceration altered history. One audience member asked, “If you could change anything to prevent what happened then, what would it be?” What immediately came to mind was the mass hysteria that was not immediately brought to a halt by those in power, particularly then-beloved President Roosevelt. He could have directly addressed the nation and said what he knew to be true: that Japanese Americans posed no threat to this country.
I also couldn’t help but think about how our current defunct leader while running for re-election is stoking mass hysteria all over again — this time against Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio. When he claimed (and his VP nominee reasserted) that Haitians were eating pets, the baseless turmoil he created was frighteningly familiar. Death and bomb threats became dangerous tools of the racism he triggered.
When mentioning how spreading lies can create horrific results, I was relieved to hear a loud cry of consensus among this largely white audience. Their reaction reaffirmed how important it is for all of us, particularly those who’ve experienced the massive racial hatred that led to our families’ being put in camps, to keep talking about this dark period in American history to anyone who’ll listen.
And I was thrilled to receive an award from the Klamath Film Festival as affirmation that the Collins story had an enthusiastic audience among those not directly affected.
I’m now even more intent on showing the film wherever it’s welcomed. Disappointingly, many of the Asian American film festivals have turned it down, but it has been accepted at social justice film fests, like the UNAFF (United Nations Association Film Festival) and the Documentaries Without Borders Film Festival. There’s something especially meaningful about showing it alongside other amazing stories of courage, hardship and resilience.
While dealing with film festival rejections, I’ve been relying on community organizations to help spread the Collins story. We are honored to be showing in Sacramento on Oct. 16 with the sponsorship of the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, and in San Jose on Oct. 23 at the UNAFF. We travel back to Northern California on Nov. 16 to show it at one of my favorite Bay Area community centers, J-Sei in Emeryville.
Plans are to do more screenings in 2025, with the first one in L.A. being planned for a diverse audience of attorneys and sponsored by the Criminal Courts Bar Association. We’re also working with Tule Lake descendants in Sacramento to show it at the historic Betsuin Buddhist Church possibly around DOR time in February.
We plan to keep everyone up to date about our travels through our website, waynecollinsfilm.com, and on social media (with special thanks to our social media public relations person, Audrey Kato).
We’re hoping that even if you’ve seen this and other films about the WWII incarceration, you haven’t tired of the subject matter. Hopefully, filmmakers continue to tell stories with new complex and fascinating characters such as Wayne Collins.
Even though I sometimes feel like a broken camp record, I know it’s more important than ever to speak out about injustice, whether it be perpetrated on us or on others.
If you print this before Sunday, please add:
“One Fighting Irishman” will be shown as part of the Japanese American Confinement Sites Consortium Education Conference, Sunday, Oct. 6, at 9 a.m. at JANM’s Tateuchi Democracy Forum in Little Tokyo. Registration for the free program and more information can be found at janm.org/events.
Sharon Yamato writes from Playa del Rey, and can be reached at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are not necessarily those ofThe Rafu Shimpo.