Densho collection featured on SiRO!

The Densho collection features objects relating to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during the WW II. The collection includes testimony of Japanese Americans who were incarcerated, in the form of first hand video accounts, images, documents and news articles.

“Densho,” is a Japanese word that means ‘to pass on to the next generation.’ Densho is an organization that aims to promote principles of democracy and equal justice for all. “The legacy we offer is an American story with ongoing relevance: during World War II, the United States government incarcerated innocent people solely because of their ancestry.”*

This short film by Densho shows how the incarceration of Japanese began after the attack on Pearl Harbor.

The Densho Collection contains a large collection of video interviews of Japanese American activists who discuss the life in internment camps, their experiences with activism and involvement with the Civil Rights Movement and the movement for redress and reparations.

Source: The Revolutionary Friendship of Yuri Kochiyama and Malcolm X

In her interview, activist Yuri Kochiyama talks about how Japanese Americans were divided using the so-called “loyalty questionnaire.” She says “the whole internment experience made Japanese Americans feel that this should not happen to any other group ever again….”

*https://densho.org/about-densho/