Activists push for memorial to World War II internment.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

When Nancy Clark Smith's high school history teacher described how Japanese-Americans were forced into internment camps during World War II, she was sure it was a lie. After all, her Japanese-American mother had never mentioned such a thing.

"It was so over the top I couldn't believe it happened - it was just unreal," Smith said.

She, of course, learned the truth soon enough - including what happened in her hometown of Eugene, where local Japanese-Americans were ordered to report to a "civic control station" for transfer to the camps.

The station was located at 34 W. Sixth Ave. - where the Hult Center for the Performing Arts now stands.

Few of the thousands who have visited the Hult over the years are aware of the site's war history. But Smith is among a band of activists intent on changing that - by erecting a permanent memorial on the city-owned property in honor of the Japanese-Americans who endured evacuation and relocation.

The goal is to raise $50,000 to design, build and install a memorial - preferably by next Feb. 19, the 62-year anniversary of Executive Order 9066 that authorized the internment of an estimated 120,000 Japanese-Americans in the months after Pearl Harbor.

Talk of a memorial has rumbled for years, but is only now getting off the ground, said Lane County Circuit Judge Cynthia Carlson, a human rights activist motivated in part by her experiences belonging to a biracial family. Carlson has joined Smith, who helps manage Smith Family Bookstore in Eugene, as leaders of the memorial project committee.

A new sense of urgency has developed in part because of the age of survivors. "We're losing more and more of them, and we'd like to have as many as possible be there to see the memorial dedicated," Carlson said.

The memorial committee will share fund-raising details at an annual Day of Remembrance ceremony Saturday. But the group already has lined up the Lane Arts Council to help accept donations and has put out a call to artists interested in submitting proposals.

Eugene city officials, who would need to give final design approval, have responded favorably to the memorial idea, Carlson said. No decision has been made on what shape a memorial would take - statue, plaque, meditative garden or something else - or even whether it would be inside or outside the Hult.

"We're wide open - we're very curious about what artists will come up with in terms of ideas," Carlson said.

The undertaking thrills Bettie Luke, a longtime proponent who retired last year as multicultural equity specialist for the Eugene School District. "This is a project that's caught the attention and empathy of more than just the Asian-American community," she said. "People recognize that this was a gross violation of the civil rights of Japanese-Americans."

Organizers are trying to identify and locate Japanese-Americans who reported to the Eugene station - if any are alive and still around. It's unclear even how many reported to the station; a War Relocation Authority document found by Carlson in the U.S. National Archives identifies three people from Lane County.

Evacuation notices posted in Eugene at the time said the order applied to all Japanese-Americans living in Lane, Douglas, Coos, Curry, Josephine, Jackson and part of Klamath counties.

A Register-Guard article dated May 23, 1942, said the evacuation would affect only a handful, including "less than a dozen students at the University of Oregon." One of those students, Michi Yasui Ando, was honored at UO's commencement exercises in 1986 - after being denied the opportunity to graduate in 1942.

A UO administrator at the time, Karl Onthank, arranged for the transfer of about 20 Japanese-American students - including Ando - to other universities to help them avoid internment and complete their education. "He was a local hero," Carlson said.

Part of the memorial's intent is public education, about both the past and future, she said.

"It helps toward healing a part of history, and also helps us to not forget so that it doesn't happen again," she said. "That seems very pertinent given the current atmosphere of fear, post-9/11, where people of Middle Eastern descent, or those who just look of that descent, worry about losing their civil rights."

HOW TO DONATE

Japanese-American Memorial Project, in care of Lane Arts Council, 99 W. 10th Ave., Suite 100, Eugene, OR 97401. Indicate memorial project on checks.

More information: Call 345-1651 or e-mail [e-mail] or [e-mail]

DAY OF REMEMBRANCE ACTIVITIES

Friday: Grace Shimizu, director of Japanese Peruvian Oral History Project

in Oakland, Calif., will give a presentation to the Eugene Human Rights and Lane County Human Rights Advisory committees, 1:30 p.m., McNutt Room, City Hall, 777 Pearl St.

Saturday: Viewing of "Honor Bound" film, followed by panel discussion featuring Japanese-American World War II veterans, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., Sheldon High School, 2455 Willakenzie Road. Evening program, Grace Shimizu discusses "Unfinished Business," presentation on internment experiences of Japanese-Latin-Americans during World War II, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Sheldon High School

More information: 343-2874