HISTORY OF TULE LAKE INTERNMENT CAMP
AND THE PILGRIMAGES:

On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 which caused the eviction and internment of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry who lived in Arizona, California, Oregon, and Washington. Two-thirds of them were American citizens. E.O. 9066 eliminated the constitutional protections of due process and violated the Bill of Rights. The internment culminated decades of anti-Asian discrimination, racist propaganda campaigns, and physical violence.

In 1943, all internees were forced to respond to questions intending to separate those "loyal" from those "disloyal" to the United States. Internees who refused to declare undivided loyalty to United States were sent to Tule Lake, which became the "Segregation Center." Resistance to the internment and to War Relocation Authority policies at Tule Lake was very strong, resulting in Army occupation, violence, and martial law.

At the end of World War II, Japanese Americans faced rebuilding their lives. The Issei (first generation) had to start again after losing almost everything. Nisei (second generation) were raising families and starting careers in a still hostile post-war environment. In the 1960's, Sansei (third generation) joined other people of color in the Civil Rights movement and the quest to learn our suppressed histories through ethnic studies. In this way, many Sansei learned their families had spent WWII in a U.S. concentration camp.

As awareness of the wrongfulness of the internment grew, a movement developed to gain an apology and redress from the U.S. government. Students, community activists, and former internees organized the first Tule Lake Pilgrimage in 1974 to build support for redress through educating the larger community. From 1974 to 1998, there have been 11 pilgrimages.

The Redress Movement succeeded in getting the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 (CLA) passed. The Act offered an official apology, funded education about the internment as a deterrent to future violations, and authorized a ten-year program of token $20,000 payments to most camp survivors. Not all those wronged received redress. After ten years, both the compensation and the education mandate of the CLA remain unfulfilled. Thus, this longstanding campaign for justice is entering a new phase. Additional legislation is being submitted this year to try and include those individuals the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 failed to cover and to reinstitute the education fund. Lawsuits against U.S. government regarding these issues are also still pending. Education, action, and your support are still needed.