Internment Camp internee Bill Nishimura at the Santa Fe Internment Camp Marker. Courtesy photo
SALA News:
A unique documentary film examining a “Community in Conflict” will be shown again at SALA Los Alamos Event Center 2-4 p.m. Sunday, April 21, at the invitation of SALA members Nancy and John Bartlit.
The event is free. High school students studying New Mexico’s role in WWII history are especially welcome to learn Film Director Claudia Katayanagi’s quest to understand the decades-long controversy over the Santa Fe Internment Camp Marker. Albuquerque Co-Producer Nikki Nojima Louis (whose father was in the Santa Fe Internment Camp) has contributed a great deal to tell these stories.
Panelists to open discussion after the film’s showing of 45 minutes include Director Katayanagi, former City Councilor Carol Robertson Lopez, former New Mexico History Museum Director and committee co-chair Tom Chavez, former New Mexico National Guardsman historian Charles Martinez, and WWII history author and marker committee member Nancy Bartlit.
Nancy was the only Los Alamos volunteer on the committee. But her interest was great as she had taught in Sendai, Japan 13-15 years after the end of WWII. Bartlit wrote about the camp as a co-author of Silent Voices of World War II and has lectured about life in the camp for several decades. She was grateful to interview Bill Nishimura, a camp internee born in California, for her book and talks. She brought him to the dedication of the Santa Fe Marker in 2002 (he’s in the film) and also 10 years later to the 10th anniversary of the Marker dedication held at the New Mexico History Museum, which she co-chaired with Gail Okawa, whose grandfather was also held in the camp.
The story begins when a committee of volunteers wished to identify the location of the Santa Fe Internment Camp where men of Japanese descent were held during World War II. Their efforts were fiercely resisted by local WWII veterans and their families whose loved ones had been on the Philippines Bataan Death March and were Prisoners of War for 3-1/2 years under Japanese command; … or, the resistance of families whose men did not come home.
The documentary dramatizes the passions for those volunteers who wished the Santa Fe political leaders to let them place a “marker” identifying the site of the former camp, and those angry citizens who resisted because they believed Japanese Prisoners of War had been held in the camp (not true) and because the City had not acknowledged the sacrifices and the military valor of their citizens during the war years. The request to allow the committee to put a boulder on city land was expected to fail by 5-3 that night. The City Council chamber was full. The atmosphere was highly charged. Police were standing among the crowd. Learn the drama as each councilor voted.
The decision made that night subsequently provided a Case Study for how public leaders can resolve controversial issues. After all these years, one can see road signs directing to the Marker site.
Director of Photography is Satsuki Murashige and Harley King is Editor. Cast includes Thomas Chavez, Joe Ando, Doc Weaver, Rod Ventura, Gerard Martinez, Faith Okuma, Kiku Kato, Davis Begay, John Ojinaga, Santa Fe City Councilors Patti Bushee, Frank Montano, Marker Committee Member Nancy Bartlit and former City Councilor Carol Robertson Lopez.