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Showing posts from May, 2011

Manzanar: Telling the Story

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Manzanar: Telling the Story (Reprint from 2011) By MARTHA NAKAGAWA RAFU CONTRIBUTOR More than 1,100 people of all ages gather for 42nd annual Manzanar Pilgrimage Camp inmates return and share their experiences in Manzanar. More than 1,100 people attended the 42nd annual Manzanar Pilgrimage held on April 30, with attendees coming as far away as Japan, Europe and Africa, and ages ranging from those still in the single digits to 95-year-old Jack Kunitomi, brother of the late Sue Kunitomi Embrey, who led the charge to make the former American concentration camp into the Manzanar National Historic Site. Mary Kageyama Nomura, known as the “Songbird of Manzanar,” continued to wow a new generation of students as she sang “The Manzanar Song,” written by the late Louis Frizzell, a  music teacher  at Manzanar. Darrell Kunitomi, the emcee, encouraged participants to share their experiences with others when they returned home. “If you don’t tell the story, th