As xenophobia raged amid World War II, about 2,000 Japanese American men were incarcerated at Fort Lincoln in Bismarck, now the United Tribes Technical College campus. Satsuki Ina, whose father was among those imprisoned there, and UTTC leaders began a conversation about how to preserve this history. On Sept. 5, Japanese American and UTTC leaders dedicated the Snow Country Prison Japanese American Memorial on the campus grounds. “It was so moving that the Native American folks wanted to adopt the story as resonant of their own,” Ina said. (Buffalo’s Fire/Brian Bull)
The monument. (Sept. 6.) (Buffalo’s Fire Photo/Brian Bull)
A moment in the ceremony. (Sept. 6.) (Buffalo’s Fire Photo/Brian Bull)
“We never committed a crime, except to have the face of the enemy.”
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