“Stop repeating history” is a common and powerful phrase, especially within the Japanese American community who were forcefully removed during WWII from the West Coast and incarcerated in concentration camps.
Erin Shigaki, a Japanese American public artist and community activist, recently received a hateful voicemail after a press conference at Bellevue College. This is only one of her multiple experiences with what a repetitious history “woke” cities like Bellevue and Seattle perpetuate.
Back in 2020, Shigaki had installed a mural at Bellevue College that was soon defaced by the vice president at the time, who later resigned alongside the then-president. The mural depicts two children waiting to be put in incarceration camps during WWII. Part of the description of the mural was literally and figuratively whited out:
“After decades of anti-Japanese agitation, led by Eastside businessman Miller Freeman and others, the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans included the 60 families (300 individuals) who farmed Bellevue.”
Miller Freeman was a champion of the Washington State Alien Land Laws that prohibited Japanese from owning land, spokesperson of the removal of Japanese Americans, and profiteer of their subsequent unoccupied land. He also worked to prevent Japanese Americans from returning to Bellevue after the war.
As David Neiwart illustrates in his book, Strawberry Days: How Internment Destroyed a Japanese American Community, Freeman wrote the following in an op-ed:
“The Japanese cannot be assimilated. Once a Japanese, always a Japanese. Our mixed marriages — failures all — prove this. ‘East is East, and West is West, and ne’er the twain shall meet.’ Oil and water do not mix.”
Beacon Hill from Minidoka in 1945. They were met with that same word, that same hateful sentiment — it echoes and echoes.” — Erin Shigaki
A voicemail from back in time
Bellevue College is “rededicating” Shigaki’s mural at Bellevue College, making it a permanent art piece on campus, following its defacement this May 14th. After the press conference in March, however, BC received a vulgar voicemail directed at Shigaki.
“This completely racist misogynistic, inaccurate, expletive-filled voice message came through Bellevue College, directed at me, calling me the J-word a number of times and Bellevue College hasn’t done anything since it was received,” Shigaki said.
The caller used the J-slur six times amongst other vulgar names, conflated imperial Japan with Japanese Americans, blamed Japanese Americans for Pearl Harbor and all other Japanese war crimes, and used phrases like “go back to country.”
Neoliberalism and healing
“I have never actually been called the J-slur before,” Shigaki said.
While this exceptionally explicit voicemail was jarring in many respects, it is also its own commentary on the band-aids that Seattle, Bellevue, and many other “liberal” cities and states have used to cover their crimes.
A product of this “liberal” blanket (see: neoliberalism) is the concept of a mythical “healed state” in which marginalized communities have fully healed from their past solitary injustices with little regard for intergenerational trauma or intersectional impact.
“The incarceration has gotten in the way of us being in touch with our history and our cultural history too. That’s the whole thing with the incarceration: the generations that were locked up felt like they had to pretend they had no Japanese heritage. We [Japanese Americans] are so hungry for the reclamation,” Shigaki said.
Shigaki requested the Bellevue College administration inform its students, staff and faculty—especially Asian American staff and faculty who were part of the planning group from 2020—about the threatening incident for the safety and knowledge of the campus.
After some pressure, Bellevue College put out a statement on April 23rd, 44 days after the incident.
“Silence and complacency are at the heart of all stories of racial injustice in America. I am so tired of the divide and conquer! Yes, it’s great that Bellevue College finally made a public statement about the hate message, but I don’t understand why it took them 44 days and repeated urging from me and others in the community. Putting my own safety aside, what about their own people?” Shigaki said.
Everyone’s mural; everyone’s movement
“Even though I know this is ongoing harm to our community, I still think more attention needs to be put on the treacheries of ICE. And this history is totally repeating — 100% connection with state violence today,” Shigaki said.
While there may not be a final step to healing, the process itself is still essential in building and sustaining movements towards collective liberation. Art, a central form of intergenerational healing, is often under attack because of its ability to bring people together and convey the power of solidarity, the greatest threat to white supremacy.
“Everyone has been in this together. This is not my mural; it is our mural. This is not just a threat to me; it’s a threat to us all. All the ancestors said no one stood up for us then and we need to stand up for immigrants now,” Shigaki said.
Shigaki described her mural as not just her own. This incident is not singular nor just a cautionary tale. This is everyone’s movement, everyone’s calling.
The rededication of Shigaki’s “Never Again is Now” mural will be at 2 PM, May 14 at Bellevue College at the fountain near the cafeteria.
Resources:
La Resistencia – https://laresistencianw.org/
Tsuru for Solidarity – https://tsuruforsolidarity.org/
References:
Densho – https://densho.org/catalyst/so-who-is-miller-freeman-anyway/
David Niewart, Strawberry Days: How Internment Destroyed a Japanese American Community
Seattle Times – https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/bellevue-college-to-rededicate-never-again-is-now-mural-defaced-in-2020/
