Japanese American Incarceration Documentary Film
A grandmother’s story of World War II
The incarceration of Japanese Americans was a huge injustice
Back in 2017, I was invited to participate in the 11th Annual New York City Asian American Student Conference (NYCAASC). The event was held at New York University. I was at the time the President/CEO of the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS), a nonprofit which works closely with members of Congress. Also at the conference was a young filmmaker by the name of Brett Kodama. His documentary film was featured at the conference. Brett and I did a workshop to discuss the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.
Brett’s short film is titled One-Two-One-Seven. That was the family’s number when they were incarcerated in an American concentration camp during World War II. The film features Brett’s grandmother, Sharon Shizuko Okazaki Kodama. She tells the story of what happened to her family after the start of World War II.
The documentary is a first-hand account of living through the Japanese American incarceration camps. Sharon was three years old when she, her sister, and their parents, Family № 1217, were forcibly removed from their home. They were taken to Manzanar Relocation Center in California in 1942. She and her…
