It’s a small community east of Burbank — the site of a race track with no sign of its historic significance. But a group of Japanese Americans wants to change that, reports KPCC.
The Tuna Canyon Detention Center held more than 1,000 Japanese Americans before they were shipped off to permanent prisons, euphemistically known as Internment Camps.
Los Angeles City Councilor Richard Alarcon has proposed making the Tuna Canyon Detention Center a Historic-Cultural Monument.
Alarcon’s term is expiring in two weeks and he has asked the City Council to make a decision on Friday.
The detainees’ descendants and community activists plan to bring a busload of people to city hall to show their support for the proposal.
“It reminds us what our constitutional rights are and that it can be taken away so easily,” said Haru Kuromiya, whose father was held at Tuna Canyon. “You think it’s behind you but it scares me to think that wars happen and this could happen again with any group of color.”
Not everyone, however, supports the idea. The Detention Center was destroyed for a golf course in 1960, leaving none of the original buildings in tact. Because nothing is left, opponents say it does not deserve historical status.
You can read more about the debate on KPCC.
