Efforts to recognize a former detention center near Los Angeles for Japanese Americans being rounded up to go to incarceration camps during World War II may hit a legal snag, reports KPCC.
Even as a Buddhist priest recently blessed the ground the Tuna Canyon Detention Station (picture from Encyclopedia,Densho.org) used to sit on, opponents are preparing a lawsuit to stop the memorial.
Back in June, the Los Angeles City Council designated one acre of Tuna Canyon an historical cultural monument.
But the landowner, Snowball West Investments, argues no historical buildings are left on the site and are fighting the designation which will require it to get approval before making changes to it.
“We want to remove these legal restrictions that we think have been incorrectly applied,” said the developer’s attorney Fred Gaines.
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But many Japanese American strongly disagree.
“These trees have rings that remember that particular time and date,” said H. Ernie Nishi, whose grandfather was detained at the station.
“It’s great that the city could recognize that, despite there being no buildings, nature is also part of who we are and what makes us persons,” Nishi said.
You can read about what’s next in this controversy on KPCC.
