76-year-old Satsuki Ina returned to the scene of a childhood nightmare on Saturday.
She was among those Japanese American incarcerated at the Crystal City camp in Texas more than 75 years ago. Ina joined five other incarceration camp survivors and 100 demonstrators to protest the Trump administration policy of family separation of asylum seekers and the imprisonment of more than 1,000 women and children at Crystal City today.
“Nobody stood up for us,” Ina said to the Express News. “We had never committed a crime except to have the face of the enemy. But I feel empowered today that we can use our voices, voices that we didn’t have then to speak out against injustice and inhumane treatment of innocent human beings.”
Buddhist and Christian leaders joined in a memorial service while Taiko drummers slowly beat their instruments.
Grace Shimizu’s father was deported from Latin America and detained at Crystal City as part of an secret exchange for American prisoners.
“We’re not just saying we feel your pain, we’re going further than that — it has to stop,” she said to ABC News.
These protestors see history being repeated again and are vowing to stop it.
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