AANHPI Heritage Month: This land is your land, too, says our Nat'l Parks Service

The  National Parks Service has created a list of historic sites and monuments describing
the role of  AANHPI in the making of the United States.

One of leading misconceptions that haunt AANHPI folk is that of a "perpetual foreigner." No matter how many generations AANHPI families have been in the United States, other Americans tend to label them as outsiders. The National Parks Service seeks to correct that.

The National Parks Service, under the directive signed by President Biden, recognizes that despite what history school books say -- or, more accurately, what they don't say -- is that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders have been here for centuries. 

From the well-known sites such as the camps used to incarcerate Japanese Americans during WWII, to a ship's hold where laborers from Asia were transported to our shores to harvest sugarcane, to a town in the California Delta where Chinese workers helped build the levees protecting rich farmland, evidence of our presence is all around us and should be taught as part of American history.

The Department of the Interior, which includes our national parks and monuments, recognizes the role AANHPI have played and have gathered them together on their website. You might be surprised, some of these sites might be near you.

The AANHPI communities make our nation more vibrant through their diverse cultures, languages and religions. 

There is no single story of the AANHPI experience, but rather a multitude of contributions that enrich the country. The American story as we know it would be impossible without the strength, voice and legacies of AANHPI individuals who have helped build and unite this country.  

As we celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month, we also acknowledge the shameful parts of our history including the unjust incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II as well as the many challenges these communities face today.  

Throughout the month, we encourage you to take the time to reflect on our nation’s history, visit a historic district near you or learn more about what the Department is doing to preserve and protect these communities to build a more inclusive and equitable future.   

The Department of Interior is committed to supporting AANHPI communities by protecting important archeological areas, preserving the loss of Native Hawaiian language and providing infrastructure investments to facilitate conservation, resiliency and economic growth. The DOI recognizes the unique impacts that climate change and coastal erosion have on our island communities. 

Additionally, the Department’s Office of Native Hawaiian Relations recently announced $1 million in NATIVE Act funding through the HŌʻIHI grant program for Native Hawaiian Organizations that aim to build more sustainable tourism models and protect the natural and cultural resources of local communities. 

As more states make teaching AANHPI history part of the public school curriculum, the DOI has even developed material to help develop lesson plans, series of articles titled Finding a Path Forward: Asian American Pacific Islander National Historic Landmarks Theme Study for visiting these historic sites. 

FYI: To learn more about AANHPI heritage and history, visit the National Park Service’s Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage website.  

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter or at his blog Views From the Edge.

Nat'l Park Service grants $3.4 million for preservation of WWII incarceration camps and their stories

The National Park Service announced Tuesday, June 21, it is awarding  $3,405,000 in grants to WWII Japanese American Confinement Sites. 

These funds will support 19 preservation, restoration, and education projects that help tell the story of the more than 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens, incarcerated by the U.S. government following the bombing of Pearl Harbor and President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942.

“The National Park Service is committed to telling a more complete story of the impacts and injustices of the Japanese American experience during World War II through the preservation and interpretation of incarceration sites and memorials across the country, partnerships with community groups, and through the Japanese American Confinement Sites grant program,” said NPS Director Chuck Sams. 

“As Americans, we need to better understand our shared history and learn about these hard truths, so we can make a better future for ourselves and generations to come. These grants will help tell these difficult histories with accuracy and authenticity.”

Japanese American Confinement Sites grants may be awarded to projects associated with the 10 War Relocation Authority centers established in 1942 and more than 40 additional confinement sites. The program’s mission is to teach future generations about the injustices of the World War II confinement of Japanese Americans, preserve sites and stories associated with this history, and inspire a commitment to equal justice under the law. 

Successful project proposals were chosen through a competitive process that requires applicants to match the grant award with $1 in non-federal funds or "in-kind" contributions for every $2 they receive in federal money.

Examples of projects funded this year include:  

• Curricula and teacher training: Tides Center’s National Veterans Network, based in California, will host a teacher training institute to instruct teachers, both in-person and virtually, on curricula to teach elementary and middle school students about the history of Japanese American World War II incarceration and the Nisei soldiers who volunteered for military service while their families remained incarcerated behind barbed wire. The 3-day institute will be held at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Through these efforts, more than 2,400 students will learn about this history, with the virtual component reaching even more students nationwide.   

• Preservation of a historic building: California-based Poston Community Alliance will continue their efforts to restore a historic structure that once served as the Poston Elementary School site library. Located on the Colorado River Indian Tribes Reservation in Arizona, the historic structure is in dire need of stabilization and protection from the elements. The remaining adobe elementary school buildings are not only unique to Poston, but also rare as very few similar structures remain at any of the 10 incarceration sites built by the U.S. government during World War II.  

• Community Pilgrimage: Seattle-based Northwest Film Forum will partner with Japanese American Memorial Pilgrimages to organize a three day in-person and virtual event commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Jerome and Rohwer incarceration sites in Arkansas. This hybrid pilgrimage will include both in-person activities in McGehee, Arkansas, and virtual activities to allow those who are unable to travel to view and participate in pilgrimage programming. Activities will include workshops on how to preserve oral histories and artifacts that tell the history of Japanese American incarceration during World War II.   

In February, the National Park Service made the Amache concentration camp. in Colorado a National Historic Site.

Earlier this year, on the 80th Anniversary of Executive Order 9066 which allowed the incarceration of 120,000 people of Japanese descent, two-thirds of whom were American citizens, President Biden said:

"My Administration is committed to maintaining these national parks and landmarks for future generations and to combating xenophobia, hate, and intolerance — including through the reestablished White House Initiative on Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders.  In the words of Dr. Frank Kitamoto, who was incarcerated as a child, 'This is not just a Japanese American story but an American story with implications for the world.'" 

For a full list of the 19 projects selected to receive funds in 2022 and more details about these projects, link here.

EDITOR'S NOTE: For additional commentary, news and views from an AANHPI perspective, follow @DioknoEd on Twitter.