{"id":39216,"date":"2025-09-11T19:45:47","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T00:45:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/act-of-dissidence-memorial-dedicated-to-honor-japanese-americans-incarcerated-in-nd\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T19:45:51","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T00:45:51","slug":"act-of-dissidence-memorial-dedicated-to-honor-japanese-americans-incarcerated-in-nd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/act-of-dissidence-memorial-dedicated-to-honor-japanese-americans-incarcerated-in-nd\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Act of dissidence\u2019 Memorial dedicated to honor Japanese Americans incarcerated in ND"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Barbara<\/a><\/p>\n

Barbara Takei speaks during a ceremony celebrating the completion of the Snow Country Prison Japanese Internment Memorial at United Tribes Technical College. To her left is Satsuki Ina, who led the project to create the memorial, and to her right is United Tribes Technical College President Russ McDonald. (Photo by Mary Steurer\/North Dakota Monitor)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

BISMARCK \u2013 North Dakota\u2019s United Tribes Technical College on Friday celebrated the completion of a memorial for the nearly 2,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned there during World War II.<\/p>\n

The monument \u2014 titled the Snow Country Prison Japanese American Internment Memorial \u2014 displays the names of the 1,850 Japanese Americans who were detained on the property.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s named after a haiku written by Itaru Ina, who was held prisoner there from 1945 to 1946.<\/p>\n

Before the tribal college in Bismarck existed, the property was known as the Fort Lincoln military post. It was used as a prison camp for Japanese Americans and German nationals during World War II.<\/p>\n

Many of the Japanese Americans who were sent to Fort Lincoln were community leaders who had spoken out against their imprisonment and were pressured to renounce their citizenship.<\/p>\n

The effort to create a memorial on the campus was spearheaded by Itaru Ina\u2019s daughter, Satsuki Ina, who is also a survivor of the incarceration program. She was born at Tule Lake, a detention camp in California, in 1944.<\/p>\n

Satsuki Ina said the monument is a commitment to remember the unconstitutional detention of Japanese Americans, even when their stories went untold for decades.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an act of dissidence,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

There is little public recognition about what the prisoners had suffered, speakers at the dedication noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a story that very few people in our own community knew very much about,\u201d said Barbara Takei, another Japanese American activist who spoke during the dedication. \u201cIn the broader community, even fewer people know about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Revs. Ronald Kobata and Duncan Ryuken Williams led attendees in a Buddhist ritual to honor the Fort Lincoln prisoners, especially those who died during their incarceration.<\/p>\n

\u201cA memorial like the Snow Country Prison Japanese American Internment Memorial helps us to feel the presence of all those who experienced wartime incarceration,\u201d Williams said during the dedication.<\/p>\n

Williams created a book containing the names of all 125,284 people of Japanese ancestry incarcerated in the United States during the war. The book, called the Ireicho, was part of the dedication ceremony and is on display at United Tribes Technical College Friday and Saturday.<\/p>\n

Several speakers drew parallels between the experience of Japanese Americans during World War II and the U.S. government\u2019s persecution of Native nations.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn both cases, U.S. authorities exercised a paternalistic rationale justifying forced relocation as protective or necessary,\u201d United Tribes Technical College President Russ McDonald said.<\/p>\n

Many also compared the imprisonment of Japanese Americans to the modern-day immigration policies of President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n

The law used to justify their incarceration during World War II \u2014 the Alien Enemies Act \u2014 is the same one the Trump administration invoked to arrest and deport Venezuelan immigrants. (An appeals court on Tuesday ruled against Trump\u2019s use of the law, though the matter is likely to also go before the U.S. Supreme Court.)<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me, it just shows how vulnerable we are,\u201d Kobata said in an interview before the ceremony. \u201cStop repeating history. We know that the Constitution isn\u2019t this thing that\u2019s so dependable.\u201d<\/p>\n

North Dakota Monitor reporter Mary Steurer can be reached at msteurer@northdakotamonitor.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

The post \u2018Act of dissidence\u2019 Memorial dedicated to honor Japanese Americans incarcerated in ND<\/a> first appeared on Native Sun News Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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<\/span><\/div>

Barbara Takei speaks during a ceremony celebrating the completion of the Snow Country Prison Japanese Internment Memorial at United Tribes Technical College. To her left is Satsuki Ina, who led the project to create the memorial, and to her right is United Tribes Technical College President Russ McDonald. (Photo by <\/p>\n

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Shared by Native Sun News Today<\/a> September 11, 2025<\/p>\n

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