Mar 21 2014

George Fujii and The Travesty of Japanese Internment

I spent a good deal of 2013 reading and educating myself about Japanese internment and incarceration. I still have a lot to learn. Today, I wanted to highlight George Fujii who I only recently learned about.

Photograph, George Fujii (on right) at Poston, Arizona, January 4, 1943 Central Photographic File of the War Relocation Authority National Archives, Records of the War Relocation Authority, Record Group 210 (National Archives Identifier 536627)

Photograph, George Fujii (on right)
at Poston, Arizona, January 4, 1943
Central Photographic File of the War Relocation Authority
National Archives, Records of the War Relocation Authority, Record Group 210 (National Archives Identifier 536627)

Mr. Fujii was interned along with thousands of other Japanese Americans after President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 in 1942.

George Fujii was interned at the Colorado River Relocation Center in Poston, Arizona. He learned that he and his fellow interned Japanese American men were required to register for selective service. In response, “Fujii posted handbills around the camp discouraging draft-age men from cooperating. He was tried for sedition.”

See a copy of the handbill that he posted at the camp here.