2010 Tule Lake Pilgrimmage Friday, July 2 through Monday, July 5, 2010

The Tule Lake Pilgrimage is a four-day journey to the former Tule Lake Segregation Center 35 miles from the California-Oregon border.

The 2010 pilgrimage will mark the 18th pilgrimage organized by the Tule Lake Committee (TLC). This all-volunteer committee is comprised of former WRA concentration camp prisoners, community activists and citizens who are committed to honoring the history and legacy of Japanese American families incarcerated at Tule Lake.

The Pilgrimage Program includes:
Roundtrip bus ride between departure points and our ”home base” -- the Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) campus.

Three nights lodging at the OIT dormitories in Klamath Falls, OR.

All meals from lunch on the first day, through lunch on the final day

Story sharing groups

Castle Rock Hike

Tour of the former camp site location

Memorial service honoring those who died at Tule Lake

An evening of cultural performances

Intergenerational discussion groups

Panel discussion and other presentations and activities to learn the history of Tule Lake and explore its relevance to the present day

We especially encourage survivors who were segregated in Tule Lake and their families to join us at this pilgrimage. These memories are a valuable part of our history, and we hope you will share your stories of our unsung Japanese-American past.

For more information or to download a registration form, please visit our website: www.tulelake.org. Buses will be leaving from and returning to the Bay Area, Sacramento and Seattle/Portland/Eugene.

Pacific Northwest
Stan Shikuma
206-919-1465
Sktaiko1@mac.com

Background
It has been 68 years since the U.S. government unjustly incarcerated 110,000 men, women and children of Japanese ancestry in ten War Relocation Authority camps, implementing a policy of exclusion and detention mandated by Executive Order 9066.

Tule Lake became the largest and most controversial WRA camp when, in 1943, it was converted into a high-security Segregation Center to imprison 12,000 Japanese-Americans deemed “disloyal” to the United States. The allegation of disloyalty was based on two deeply flawed questions -- #27 questioned willingness to serve in the U.S. military forces and #28 questioned disavowal of loyalty to the Japanese emperor -- that were used to divide persons of Japanese ancestry into categories of “loyal” and “disloyal.” Those who refused to give the mandatory “yes” answers to both questions were classified as disloyal and segregated at Tule Lake.

As awareness of the wrongfulness of the incarceration grew, a movement developed to gain an apology and redress from the U.S. government. Students, community activists, and former inmates organized the first Tule Lake Pilgrimage in 1974 to build support for redress through educating the larger community. The July 2010 pilgrimage will mark the 18th pilgrimage organized by the volunteer efforts of the Tule Lake Committee.

The 2010 Tule Lake Pilgrimage is dedicated to the spirit of dissent, to recognize the thousands of Japanese Americans who protested and were segregated at Tule Lake Segregation Center.