“Manzanar Humanities Lab Goes On Pilgrimage.” A Reflection by Jim K. Lee.
On Saturday, April 25, 2015, the Manzanar Committee (http://manzanarcommittee.org/) convened the 46th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage. What began as a post-World War II remembrance by two Japanese immigrant ministers, of those who died and thus never left the internment camp, turned into flashpoint by 1969 for young Asian Americans who sought to reclaim this history of anti-Asian racism and instill a newfound sense of Asian American identity in the heyday of the Civil Rights and anti-war movements. Since the first formal pilgrimage in 1969, which consisted of about 200 young people, the Manzanar Pilgrimage has been a political and cultural point of departures for subsequent movement activities: in the 1980s, the Pilgrimage helped galvanize the drive for redress and reparations to the Japanese American community; the Pilgrimage was also crucial in Southern California’s JA community to fundraise and ultimately build the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in 1985. (Indeeed, Jane Iwamura argues that these three intertwining activities—redress and reparations, the Pilgrimage, and JANM constitute a triptych of what she calls Japanese American civil religion.) The Manzanar Pilgrimage has inspired sister pilgrimages at other internment camps (currently, there are four other pilgrimages—at Minidoka, Heart Mountain, Amache, and Tule Lake). And most recently, groups from other groups rendered vulnerable in US contemporary society, including American Muslims and Sikh Americans, have been taking part in the Pilgrimage as an act of solidarity with the Japanese American community, as well as resonating with the sense of their own precarious relationship with the US state and society. K-12 students from schools in Southern California also take part in pilgrimage.
The Pilgrimage consists of three formal activities: the Day Program, the Interfaith Service, and Manzanar at Dusk. The Day Program is when pilgrims gather under a canopy (the program begins around noon and it is generally hot in Manzanar in late April) during which a variety of representatives give short speeches, including members of the Manzanar Committee, students, scholars, and politicians. There is a keynote speaker. There is then a roll call and parade of representatives who carry banners representing the 10 (WRA) internment camps, as well as an acknowledge of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (the highly decorated Japanese American unit that served in Europe during World War II, most of whom came from these camps). The Program then transitions to the Interfaith Service, a joint Buddhist and Christian liturgy that includes prayers, chants, recitals, and incense burning. The service ends with a traditional ondo dance, where all pilgrims are invited to participate in a large circle. At this point, the day’s formal programs come to an end. Pilgrims will often take part in guided tours offered by park rangers of the Manzanar Historic Site, or view documentaries that run all day in the Visitors Center. Others return home at this time. In the past, those remaining took part in Manzanar at Dusk, where people would break up into small groups to learn more intimately about life in camp during the internment. In recent years, Manzanar at Dusk has been held at the local Lone Pine High School, and has been facilitated by regional Japanese American student groups at Southern California colleges. Surviving internees (most of whom are in their 70s and 80s) share stories with groups of pilgrims, and students lead discussion.