uispeccoll: #VoicesFromTheStacks Ayako “A. Mori” Costantino papers Ayako “A. Mori&
uispeccoll: #VoicesFromTheStacks Ayako “A. Mori” Costantino papers Ayako “A. Mori” Costantino was a Japanese-American activist born in 1924 who passed away in 2020. As a child, she and her family were interned at Tule Lake in 1942, one of thousands of Japanese-American families whose lives and farms were taken away from them because of their heritage. She was heavily involved in activism and worked towards redress for those who had been interned, as well as women’s rights–especially when she lived in Iowa City! Her papers at Iowa Women’s Archives include her family’s story, and she listed exactly how each of her older family members, including her parents, were wronged by internment. Over 110,000 Japanese Americans, over 66,000 of whom were citizens, were forced into prison camps. They were only allowed to take what they could carry, losing irreplaceable personal property, as well as land—many were decades-long farmers. A. Mori fought hard for redress—an apology and financial reparations; in the letters above, Neal Smith, her Congressman in Iowa, returns a letter written to her. She also wrote directly to both Presidents Reagan and Bush in the 1980s and 1990s, asking for Bush to carry out the promise Reagan had made to Japanese Americans. Many acknowledge today that Japanese American internment was due to racism, rather than any real threat. Then, as today with the larger Asian American community, perception did immense amounts of harm. The war caused increased racism then. Today, we recognize that Covid-19 has sparked a huge rise in harassment and crimes against Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community members. A. Mori’s work continues to be necessary and valuable. –Rachel M-H, Special Collections Olson Grad Assistant -- source link