Up-Date on WWII Japanese Memorial

[Guest guest]

Thanks Everyone!

 

Bridges being built - a letter for the Multicultural

Diversity Group

 

 

First, an update: The National Park Service has received more than

1,300 comments for the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Memorial.

They had something like 300 comments prior to the email effort

requesting support for the project, so my heartfelt thanks to all of

you who helped with this strong show of support.

 

I wish to publicly thank Kent Berryman and Jon Rose for both for

agreeing to meet on Monday to discuss the impact of the email that was

sent out last week by Kent Berryman. While our meeting was cordial and

informative, without question, it was also painful for all of us.

While some of that pain may still sting - especially for many of the

people within the Japanese American community - I feel that by the end

of the meeting we began the journey towards healing and understanding.

As someone once said, every journey begins with a first step, and we

took that step on Monday.

 

Kent deserves the highest acknowledgement for having the courage and

maturity to take full responsibility for his hurtful action. In his

own moving words, he agreed to write the attached letter of apology,

and that his letter would be shared with you, the members of the

Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community and the Bainbridge

Island WWII Nikkei Internment and Exclusion Memorial Committee.

<<ClarenceMoriwaki.doc>>

 

In an even further demonstration of building a bridge of

understanding, Kent has agreed to attend a future meeting of the

Bainbridge Island Japanese American Community.

 

As life's ironic calendar would have it, at 6 am tomorrow morning, I

and Dr. Frank Kitamoto (President of the B.I. Japanese American

Community) will be leaving on a chartered bus from Bellevue as part of

the annual Minidoka Pilgrimage. We will be joining hundreds of

survivors of the Minidoka Internment Camp in Idaho, a place that Dr.

Kitamoto left after three and a half years of living behind barbed

wire. He was five years old when he returned home to Bainbridge Island.

 

Clarence Moriwaki

 

Special Assistant for Kitsap County

 

Office of Congressman Jay Inslee

 

17791 Fjord Drive NE Door 112

 

Poulsbo, WA 98370