Threat: Inappropriate development; Insensitive public policy
Owner: City of Tulelake owns the Tulelake Airport at the Tule Lake Segregation Center site
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| Tule Lake stockade gate. Photo courtesy of Tule Lake Committee. |
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| Tule Lake aerial panorama. Photo courtesy of Tule Lake Committee. |
Tule
Lake Concentration Camp and Segregation Center was a Japanese American
concentration camp operated by the US government from 1942-1946 in Modoc
County, Northern California. During WWII, the US government suspended the rule
of law and the Constitution and forcibly removed and imprisoned 120,000
Japanese Americans in ten concentration camps located in desolate regions of
the nation. Those who spoke out or resisted the government’s violation of their
human and civil rights were smeared as disloyal pro-Japan
extremists. Absent hearings or trials, these dissidents were segregated to
the maximum security Tule Lake concentration camp and subjected to abuse and an
unprecedented, little-known, denationalization program. This is the only
time in our nation’s history when more than 5,500 American citizens were
stripped of their U.S. citizenship so the government could legally deport them
to Japan after the war. The wartime protest and segregation of dissenters
at Tule Lake has been buried for nearly 70 years, marginalized as a story of
disloyalty.
Tule
Lake Concentration Camp and Segregation Center is threatened by Modoc
County’s plans to construct an enormous, 3-mile long 8-foot perimeter fence
around the Tulelake Airport, which it says will prevent wildlife strikes, even
though no such strikes have been recorded during the entire existence of the
airport beginning in the 1950s. Such a fence would destroy portions of the
historic site and close off access to a place of remembrance, a place of
mourning, a place where thousands of lives were destroyed.
In January 2014, the County approved a 5-year, $3.5 million plan to refurbish and develop airport. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has the power to stop the destruction of this unique civil and human rights site. We ask that the FAA stop granting funds that will destroy the integrity of the site's historic resources, and that the FAA assist in removal of the airport to a non-historically significant site.
In January 2014, the County approved a 5-year, $3.5 million plan to refurbish and develop airport. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has the power to stop the destruction of this unique civil and human rights site. We ask that the FAA stop granting funds that will destroy the integrity of the site's historic resources, and that the FAA assist in removal of the airport to a non-historically significant site.
Barbara Takei, CFO
Tule Lake Committee
c/o 7227 Bayview Way
Sacramento, CA 95831
Website: www.tulelake.org
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