As promised, here are all of the questions received during, "What Really Happened: The True Story of the Wakasa Monument."

When can the video be shown?

We don’t know.

 

Why didn’t any TPM BOD members participate in any of the community in- person or virtual meetings ?

We don’t know. 

 

How can the public attend Topaz board meetings as an observer?

We don’t know.

 

Did any Topaz board members respond to an invite?

No, they did not. We invited both the Board and Friends of Topaz members. Many of the Friends of Topaz did respond to us, letting us know that they would be unable to attend.

 

Why can't the Wakasa board and director come to a resolution? The spirit hovering over the rock will continue forever otherwise.

The Topaz Museum Board has refused mediation with the Wakasa Memorial Committee. The two groups have just announced they will be meeting together with the Utah State Historic Preservation Office and NPS. We hope that this will result in progress. Press Release

 

Where is the video of its extraction? 

We don’t know. When we traveled out to Utah in July, we asked Scott Bassett and Jane Beckwith if we could view the video. They refused.

 

Why is the stone and site not protected?

We don’t know.

 

What is the current impasse between the Museum and the Wakasa Committee? How can that be resolved?

The Topaz Museum Board has not been willing to include the Wakasa Memorial Committee in any discussion about or decision making regarding the preservation or interpretation of the stone and site. The WMC would like to have a seat at the table when the TMB makes major decisions about the Topaz site.

 

Is there a way to make sure that decisions dealing with the handling of any type of artifact are vetted by professionals before taking action in the future? I'm worried about the power to make such poor decisions without proper guidance or review– regardless of the urgency– has not changed. How do we know something like this won't happen in the future if the reporting structure at the TMB doesn't have a proper review process.

We would like to see the TMB engage the Topaz survivor and descendant community as well as the broader Japanese American stakeholder community in discussions about the interpretation and preservation of the site before any major decisions are made and implemented. 

 

What is the overall goal for the memorial committee?

To ensure that survivor and descendant voices are heard with respect to the preservation and interpretation of the site where their families were incarcerated. We want transparency in the decision making of the Topaz Museum Board. 

 

Do any of the committee members currently live in Utah? Followup: what have you done to participate in the nikkei legacy in Utah? What have you done in Utah to educate the community about the nikkei history in Utah?

None of the WMC currently live in Utah. Our mission is to ensure that survivor and descendant voices are heard by the stewards of the site. 

Members of both the Wakasa Memorial Committee and Advisory Board have decades of service in education, historic research, civil rights advocacy and community outreach on the issues of incarceration and US concentration camp sites, not limited to Utah.

Many committee members are survivors and descendants of Topaz, and regardless of state of residence, offer a vital and irreplaceable perspective that should be respected, valued and engaged. We also believe that although the monument is located in Utah, it is a symbol of protest, resistance and mourning that in spirit belongs to all Japanese Americans and is an important part of U.S. history. 

 

What documentation or proof do you have, to show that the said monument is actually a monument?

This question exemplifies why there was a need to professionally study the site before an excavation took place. 

Having said that, WRA files and U.S. military records in the National Archives in Washington, D.C. and Maryland contain details about the existence of the Wakasa Monument and the order for its erasure. A hand-drawn map was found in the National Archives by a Wakasa committee member that was hand drawn by an issei prisoner 20 hours after Wakasa died. The map pinpoints the location of Wakasa’s death as being 943’ 6” from guard tower 8, from which Private Gerald B. Philpott shot Wakasa. The half-ton, approximately five-foot-tall stone was rediscovered very near this spot, which is in the middle of the desert. 

 

What plans do you have to engage local communities in Utah since this monument resides in Utah?

Many of the WMC members work within the Japanese American community to engage and educate, as well as continue to research Japanese American history from the first immigrants to the United States through incarceration, redress and up to today. 

 

What plans do you have to engage the youth; The people who will carry on the legacy of this memorial when all the nisei and sansei are gone?

Many of the WMC members are active on pilgrimage committees that engage younger Japanese Americans to get involved in community activities, learn from their elders, and educate others on our history. Please listen to yonsei poet Brandon Shimoda’s thoughts about the Wakasa Monument:  https://youtu.be/zABjo9dkOZU

 

It seems like the Wakasa group has their own agenda at past community meetings. They never let anyone else talk and they are disrespectful to community organizers. What efforts will be taken at this town hall to make sure that all voices are heard?

As you saw, we let everyone speak who wanted to without interruption.

 

How many Japanese Americans were involved in the museum's decision to unearth the monument? How many JAs were on the Topaz Museum Board at the time the decision was made?

At the time the monument was removed from the site, there were two Japanese Americans on the TMB.

 

Can we petition the National Parks Service or the Utah State archeology commission to do weekly progress reports with photos of the stone and the site, and post them online for us? It's critical that the stone be preserved and the site be secured from the coming winter weather.

We are unsure if that is possible, but we will try to find out.

Has the video been viewed by the entire board and/or the three archeologists? What is the board's reasoning for denying WMC's request to view it?

We don’t know if the video has been viewed by any of the TMB members or the three archaeologists. The Board said it would provide unedited video of the unearthing, but it did not.  November 3, 2021 letter from TMB.

 

Who owns the land where the monument was eventually found? Is it Federal land? State land? Or is it privately held land? If the land is owned by the Federal or state government, wouldn't provenance of the monument be to one of those entities?

The land is owned by the private non-profit Topaz Museum Board.

 

And can a private group own a site where a national crime was committed? Can the federal government claim it under eminent domain as belonging to the nation?

We are not sure about the answer to this question.

 

Is the stone still sitting out there how it was in the picture? What can we do to help?

It is still sitting on a piece of carpet on top of a wood pallet in the yard of the Topaz Museum. You can help by supporting the petition to release the video. 

 

Was the Topaz camp also built on land belonging to Indigenous people (I assume yes) and how would a community archeological project account for multiple inhabitants of the land? How would participation be invited?

We hope that if the community archaeology project moves forward, it would be run by the NPS which has experience in this area. 

 

Did the museum ever release the video?

No