{"id":22766,"date":"2025-01-06T16:04:55","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T00:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/?p=22766"},"modified":"2025-01-07T08:03:58","modified_gmt":"2025-01-07T16:03:58","slug":"righting-a-wrong-name-by-name-irei-monument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/righting-a-wrong-name-by-name-irei-monument\/","title":{"rendered":"Righting a wrong, name by name \u2212 the Irei monument honors Japanese Americans imprisoned by the US government during World War\u00a0II"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/kamei-williams-irei-monument-top-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/kamei-williams-irei-monument-top-1920x1080.jpg 1920w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/kamei-williams-irei-monument-top-1280x720.jpg 1280w,https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/kamei-williams-irei-monument-top-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"Black-and-white photo of a family sitting together, featuring three adults and two children\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  The Aochi family in the Rohwer, Ark., detention camp. (Photo: Courtesy of June Aochi Berk.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=arts-and-culture\">Arts and Culture<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>Righting a wrong, name by name \u2212 the Irei monument honors Japanese Americans imprisoned by the US government during World War\u00a0II<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  The U.S. government locked up nearly 126,000 Japanese Americans from 1942 to 1945 but never kept comprehensive records of all the people subjected to this unjustified incarceration.\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Susan H. Kamei and Duncan Williams<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">January 6, 2025<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n              <svg height=\"19\" viewBox=\"0 0 19 19\" width=\"19\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m7.43475275 9.52380952-2.17490843 2.26076008c-1.08745421 1.058837-1.68841575 2.518315-1.68841575 4.0350275 0 1.5167124.60096154 2.9475732 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xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"><path d=\"m8.14285714 9.42857143c-.17142857 0-.34285714 0-.51428571.08571428l7.28571427 6.34285719c.3428572.2571428.6857143.2571428.9428572 0l7.2857142-6.34285719c-.0857142-.08571428-.2571428-.08571428-.4285714-.08571428zm-1.28571428 1.11428567v.1714286 8.5714286c0 .6857143.6 1.2857143 1.28571428 1.2857143h14.57142856c.6857143 0 1.2857143-.6 1.2857143-1.2857143v-8.5714286c0-.0857143 0-.0857143 0-.1714286l-7.2 6.3428572c-.7714286.6857143-1.8857143.6857143-2.6571429 0z\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\" transform=\"translate(-6 -9)\"\/><\/svg>\n            <\/span>\n            <span class=\"a2a_label visually-hidden\">Email<\/span>\n          <\/a>\n                  <\/span>\n  <\/div>\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n \n\n\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>June Aochi Berk, now 92 years old, remembers the trepidation and fear she felt 80 years ago on Jan. 2, 1945. On that date, Berk and her family members were released by military order from the U.S. government detention facility in Rohwer, Ark., where they had been imprisoned for three years because of their Japanese heritage.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe didn\u2019t celebrate the end of our incarceration, because we were more concerned about our future. Since we had lost everything, we didn\u2019t know what would become of us,\u201d Berk recalls.<\/p>\n<p>The Aochis were among the nearly 126,000 people of Japanese ancestry who had been forcibly removed from their West Coast homes and held in desolate inland locations under <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.densho.org\/Executive_Order_9066\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Executive Order 9066<\/a>, issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on Feb. 19, 1942.<\/p>\n<p>Approximately 72,000, or two-thirds, of those incarcerated were, like Berk, American-born citizens. Their immigrant parents were legal aliens, <a href=\"https:\/\/ddr.densho.org\/browse\/topics\/176\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">precluded by law from becoming naturalized citizens<\/a>. Roosevelt\u2019s executive order and subsequent military orders excluding them from the West Coast were based on the presumption that people sharing the ethnic background of an enemy would be disloyal to the United States. The government rationalized their mass incarceration as a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/articles\/historyinternment.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">military necessity<\/a>,\u201d without needing to bring charges against them individually.<\/p>\n<p>In 1983 a <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.densho.org\/Personal_Justice_Denied_(book)\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bipartisan federal commission<\/a> found that the government had no factual basis for that justification. It concluded that the incarceration resulted from \u201crace prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1920px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/634810\/original\/file-20241127-19-cif7fs.jpg\" alt=\"A man in a suit sits at a table surrounded by a group of other people.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1361\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 on Aug. 10, 1988, formally apologizing to Americans of Japanese descent who were incarcerated during World War II. (Photo: <a class=\"source\" href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.densho.org\/sources\/en-denshopd-p10-00006-1\/\">Densho Encyclopedia<\/a>, <a class=\"license\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA<\/a>.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The commission recommendations resulted in the passage of the <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.densho.org\/Civil_Liberties_Act_of_1988\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Civil Liberties Act of 1988<\/a>. Signed by President Ronald Reagan, the law provided surviving incarcerees with an apology for the unjustified government actions and token $20,000 payments. This legislation and various <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.densho.org\/Coram%20nobis%20cases\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">judicial rulings<\/a> have recognized that the incarceration was an egregious violation of U.S. constitutional principles, a race-based denial of due process.<\/p>\n<h2>No formal, comprehensive records<\/h2>\n<p>A key element of this tragic and disgraceful chapter of American history is that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/list-japanese-americans-internment-camps-ireicho-180981133\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nobody ever kept track<\/a> of all the people who had been subjected to the government\u2019s wrongful actions.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1920px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/637313\/original\/file-20241209-15-sgubwa.jpg\" alt=\"A book sits open on a flat surface, with banners hung behind it.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1280\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Ireich\u014d is in a special space for visitors to view. (Photo: Japanese American National Museum.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To reckon with this injustice, the <a href=\"https:\/\/ireizo.org\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Irei Project: National Monument for the WWII Japanese American Incarceration<\/a> was launched in 2019. This community nonprofit project was originally incubated at the <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/cjrc\/\">USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Culture<\/a>, based at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, with a goal to create the first-ever comprehensive list of the names of every individual incarcerated in America\u2019s wartime internment and concentration camps.<\/p>\n<p>Taking the project name \u201cirei\u201d from the Japanese phrase \u201cto console the spirits of the dead,\u201d the project was inspired by stone Buddhist monuments that the detainees built while incarcerated in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/places\/history-of-the-manzanar-cemetery.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Manzanar, Calif.<\/a>, and Camp Amache, Colo., to memorialize those who had died while wrongfully detained.<\/p>\n<p>The phrase \u201capproximately 120,000\u201d incarcerees has often been used by scholars, journalists and the Japanese American community because the exact number of those incarcerated has never been known. By creating an actual list of names, the Irei Project has sought to confirm an accurate count and to restore dignity to each person who experienced some constitutional injustice when the U.S. government reduced them to faceless enemies.<\/p>\n<p>With the goal of leaving no one out, a dozen part-time researchers on the Irei team searched records in the National Archives and in the collections of other government institutions. Working with Ancestry.com and FamilySearch, Irei researchers have developed innovative methodologies and protocols to verify identities, the places of detention and, importantly, the accurate spelling of names. More than 100 volunteers assembled and fact-checked the data.<\/p>\n<p>As just one example of making sure the historical record is correct, a search through National Archive microfilm records revealed that \u201cBaby Girl Osawa\u201d was born to a mother incarcerated in the temporary detention facility known as the Pomona Assembly Center. Sadly, the baby lived only a few hours.<\/p>\n<p>Leaving no one out means that this infant is now among the nearly 6,000 additional people that the Irei Project has documented as among those who were incarcerated. As of November 2024, the number is 125,761; as the research continues, the number of documented incarcerees will continue to grow.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_22788\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22788\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22788\" src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/file-20241127-15-9a1y4w_1000x750.jpeg\" alt=\"Woman in a stable making a peace sign with a horse in the background\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/file-20241127-15-9a1y4w_1000x750.jpeg 1000w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/file-20241127-15-9a1y4w_1000x750-500x375.jpeg 500w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/file-20241127-15-9a1y4w_1000x750-768x576.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22788\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">As a 10-year-old, June Aochi Berk lived in this stable at the Santa Anita Racetrack. (Photo: Courtesy of June Aochi Berk.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2>The pain of enduring and remembering<\/h2>\n<p>Without any means to return to their prewar neighborhood in Hollywood, Calif., the Aochis went to Denver, where friends offered to help them get back on their feet. They and the other incarcerees girded themselves to face <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.densho.org\/Terrorist_incidents_against_West_Coast_returnees\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prejudice and hostile treatment<\/a> that had only intensified during the war, to the point of terrorism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter the war, we just had to concentrate on restarting our lives, and we had to put the trauma of the incarceration behind us,\u201d Berk explained.<\/p>\n<p>For Berk, her fellow incarcerees and their descendants, the Irei Project provides some acknowledgment of the loss of dignity suffered by individuals, families and communities.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_22790\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22790\" style=\"width: 1000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-22790\" src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/file-20241205-15-laoec0_1000x750.jpeg\" alt=\"A person's hands hold a small stamp while other, gloved, hands point to a specific area on a page in a large book.\" width=\"1000\" height=\"750\" srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/file-20241205-15-laoec0_1000x750.jpeg 1000w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/file-20241205-15-laoec0_1000x750-500x375.jpeg 500w, https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2025\/01\/file-20241205-15-laoec0_1000x750-768x576.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-22790\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">June Aochi Berk stamps next to her parents\u2019 names in the Ireich\u014d. (Photo: Courtesy of June Aochi Berk.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cWe were taught not to complain,\u201d remembers Berk, \u201cand yet it\u2019s painful now to think about the endless ways in which we were mistreated. Do you know what it is like to be forced to live in a horse stable?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the years following their incarceration, survivors would often cite how each incarcerated family was rendered nameless when the government issued them a family number that supplanted their surname. Betty Matsuo, incarcerated at 16 and detained in the Stockton Assembly Center and Rohwer Relocation Center, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.archives.gov\/files\/research\/japanese-americans\/justice-denied\/chapter-5.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">told the congressional commission<\/a>, \u201cI lost my identity. At that time, I didn\u2019t even have a Social Security number, but the (War Relocation Authority) gave me an ID number. That was my identification. I lost my privacy and my dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>For others, suppressing their anger, frustration and shame at being treated like a criminal when they had not done anything wrong impaired their health and relationships. Mary Tsukamoto, incarcerated at 27 and detained in the Fresno Assembly Center and Jerome Relocation Center, <a href=\"https:\/\/densho.org\/catalyst\/celebrating-mary-tsukamoto-on-her-100th-birthday\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">felt powerless after the war<\/a> as the government actions were continuously held up as justified, even though there was never any factual basis for suspecting the Japanese American community of wholesale disloyalty. In 1986, she testified before a congressional committee that for decades \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=V3FFAQAAMAAJ&amp;pg=PA732\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">we have lived within the shadows of this humiliating lie<\/a>.\u201d Tsukamoto thought it was important to \u201cgain back dignity as a people who can all dream of a (n)ation that truly upholds the promise of \u2026 (j)ustice for (a)ll.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Healing and reconciliation<\/h2>\n<figure style=\"width: 1920px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"width: 200px;\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/637315\/original\/file-20241209-15-bs5yr.jpg\" alt=\"A finger points to one among a list of names with several blue dots next to it.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"3413\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Stamped blue dots next to June Aochi\u2019s name represent people who have visited the Ireich\u014d to honor her. (Photo: Courtesy of June Aochi Berk.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>To see the names of those who were incarcerated in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.janm.org\/events\/2022-09-25\/irei-national-monument-wwii-japanese-american-incarceration-launch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ceremonial book called the Ireich\u014d<\/a>, which means \u201crecord of consoling spirits\u201d in Japanese, is to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/smart-news\/list-japanese-americans-internment-camps-ireicho-180981133\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recognize their suffering<\/a>. The Ireich\u014d has been on display for the past two years at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.janm.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Japanese American National Museum<\/a> in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n<p>Any member of the public could make a reservation to place a blue dot stamp beneath the names, symbolically representing the Japanese tradition of leaving stones at memorial sites. Although anyone could stamp names without any relationship to an incarceree, many surviving incarcerees have assembled their descendants and friends together to stamp names of extended family members.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Ireich\u014d has become an iterative form of a monument, drawing visitors as if they are pilgrims to a sacred site,\u201d said Ann Burroughs, the museum\u2019s president and CEO.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 1920px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/images.theconversation.com\/files\/636667\/original\/file-20241205-15-km0kuv.JPEG\" alt=\"A group of people stand together for a photo.\" width=\"1920\" height=\"2269\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Members of the Aochi family gathered in December 2024 to stamp June Aochi Berk\u2019s name and those of her parents in the Ireich\u014d. (Photo: Courtesy of June Aochi Berk.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2022-09-25\/monument-honors-japanese-incarcerated-during-world-war-two\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Berk was one of the first to stamp the book<\/a>, choosing to honor her parents, Chujiro Aochi and Kei Aochi. \u201cMy parents set such a resilient example, and by paying this tribute to them, I am able to do something positive to help overcome all of the difficult memories,\u201d Berk explained. For the community, each stamp is a small but meaningful act toward repairing the indignities suffered by each incarceree and reconciling with the past.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.janm.org\/press\/release\/janm-and-irei-project-tour-ireicho-across-us-beginning-february-2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ireich\u014d will go on a national tour in 2025 and 2026<\/a>, with the goal of having each name stamped at least once. Other components of the Irei Project include the <a href=\"https:\/\/ireizo.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ireizo<\/a>, an interactive and searchable online archive, and the Ireihi, light sculptures slated to be placed at eight former World War II confinement sites starting in 2026.<\/p>\n<p>On Dec. 1, 2024, Berk gathered her five children and eight grandchildren with their partners to stamp her name and to place additional stamps by the names of her parents. She said, \u201cMy children and grandchildren have a better understanding now of what happened to us during the war. This is a time of history we should never forget, lest our government ever takes such actions again and inflicts this painful experience upon any other person or group.\u201d<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/244121\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/susan-h-kamei-1223312\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Susan H. Kamei<\/a>, Adjunct Professor (Teaching) of <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/hist\/\">History<\/a> and Affiliated Faculty, USC Shinso Ito Center for Japanese Religions and Cultures, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/usc-dornsife-college-of-letters-arts-and-sciences-2669\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences<\/a><\/em> and <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/duncan-williams-704365\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Duncan Williams<\/a>, Alton Brooks Professor of <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/religion\/\">Religion<\/a> and Professor of <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/ase\/\">American Studies and Ethnicity<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/ealc\/\">East Asian Languages and Cultures<\/a>, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/usc-dornsife-college-of-letters-arts-and-sciences-2669\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>This article is republished from <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/righting-a-wrong-name-by-name-the-irei-monument-honors-japanese-americans-imprisoned-by-the-us-government-during-world-war-ii-244121\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--section-title\">\n\n    \n  <h2>\n          Related Articles\n      <\/h2>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/is-ai-really-writing-ancient-authors-would-have-said-no\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >Is AI really \u2018writing\u2019? From a priestess to philosophers, ancient authors would have said\u00a0\u2018no\u2019<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/giqbYRVn5v4\" \n         target=\"_blank\"                 class=\"\" \n      >\u2018Trojan Talks\u2019: USC President Beong-Soo Kim talks with Assal Habibi<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/today.usc.edu\/top-k-12-students-to-compete-in-science-olympiad-at-usc\/\" \n         target=\"_blank\"                 class=\"\" \n      >Top K-12 students to compete in Science Olympiad at USC<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US government locked up nearly 126,000 Japanese Americans from 1942 to 1945, but never kept comprehensive records of all the people subjected to this unjustified incarceration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":22777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[87,83],"class_list":["post-22766","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","tag-expert-viewpoint","tag-the-conversation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Righting a wrong, name by name \u2212 the Irei monument honors Japanese Americans imprisoned by the US government during World War\u00a0II<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The US government locked up nearly 126,000 Japanese Americans from 1942 to 1945, but never kept 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