Detaining Japanese-Americans at Heart Mountain Relocation Center during World War II may have been reprehensible, but commiserating their experience was both a sad and celebratory experience Saturday.

Saturday marked the 20th anniversary of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation and the fifth anniversary of the Interpretive Center’s opening and pilgrimage, said foundation executive director Brian Liesinger at the pilgrimage presentation. Since then, 70,000 people have visited the center.

Longtime compadres

When Liesinger was seeking center sponsors, one individual only identifying himself as “John,” penned a spiteful reply: “‘Why build a museum for people who tried to kill us all and still are?’”

U.S. Sen. Alan Simpson (retired) of Cody, a Boy Scout when the Heart Mountain Relocation Center was in full swing, would disagree with the gadfly then and now.

There were three Boy Scout troops at Heart Mountain in 1943 when his Cody scout master said that Simpson and his fellow scouts were to visit the center. Simpson was disinclined, he said.

Then Simpson met fellow scout Norman Mineta at the camp. They’ve been bosom buddies ever since, Simpson said. “It a dear and special friendship.”

Mineta became U.S. Secretary of Commerce and Transportation before retiring.

When Simpson and Mineta team up, the jokes flow just like the popular comics of the 1940s and 1950s.

“Norm and Al make up one of the most amazing duos since Abbott and Costello,” said Shirley Ann Higuchi, foundation chair and daughter of Heart Mountain internees.

A lifetime friendship was born despite suspicion and barbed wire, Higuchi said.

“It’s friendship (Simpson and Mineta) symbolizes what America means when America is at its best,” Higuchi said.

Mineta underscored the U.S. Constitution in his convictions.

Mineta devoted his life to public service, Liesinger said. “‘Do what you can to serve the public good,’” said Liesinger, quoting Mineta.

Spies?

Dragging Japanese-Americans to camps was simply racist war hysteria, Simpson said.

“Spies?” Simpson asked. “There wasn’t one case of war espionage by Japanese-Americans during the entire war.”

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the executive order to intern Japanese-Americans.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that detaining Japanese was not a violation of their constitutional rights, Simpson said.

Supreme Court Justice Frank Murphy vehemently opposed jailing Japanese-Americans.

“He (Murphy) used the word racism six times in his dissent,” Simpson said. “It did happen and the American citizens were in accord with it.”

“This is a place of great injustice,” Simpson said.

Empathy

People like Pete and Al Simpson, Douglas Nelson, Liesinger and LaDonna Zall are “compassionate witnesses,” Higuchi said.

Compassionate witnesses are non-Japanese who feel compassion, can connect with the Japanese and be their voice, Higuchi said. “It’s nice to have compassionate witnesses to tell our story.”

Nelson, foundation vice-chair, was instrumental in raising money for the foundation, Simpson said.

Zall was 10 years old when she watched the train haul the erstwhile Heart Mountain inmates away, according to the foundation. She felt a connection to the Japanese-Americans. Zall has guided thousands of visitors around the Heart Mountain site, including students of every age to adults from across the U.S. and the world.

The Digital Storytelling workshop Friday provided five students from around the country the opportunity to learn of the Japanese-Americans at Heart Mountain.

“Each of these students told this story through their eyes,” Liesinger said.

Migrant playwright

Luis Valdez, playwright and director known for the films “La Bamba” and “Zoot Suit,” was the keynote speaker at the pilgrimage. His story is one of adversity and hope.

Valdez’s most recent play, “Valley of the Heart,” set during World War II, features Heart Mountain. The play embraces the story of both Mexican-Americans and Japanese-Americans living in San Jose, California.

When Valdez was a toddler, he and his migrate farm family lived in a barn. He was severely scolded when he overturned a pot of boiling water on the makeshift cook stove. Skin on his back was falling off when he was rushed to a white hospital where they quickly released him with only an ointment as treatment, he said.

Later, his family worked for a Japanese farmer in the San Joaquin Valley, Valdez said. “When Pearl Harbor happened, that family was picked up and moved elsewhere.”

Valdez’s family stayed on to work the land, but they had to use mules because the U.S. Army appropriated all the mechanized farm equipment. “‘We have a rancho,’” a young Valdez thought.

But, around age 5, Valdez learned his family did not own the farm, he said.

His Yaqui family crossed into Arizona to escape extermination in Mexico in the early 1900s. Yaqui also fought the British at the mouth of the Mississippi River. “They fought in the American Revolution and that has never been mentioned,” Valdez said. Many Yaqui died in the German concentration camps of World War II.

He is French, Italian, Scandinavian and Yaqui, Valdez said.

Valdez marched with Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, he said.

Black, brown, yellow or white; humans are all cut from the same cloth.

“The black struggle is really a human struggle,” Valdez said. “Celebrate your diversity in your genes, your heart,” Valdez said.

“We need to remember the sins of the past,” Valdez said.

Disremember racism, Valdez said. “That’s in the past. Let’s forget about that and get on with the future.”