Q&A: Descendant of Amache incarcerees illustrates new Junior Ranger book for historic site
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PROWERS COUNTY, Colo. — A new Junior Ranger book at Amache National Historic Site invites children to explore the site’s history and learn what life was like for the Japanese Americans incarcerated at the camp.
Scott Goto, who is a descendant of Amache incarcerees, illustrated the book.
Told through the experiences of siblings Rose and Mas, the book follows their family’s life at Amache after they were forced to leave their home in California. They live in cramped quarters, share a bathroom with 300 people and eat at a dining hall, no longer able to eat their mother’s cooking.
Amache, officially known as the Granada War Relocation Center, was on the Southeastern Plains of Colorado, just outside the town of Granada. From 1942 until its closure in October of 1945, the 640 acre camp confined thousands of Japanese Americans. More than 10,000 people of Japanese ancestry passed through Amache. At its peak in 1943, the camp held 7,318 detainees, according to the National Park Service.
Amache was one of 10 incarceration camps across the country. Altogether, those camps held about 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, the majority of whom were American citizens.
The Amache site finally closed its doors in October 1945, about a month after World War II ended. The people who were still there received $25 and a train ticket. Amache was officially established as part of the National Park Service in 2024.
“Almost everyone lost everything that they had. A lot of the first generation who had spent years building up some sort of wealth felt that they were now too old to start over,” Julianna Ellis, lead interpreter at the Amache National Historical Site, said. “Almost none of them talked about their experience. There’s a really long period of time where people just tried to move on and didn’t talk about what they went through.”
I spoke with Scott Goto, the illustrator of the Amache National Historic Site’s junior ranger book, to learn about his family’s connection to Amache and how his recent project uses art to share that history with children.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Rocky Mountain PBS: Can you share a bit about your family’s connection to Amache and how you first learned about their experience there?
Scott Goto: I’ll be honest. I knew very little about them before going into this project 'cause I grew up in Hawaii.
And admittedly, the Asian experience here as a whole compared to the United States is very different. So, I always knew that I had relatives who were interned at Amache, but I didn't really understand the whole history until I accepted onto this project.
Originally, I thought my grand auntie and her family (and when I say her family: her husband) were interned. So I thought it was my grand auntie, her husband, and his parents that were interned there. And then I came to find out that, no, it was my grand auntie, my great grandparents, and her husband, and their two children who were interned there. That made it a lot deeper.
RMPBS: And your grandmother? Where was she?
SG: What happened was that my grandmother, which was kind of common back then, was sent to Japan to study. So while she was in Japan, she met my grandfather, who was originally from Hawaii. And then they got together, but instead of moving back to California, they moved to Hawaii. And that's why she avoided being interned when that all happened.
RMPBS: Your grand auntie, was she always in Colorado or was she relocated there?
SG: No.
So my grandauntie was actually born in California and my grandmother as well. So my great grandparents were the first generation to come here. I believe most of the Japanese internment happened right after the Pearl Harbor bombing. It happened on a smaller scale in Hawaii, because we actually had our own internment camp here, but it wasn't as widespread as it was on the mainland.
RMPBS: Was it hard to tell a story that is this heavy in a children's book through your illustrations?
SG: Visually, it wasn't difficult because it's drama that was always there. So all I had to do was illustrate what was being done. It was difficult in a sense that I'm a very empathetic person, so it was a little hard to not be upset and angry as I'm doing all of this.
RMPBS: What were some feelings that were being brought up as you were illustrating it?
SG: Well, you know, I hate being political, but, given the current times we're in now…
I think it made me upset with what's been going on with ICE and all the detentions. It just made me realize we're repeating the same thing that happened to perfectly legal people. They were citizens. They didn't get a trial. They were illegally imprisoned, basically... that's what it was.
And you talk about generational wealth lost. My great grandparents had to sell their farm and had to start all over again.
I think that's what made this a bit more passionate for me is that, I'm already upset about the whole, what's being done to today's immigrants. Legal or illegal, whatever term you want to use. And because it's basically what happened to my family. It’s just totally unlawful and unethical. So, yeah, it made the project a little bit even more meaningful to me, not just because of my family, but just the current state of things.
RMPBS: Well, how does it feel to know that there are going to be children now being able to read the book and somewhat understand what life in Amache was like for Japanese Americans?
SG: As a children’s book illustrator, I couldn't be happier if they do learn something, even if they learn some new fact. Kids are going to be kids and they're going to take what they can out of it, or what they perceive at that age. I totally understand at that age, you only pick up on certain things. But if they could pick up on even one thing, or if I can reach even one student to want to explore more about their family history or history, then it's like, all right, I've done my job and I couldn't be happier.
RMPBS:
Can you tell me what people can expect out of this booklet?
SG: I think what's great about this booklet, this is something Juliana and her team did a great job on, is, they tried to make it a blend of activities for the kids, so that they are all connected to the Amache experience there. I think they did a great job creating a story and explaining, basically, what happened... I mean, let's face it, you can't really explain a lot of this completely in just a small page booklet.
But there is a hole for children’s books. My goal as a children’s book illustrator is to get the kids interested so that later on... they explore, and I think this booklet does a great job in accomplishing that. Especially because this is something you're still not taught in the history books in America.
RMPBS: Were there any specific visual details that you tried to capture?
SG: I definitely tried to research a lot of photos they provided me. There was some video footage taken, which kind of showed me the color. I kind of wanted to capture the clothes, especially the clothes in the setting that was part of that time. I wanted to capture the emotions and feelings.
There's one scene when I looked at photos of the internment camp rooms… you had a family of six or eight crammed into a really small room with bunk beds and sheets. I tried to show that.
The other thing I really tried to show was that there's two main characters inside… a brother and sister. And what I tried to show is that the older sister, because she was older, she kind of understood a bit more of what was going on. And the little brother kind of really didn't know the gravity of what was happening. So that was something that was important to me to show that difference of emotion. The brother, at the beginning, he's a little bit scared because he doesn't know what's going on, but then, he eventually is able to adapt a bit better than his sister because his sister realizes like, “Woah, hey, this isn't right. This isn't fair.”
RMPBS: Do you ever plan on visiting the Amache site or museum?
SG: I would love to one day. Definitely. They do a pilgrimage every year, I believe, of the descendants of Amache. Unfortunately, scheduling didn't work out. And I'll be honest, I hate to fly. I'm not much of a traveler. I get motion sickness.
I'll be honest, the other reasons why, again getting back to political times now… part of the reason I don't want to go now is because I’m already upset at things and I know going there is just going to make me madder. I kind of don’t want to be any more upset than I am now.
RMPBS: So like you were saying… the history of Japanese Americans being incarcerated in concentration camps, it wasn't taught to you. It definitely wasn't taught to me and I grew up in New York City. Do you believe the way we suppress such historical narratives like these will change?
SG: I hate to be a pessimist, but I don't know if it'll ever happen. I mean, the history of the First Nation people of the Americas, that's barely taught.
I like to think that eventually we'll learn about the atrocities happening to the immigrants right now in our history books, but given our history, I mean, I'm already 56 years old, and in that time, I haven't seen much change with my niece and nephew’s education, in terms of what's being taught in the standardized education system.
Although I hope someday it'll happen, I don't think it's going to happen in my lifetime. Or if ever. Sadly.
RMPBS: Do you find little bits of hope with projects like these? Or just as an artist and being able to express yourself through art. Do you think art plays a role in being the antithesis to the gaps in our society and not repeating the same mistakes we make?
SG: Art is powerful, but I don't want to overstate its importance because, I'm sorry, it's not. As an artist myself, yes, it can change things, but not in this groundbreaking way. But I like to think that at least it gives individuals like myself a way to get out their frustration and express ourselves.
Even if my art leaves a little mark for people to be interested, even if it can receive one or two people who might see my artwork and say like, "Hey, I can relate to that," or “Wow, he really nailed that. That's what I'm feeling,” then I've done my job and I'll be happy.
We hopefully aren’t going to try to make the same mistakes. But apparently we haven’t learned and we keep making them.
Type of story: News
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. To read more about why you can trust the journalism of Rocky Mountain PBS, please visit our editorial standards and practices page.