Liberation Obon – Tsuru for Solidarity

Liberation Obon – Tsuru for Solidarity

By Kiku Hughes
NAP Contributor

Members of Tsuru for Solidarity playing taiko drums for Day of Remembrance 2024, outside the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington. Photo credit: Kiku Hughes.

On March 7, 2024, Charles Leo Daniel died inside Tacoma, Washington’s Northwest Detention Center (NWDC). The news of Daniel’s passing was first reported by La Resistencia, an immigrant justice organization that works closely with detainees inside the facility. One of them alerted the death after witnessing the emergency response. La Resistencia mobilized quickly to put pressure on NWDC and GEO Group, the private corporation contracted to run NWDC, to ensure that they were not able to cover up the death. Within days, they had established a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week encampment outside NWDC, which included a small altar set up in Daniel’s memory. The altar was decorated with marigolds, candles, signs of support and dozens of origami cranes.

The altar dedicated to Charles Leo Daniel outside the Northwest Detention Center.　▶︎

The cranes were left by members of Tsuru for Solidarity, a Japanese American direct action group that fights to close down immigrant detention centers throughout the country. It is made up of survivors and descendants of the American concentration camps that held over 120,000 people of Japanese descent during World War II in 1942. Tsuru for Solidarity has worked closely with La Resistencia over the last year, strategizing how to shut down the NWDC and put an end to Washington’s only for-profit prison. The death of Mr. Daniel launched both groups into an even closer collaboration as they worked together to ensure that NWDC and GEO could not bury the story, and that Washington legislators felt the pressure to act.

◀︎ Tsuru for Solidarity organizer Becca Asaki speaking outside the detention center. Photo credit: Kiku Hughes.

Since March 2024, La Resistencia, Tsuru for Solidarity and other organizations have continued to maintain a presence outside the detention center. They demanded an independent investigation into the death of Mr. Daniel. Though four months have passed, very little information has been provided by NWDC and GEO, which were allowed to conduct their own internal investigation. What we do know, thanks in large part to investigative work done by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights, is that Charles Leo Daniel was held in solitary confinement for nearly the entire duration of his four years inside NWDC. U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell have yet to condemn NWDC or GEO for their extreme use of solitary confinement which is regarded as torture by the United Nations. They have shown a lack of transparency in the investigation into Daniel’s death. With little to no action from Washington State and U.S. legislators, it is incumbent upon Washington residents to demand justice and keep Charles Leo Daniel’s memory alive.

With this responsibility in mind, Tsuru for Solidarity will host a Liberation Obon on September 1st at 1 pm, outside the Northwest Detention Center. Like any Obon, there will be food, taiko and dancing. There will also be speeches from local immigrant justice leaders, and people who have faced state violence based solely on race and immigration status.

“To me, Obon is a time for honor, celebration, and community. It’s a way to honor our ancestors and celebrate their lives,” said KC Mukai, a Tsuru for Solidarity organizer. “The practice of Obon is a political act in itself, as a Buddhist cultural festival in America, a nation built on white supremacy and Christian hegemony.By holding space at NWDC, we hope to honor those that have passed inside the detention center with love and celebration, and be in solidarity with those directly impacted.”

The Obon will be an opportunity to bring the community directly to the site of NWDC where they can witness firsthand the barbed wire fences, armed guards and ever-present threat of violence – the same conditions Japanese Americans faced in camp. With taiko drums and music, it will also serve to let people inside know that they are not alone or forgotten. Tsuru for Solidarity invites all to join the celebration, make noise, and learn how to fight for the rights of our most vulnerable neighbors as immigration policy continues to lurch rightward.

“Fighting to shut down NWDC and fighting against carceral systems can feel daunting at times,” Mukai continued, “but it’s in beautiful moments of cross-cultural solidarity like these that we push back against the systems that seek to break us apart and are inspired to keep