The 2016 Tule Lake Pilgrimage gathered 450 participants during the July 4 weekend traveling to one of the ten concentration camps built during World War II.
According to the pilgrimage committee, attendees were multi-generational with 57 participants over 80 years old and 52 participants under age 25 joined the tour. Over 100 participants were those who experienced the concentration camp during the World War II.
Guest pilgrims included Nikkei actor and blogger George Takei, poet/writer and educator Lawson Inada, poet and actor Hiroshi Kashigagi and taiko performers Russel Baba, Jeanne Mercer and Kristi Oshiro. The Genki Spark, a multi-generational pan-Asian women’s arts and advocacy group, joined as well.
Barbara Takei, a Japanese-American civil rights activist and Tule Lake Committee board member, received the Marjory Stoneman Douglas Award from the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA) on July 3.
The prestigious national award recognizes Takei’s work to ensure the protection of the Tule Lake Unit of World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, a historic site devoted to telling the story of Tule Lake, where nearly 19,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated during World War II.
The award ceremony took place at the end of the Sunday evening Cultural Program at the Ross Ragland Theatre in Klamath Falls, Ore.