Groundbreaking Planned For Fresno Assembly Center Memorial

By Pacific Citizen Staff
Published February 10, 2010

Community leaders in Fresno, Calif. are hosting a Feb. 21 ceremonial groundbreaking for the redesign of the Big Fresno Fair that will transform an area into the Fresno Assembly Center Memorial.

The site of the former Fresno Assembly Center, which was used as a temporary incarceration center for many local Japanese Americans during World War II, is currently memorialized with a marker tucked away in a flowerbed off the beaten path of fair visitors.

Plans are underway to transform the area into the Fresno Assembly Center Memorial with the marker as its centerpiece.

The memorial, leaders say, will share the story of the Japanese American internment experience through storyboards and banners to help educate visitors about the historical significance of the site.

The estimated cost of the Fresno project is $100,000. Approximately half has been committed by contributions from the JACL Central California District, Fresno District Fair and a grant from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program.

An official unveiling of the redesigned area is planned in conjunction with opening day of the fair.

The groundbreaking will be followed by a Day of Remembrance (DOR) reception and dinner in the Education Building starting at 5 p.m. DOR marks the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 to incarceration over 100,000 JA families in internment camps during WWII.
Over 5,000 JAs were temporarily housed at the Fresno Assembly Center from May through October 1942.

“The Japanese American community is pleased to again partner with the Fresno District Fair to memorialize the internment of over 5,400 Americans of Japanese ancestry interned at the Fresno Fair,” said Dale Ikeda, chair of the Fresno Assembly Center Memorial Upgrade Committee.

“The memorial aspires to teach a lesson in history that such injustices never recur.”

The groundbreaking begins at 4:30 p.m. at the Fresno Fairgrounds. To purchase dinner tickets, contact Travis Nishi at 559/298-7379.