Draft:Chizu Omori

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Chizu Omori[edit]

Chizu Omori is a Japanese-American born in 1930. In her lifetime, she was an activist, producer, and internment camp survivor. She has been interviewed several times to talk about her experience in the camps, and eventually would go on to produce a movie with her sister, Emiko Omori. The film was about their experiences in the internment camps which won multiple awards, one of which being an Emmy. The film they made is called “Rabbit in the Moon”.

Early Life[edit]

Chizu(ko) Omori is a Japanese-American citizen that was born in Oxnard, California in the year 1930. She was born in her grandparents’ home in California, and later moved to Orange County.. She moved around frequently as a child, as the Great Depression made work harder to find. This was also due to the three year lease that Japanese-Americans were allowed to lease land for, which meant that her family couldn’t farm in one spot for very long. Her father would eventually start his own farm for the family to live and ended up joining a group of farmers, which a community was built around. Chizu Omori described this community as “a Japanese village”.The name of her school is currently unknown, but she does recall that the village she grew up in built the school she attended. This school also gave its students an education that was more similar to a Japanese school as opposed to an American one. The teachers that were hired were also citizens living in the village. In May of 1942, when Chizu was just 12 years old, her and her sister were both incarcerated and sent off to an internment camp in Arizona, called the “Poston War Relocation Center”. She would be incarcerated for four years before she was given back her freedom.

Life during the internment[edit]

Sent to the vast Poston camp in Southwestern Arizona, the largest of the 10 War Relocation Authority (WRA) camps, Chizu Omori, entered at the tender age of 12 and got out at the age of 15. Amid the approximate 120,000 individuals confined, life in the camp was marked by abysmal conditions - mess hall meals, substandard tar-paper barracks, and prison-like circumstances exacerbated by ferocious wind and dust storms.

Immersed for the first time in an environment predominantly of Japanese descent, Omori, who had never encountered prejudice prior, found herself in a communal setting with aspects of both camaraderie and strife. The camp experience included organized social events, such as parties and dances, led by city kids contrasting to her life in a small village surrounded with farms. Educational and occupational opportunities were established, with family activities in the camp ranging from Chizu Omori's father's woodcarving to her mother's sewing lessons, especially crafting dresses. The camp library provided Chizu a personal pleasant time, with Chizu spending most of her time there, yet the life in camp was far different from normal. The hierarchical shift within the camp was evident, with elders losing influence while the younger generation gained newfound freedom to explore personal interests. The leadership vacuum among the Issei (immigrant generation) was filled by Nisei (second-generation) individuals, reflecting the shift in power dynamics. ]The camp fostered an atmosphere of gossip, rumors, and speculations, unveiling the darker side of human nature through instances of bullying. Language became a significant factor; while elders clung to their native tongue, younger individuals embraced English, symbolizing the rapid Americanization of the Japanese-American community.

Chizu’s father was considering repatriation thinking the conditions in Japan were going to be better than the camp. However, Chizu Omori strongly disliked the patriarchal-authoritarian facets of Japanese society within her family and others. She rejected the subservient role expected of Japanese women she saw in her own family, expressing a desire to carve her own identity. The leadership vacuum among the Issei (immigrant generation) was filled by Nisei (second-generation) individuals, reflecting the shift in power dynamics.

The aftermath of Japan's defeat saw a resettlement in Oceanside for Chizu Omori and her family. Despite contemplating repatriation to Japan, she staunchly asserted that America was her home, solidifying her identity as someone who, despite Japanese heritage, felt unequivocally American.

After the internment[edit]

Upon her release from Poston Concentration Camp in southwestern Arizona, Chizu Omori would start going to high school in Los Angeles, California. It’s here that Chizu would find an interest in civil rights and begin thinking about Japanese Americans as well as the terrible experience all of them, including herself, had just experienced.

After high school, Chizu would go on to study at Berkeley, University of California and become an English major. She describes her experience as follows; “[In college], I was running around with intellectual types and they were more aware of our history than I was at the time and they would say to me, ‘what was it like?’ and I would say, ‘oh, it wasn’t so bad.’ And I just sort of dismissed it at the time. But then some of them would say, “Well, you know, you were like, early adolescent, those are formative years and probably a lot of changes were happening.” So I started to self examine, at that point and when the Asian American yellow power, and all that stuff came along, it was a natural course.”

Once Chizu had graduated from Berkeley, she would move from the Bay Area in California to Seattle, Washington. It is here that Chizu Omori would get involved in the redress movement to pass the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which would grant reparations for the Japanese Americans that had been forcefully relocated and incarcerated during the period of WWII. Around this time, Chizu’s younger sister, Emiko Omori would pose making a film that takes a glimpse at Japanese American incarceration during WWII. The result would be Rabbit in the Moon, which would be directed and narrated by Emiko and co-produced by Chizu. Upon release of this film, Chizu would continue her civil rights work.

Present Life[edit]

Following her involvement in the redress movement, Chizu is still a very active political activist. Even in her nineties she can be found protesting and does not show any signs of slowing down. Chizu Omori is very active in Tsuru for Solidarity, a group of Japanese Americans protesting the migrant detention centers and the way asylum seekers are being treated. As part of being in this group, Chizu shows up to weekly black lives matter protests in Oakland and attends countless zoom meetings. Chizu and her sister Emiko Omori can also be found going to a street corner every friday to do a vigil. Where she holds a sign saying “yellow power for black lives matter”.

Chizu Omori has also done many interviews with many sources talking about her experiences throughout her life. Omori has done interviews with Densho Digital Repository, news sources like Los Angeles Times, etc.

Omori was awarded the 2021 Outstanding Alumna Award by JAWAUCB due to her long standing commitment to civil and human rights.

References[edit]

Sources

  • “Paying It Forward: The Jawa Legacy.” Cal Alumni Association, 6 Oct. 2021, alumni.berkeley.edu/paying-it-forward-the-jawa-legacy/.
  • Varner, Natasha. “At 90 Years Old, Chizu Omori Is Still Fighting for Justice - Densho: Japanese American Incarceration and Japanese Internment.” Densho, 18 Mar. 2021, densho.org/catalyst/at-90-years-old-chizu-omori-is-still-fighting-for-justice/.
  • Gage, Eleni  N. “Growing Up in a Japanese Detainment Camp Turned This 90-Year-Old Into a Black Lives Matter Activist.” Oprah Daily, 19 Nov. 2020, www.oprahdaily.com/life/a34702415/japanese-detainment-camp-story-2020/.
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