Caitlin Oiye Coon works to save her own and thousands of families' stories.
Caitlin Oiye Coon's grandparents were among the 120,000 Japanese Americans sent to ten incarceration camps during World War II.
The camps, previously known as internment camps, are now referred to as incarceration camps because the majority of Japanese Americans sent to the camps were American citizens who were incarcerated, instead of non-citizen "enemy aliens" who were interned. "It was always just kind of known as … the camp for troublemakers. Some people were embarrassed post-camp about being in Tule Lake because it had this negative connotation within the community for a really long time," said Coon of the reputation of Tule Lake.
Caitlin Oiye Coon also has a tattoo of one of the Mandarin ducks from her grandmother’s wedding obi on her arm.Caitlin Oiye Coon holds her grandmother Shizuko Kikuchi Oiye’s wedding obi, which she said her grandma likely wore when she married her husband Shigenori Oiye in Japan."It is a reminder of her and the many trials and joys she experienced in her life," Coon wrote in a
"I like to think if the incarceration hadn't happened, my dad, probably his connection to Japan would be stronger. They might have grown up in a dual language household. They may have visited their family in Japan. They might have a relationship with that family in Japan that still exists," Coon said.
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