Visiting the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial

In 1942, the first Japanese Americans were evicted from their homes and loaded onto ferries to be sent to camps in Idaho and California. Those people were from Bainbridge.

Bainbridge Island's Japanese American community raised money to build a proper memorial on the site, which started as a simple plaque in 2002. Now, the centerpiece is a cedar "story wall," including images and quotes from some of the 277 people who were removed from the island.

The thriving Japanese community here was the first in the nation to be relocated. The incarceration, fueled by racism and war hysteria, eventually grew to sweep up 120,000 people.

Later this month will mark 80 years since families stood on the Bainbridge ferry dock with the few possessions they were allowed to pack.

Soundside host Libby Denkmann spoke to Clarence Moriwaki, a founding member of the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Association, about what happened.