PANA Institute for Leadership Development

at the Emanji Buddhist Temple, 1200 Gravenstein Hwy., South, Sebastopol, CA 

In preparation for the Manzanar Pilgrimage, we will visit a historically Japanese American congregation, rural and Buddhist, to listen to the lived experiences of this faith community and its importance to our collective memory around the events of WWII.

By the 1940s, Japanese farmers were a key component in farming in California, responsible for 40 percent of all vegetables grown in the state, including nearly 100 percent of all tomatoes, celery, strawberries and peppers. (California Farm Bureau)   In the wake of Pearl Harbor, Buddhist families, congregations and ministers were particular targets of suspicion by the U.S. government and many rounded up by the FBI, even before the mass incarceration. Rev. Carol Himaka and members of the Sonoma County JACL Oral History Project will share the experiences of members of this rural community and Enmanji Buddhist Temple in Sebastopol, which served as a center of activity for the local Japanese farm communities before World War II. 

We will also see the premiere of the film Leap of Faith by Lina Hoshino, which tells the story of how young people of faith in Sebastopol took action against a hate crime targeting Enmanji Temple during WWII. When all the Japanese Americans in the community were forcibly sent to internment camps, Enmanji temple was boarded up. At the conclusion of the war, when news spread that the Japanese families were returning, unidentified individuals vandalized the temple and tried to burn it down. Young people at the Community Church of Sebastopol (UCC), who had grown up alongside Japanese Americans, organized to guard the temple for three months.  Filmmaker Lina Hoshino says, “This story of young people taking a leap of faith to help members of their community does not erase the reality that civil and human rights were violated, families were torn apart, lives were destroyed, property was stolen. Instead, it reminds us that it is possible to stand by those who are endangered and victimized by the prevailing political climate.”

Carpool info:
We will gather at 12:45pm in front of PSR. Contact Jeffrey Acido to request a ride or to offer to drive.

Event agenda:

• Introduction by Marie Sugiyama, Chair, Sonoma County Japanese American Citizens League Oral History Committee
• Mei Nakano, Author, Human Rights Activist, Japanese American Women: Three Generations, Riko Rabbit, Curriculum Guide:  The Japanese American Wartime Experience, Grades 4-12, Current Board Member of the Sonoma County JACL
• Margarette Murakami, Native of  Sebastopol. Attended Parkside Elementary & Analy High School; Speaker at numerous High Schools in Sonoma County; Re:  Japanese Internment during WWII; Current Board Member of the Sonoma County JACL
• Jim Murakami, Native of  Sonoma County. President of National Japanese American Citizens League during early years of working for Redress; President of Sonoma County Japanese American Citizens League; Current Board Member of the Sonoma County JACL
• Martin Shimizu, Native of Sonoma County. President of the Enmanji Buddhist Temple; Advisor to the Enmani Temple Board; President of the Sonoma County Japanese American Citizens League; Current Board member of the Sonoma County JACL
• Mei Nakano, Author, Japanese American Women—Three Generations 1880-1990
• Question and Answer Period
• Film by Lina Hoshino
• History of  the “Enmanji” Temple by Reverend Carol Himaka