Eighty years after being forcibly removed from their homes in the San Francisco Bay Area, more than a dozen survivors of Tanforan Assembly Center gathered to witness the unveiling of the Tanforan Memorial at the San Bruno BART station. They were joined by hundreds of others including Tanforan descendants and local community members.

Tanforan survivors attend the unveiling of the Tanforan Memorial. The Kamiji sisters (in their 90s), Michi and Sachi, with Michi's daughter, JoAnn.
The Kamiji sisters, Michi and Sachi, both Tanforan survivors, with Michi’s daughter JoAnn. August 27, 2022. (Ruth Sasaki)
List of names (surname "Takahashi") on the Tanforan memorial

Almost 8,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated at the Tanforan Assembly Center for up to six months before being transferred to a concentration camp in Topaz, Utah. Their names are listed on panels at the Tanforan Memorial.

Speakers at the ribbon-cutting ceremony included representatives from the Ohlone and Muslim communities, who spoke in solidarity, as well as a host of local politicians and representatives of supporting organizations.

Congratulations to the Tanforan Memorial Committee for its hard work in creating this lasting reminder of an important piece of history that continues to be painfully relevant today.

Statue of Mochida children awaiting forced removal to Tanforan, surrounded by crowd of Tanforan survivors at the unveiling of the Tanforan Memorial in San Bruno, CA.
Tanforan survivors surround the memorial as it is unveiled.
The Tanforan Memorial: statue of two children of the Mochida family standing next to bags and suitcases.
The memorial, based on two children of the Mochida family awaiting forced removal, from an iconic Dorothea Lange photo.

Images courtesy of Ruth Sasaki