relocation, arkansas

Aftermath of Incarceration

“This kind of thing doesn’t just end with the person who was in the camp.” Ruth Takemoto McInroy

        Relocation, Arkansas – Aftermath of Incarceration isn’t just another film about the Japanese American incarceration experience. It explores what the experience meant to the people who had lived it as they struggled to find their way in a world that was vastly different than the one they had left behind, how it affected the generation that was born after the camps closed, and how the aftermath intersected with the civil rights movement in the Deep South.

        “Why aren’t we accepted as Americans? Is an American a white person?” Marielle Tsukamoto

        Relocation, Arkansas – Aftermath of Incarceration chronicles the effect of the Japanese American incarceration experience in Arkansas during WWII on the generation that was born after the camps closed, the unlikely tale of those Japanese Americans who remained behind, and the even more unlikely tale of how a small town Arkansas mayor of Italian descent became a legend in the Japanese American community. But with its themes of the complexity and hypocrisy of race relations in America, journeys toward forgiveness and healing, and cross community understanding, the film transcends regional and cultural constraints unlike any other film on the incarceration experience.

Produced by Rescue Film Production in association with the Center for Asian American Media, with funding by the Department of Arkansas Heritage, the Arkansas Humanities Council, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and private foundations and donors.