Tsuru for Solidarity is a Japanese American organization working to end detention centers in the United States. Through this, they honor the legacy of their ancestors by fighting to ensure that Japanese Incarceration never happens again to any other group. Kiki Hughes, the Co-Chair of the Police Prisons Detention Campaign (PPD), shared that to her, the organization means “interrupting state violence and fighting against the prison industrial complex, which includes immigration detention centers as well as the prison to deportation pipeline.” Given the recent restrictions placed on immigration, “What we’re seeing now is concentration camps again in the United States that are being set up to detain largely undocumented immigrants… where people are held without trial, without real charges, just like they were in 1942,” Hughes explained.
One of Tsuru for Solidary’s first calls to action was “for the community to fold cranes as a way to show solidarity,” Hughes shared. To the Japanese community, folding paper tsuru, meaning cranes in Japanese, symbolizes peace and hope in times of hardship. Hughes explained that they “ would bring these huge strings of cranes to actions, hang them on the fences of concentration camps and child detention centers.” They are now working with La Resistencia to shut down ICE’s Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma. Hughes shared that they frequently “hold rallies outside the Northwest Detention Center… to highlight the connection and parallels between our community’s history and what’s happening right now.” One of their main goals is to raise awareness about the terrible conditions in the detention centers, “including reports of violence against inmates, lack of adequate medicare care, and medical neglect.” They are also working to “bring more of the Japanese American community into this fight, and to get the entirety of the community to see the fight for rights, for immigrants, for immigrant detainees, and immigrants in general.” Huges explained that it’s about healing for all “communities affected by state violence.” Through their events, Tsuru has been working on “allowing the community to get together and really talk honestly and openly in a safe place about how they’re feeling about what’s affecting them.”
To get involved, Hughes recommended “check[ing] out La Resistencia to join them.” Another way to support this is “attend[ing] a know-your-rights training with NWIRP [Northwest Immigrant Rights Project] that hosts events pretty regularly” where “you can get involved in the network of people that are reporting ICE raids and other things”. Anyone can get involved with Tsuru just by filling out the interest form on their website. Hughes added that “push[ing] back against immigration detention in our state” is vital, and the only way Tsuru can continue to resist is through continued community support.
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Graphics by Kelan Sato
