Mazukazu “Jack” Fujimoto, later the first Japanese American college president in the United States, testified before the Commission about his childhood experiences at Poston and the lifelong lessons he carried into his career in education. He reflected on the humiliation of FBI raids, the disruption of school, his mother’s illness in camp, and the quiet strength his family drew on to survive.

• FBI Raids: At 13 years old, forced to interpret for his parents as agents accused the family of signaling enemy boats. Traumatic questions from federal authorities left lasting impressions.

• Education Interrupted: Lost his leading role in a high school play after Executive Order 9066, part of the social isolation that came with being Japanese American.

• Economic Loss: His family’s bumper crop of cucumbers and berries was taken by their caretaker after removal, leaving them with nothing.

• Mother’s Illness: Arrived at Poston in unfinished barracks, where his mother nearly died from fever while caring for five children. Denied ice for relief, the family endured without proper medical care.

• Child’s Perspective: Wrote a class essay comparing himself to a chicken in a cage — “I was a chicken, incarcerated in a hot, dusty hellhole.”

• Discrimination Outside Camp: Paid $8 a month for ice-hauling work, and when trying to buy a soda in Parker, Arizona, was denied service because of his race.

• Postwar Struggles: After release, worked long hours sharecropping on present-day La Costa farmland while resuming school and sports. Teachers helped him make up lost credits through independent study.

• Later Life & Service: Became a U.S. Army counterintelligence officer, then pursued higher education, eventually breaking barriers as the first Japanese American college president.

• Call for Action: Recommended the Commission establish a national trust fund — not just reparations for Japanese Americans, but a permanent program to educate Americans against prejudice so “no other group would have to be incarcerated without due process of law.”