Exploring Historical Racism
A new interactive exhibit is now available in the Dr. Robert Hironaka Room in the Bunka Centre at the Nikka Yuko Japanese Garden in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. The Mel Murakami: Exploring Historical Racism exhibit is a collaborative project between the Garden and the Nikkei Memory Capture Project.
An abiding focus of the Nikkei Memory Capture Project is resilience and aspiration, qualities that helped Japanese Canadians emerge from the dark times to shape postwar southern Alberta. In order to appreciate these characteristics that so often define the Nikkei experience, it is of critical importance to understand the anti-Japanese racism and discrimination that were so formative in the pasts of individuals and communities. The NMCP is honoured to present this story of hardship, overcoming, and inspiration.
The exhibit is structured as a book, whose stories are revealed in contemporary Lethbridge Herald reporting, photographs, films, and excerpts from oral history interviews. At the heart of the story is one individual, Mel Masayuki Murakami, whose personal experiences open a powerful lens onto a shameful period of the Canadian past, as well as his journey to overcome it.
Watch a short film about the exhibit to learn more.