The WWII Prison Camp in Pacifica That's Been Largely Erased

Bay Curious

KQED

History, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.9 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2022

⏱️ 17 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sharp Park in Pacifica was the site of a prison camp during World War II, where residents deemed "highly dangerous" were sent. It's lesser-known than the larger Northern California camps, like Tanforan or Tule Lake. In this episode, we learn what is known about this camp, and get to know some of the people who passed through its gates. Additional Reading: Pacifica’s WWII Prison Camp Has Been Largely Erased, But It Was There The Little-Known History of Japanese Internment on Angel Island Reported by Adhiti Bandlamudi. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz, Sebastian Miño-Bucheli and Brendan Willard. Additional support from Kyana Moghadam, Jen Chien, Jasmine Garnett, Carly Severn, Joe Fitzgerald Rodriguez, Jenny Pritchett, Vinnee Tong, Ethan Lindsey and Holly Kernan. CORRECTION: An earlier version of this episode included an inaccurate statement about Japanese allies. It has been corrected. We regret the error.

Transcript

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0:00.0	From K-QED.
0:02.0	Bicurious listener Katie Chikowski grew up in the laid-back beachside town of Pacifica.
0:09.0	About a year ago, she was scrolling around on Facebook when a photo grabbed her attention.
0:13.7	Well, they were black and white photos of large, I would say barn like buildings.
0:21.4	Like it looked like an army base of some sort.
0:25.0	The photos were shared to a group for Pacifica locals.
0:28.0	The building she saw looked sort of like dormitories,
0:31.0	only they were surrounded by high fencing.
0:34.4	Turns out, she was looking at a place where Japanese people were incarcerated in Pacifica during
0:39.3	the 1940s, at a place called Sharp Park Detention Center.
0:43.6	I'm thinking, I didn't know anything about this.
0:46.8	This is horrible.
0:47.9	This was right in our town.
0:50.8	You know, why didn't anybody tell us?
0:56.0	I feel bad growing up there and having no clue.
1:00.0	Places like Sharp Park are commonly known as internment camps, but internment describes the imprisonment of foreign nationals.
1:08.0	Since many of the people held in the camps during World War II were American residents,
1:12.8	we're using the more accurate term,
1:14.8	concentration camp throughout this episode.
1:18.2	This week, we're setting out to learn more
1:20.0	about the Sharp Park concentration camp in Pacifica, and we'll get to know some of the people who spend time there.
1:26.1	I'm Olivia Allen Price. This is Bay Curious is brought to you by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company, still family owned, operated and argued over.
	...

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