Injustice at Home

During WWII, almost the entire population of Japanese Americans on the West Coast were forcibly removed from their homes and incarcerated. Their only crime was looking like the enemy. Featuring the inspiring stories of people in our community, the 1 hour documentary focuses on Japanese Americans during WWII, both inside and outside the evacuation zone; chronicling their struggles and perseverance.

Congratulations to our own Jim Zimmer, Mary DeCesare and Michael Dixon!

June 10, 2019 - The KSPS production team of Jim Zimmer, Mary DeCesare and Michael Dixon have received Northwest regional Emmy Awards for outstanding work in the production of a five-part video series designed for classroom use, “Injustice at Home: The Japanese-American Experience of the World War II Era.” The award was announced last Saturday at the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Northwest Chapter awards gala at Fremont Studios in Seattle, Washington. They won in the Informational/ Instructional - Program/Feature/Segment category. NATAS Northwest recognizes production excellence in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington State.

"Injustice at Home" is a study of the exclusion and incarceration of Japanese-Americans during World War II, the failure of political leadership to protect constitutional rights, the military experience of Japanese-Americans during the war, and examples of discrimination and racial prejudice the Japanese American community faced before, during, and after WWII. The project was funded by a Kip Tokuda Memorial Civil Liberties Public Education Program grant through Washington’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI).

The videos feature first-hand stories told by Japanese American elders. Many were recorded by KSPS as part of an oral history project in partnership with Spokane’s Hifumi En Society.

In an emotional acceptance speech, KSPS Executive Producer Jim Zimmer said, “I’d like to thank the Japanese American community in Spokane, Yakima and Bainbridge Island that opened up their hearts for the success of this program.”

Videos are part of an inquiry-based unit of study available free to all K-12 teachers at PBS Learning Media. Comprehensive support materials, aligned with Washington State standards and developed by Spokane-area teachers Leslie Heffernan, Starla Fey and Morgen Larsen, are also included.

Mary DeCesare was Producer/Writer/Editor of the project. Michael Dixon of Rastrographics served as Art Director, and Zimmer was Director/Videographer. The three also produced an hour-long documentary on the same subject for KSPS Public Television, first aired in February 2019

Click here to view learning materials