Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Experience of Japanese-Americans during World War II is the focus.
CLOVIS — The Clovis-Carver Public Library will soon offer a look at American injustice in the face of fear, and how it specifically related to the Land of Enchantment.
An exhibit, starting Monday and running through April 3, tells of the experience of Clovis Japanese-Americans during World War II. The exhibit, provided by the New Mexico Japanese American Citizens League, will include a 1:30 p.m. Friday reception.
The seeds for internment were sown on Dec. 7, 1941, when Japanese troops bombed Pearl Harbor. The United States was not engaged in World War II at the time, but lost 2,000 lives all the same.
On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. It sent tens of thousands into internment camps. Among those put in camp were 32 Clovis residents of Japanese descent who went to Old Raton Ranch.
Friday’s reception is scheduled to include three survivors of that removal. They will participate in a panel discussion on the removal and their experience in the camp, established in an abandoned Civilian Conservation Corps (“CCC”) facility in the Lincoln National Forest about 13 miles east of Fort Stanton.
For more information, email Victor Yamada at
