Monthly Book Highlight: An Eye for Justice
By Camille Daw, Fellow, Friends of Minidoka
An Eye for Injustice: Robert C. Sims and Minidoka, ed. Susan M. Stacy, Washington State University Press, 2020: 246 pages. $21.95
“Underneath this reaction to the extremes of heat, cold, and dust was a feeling of being abandoned by this country. How Nikkei conducted themselves in this tragic situation is testimony to their inner strengths and courage. One must remember that it was more than just the physical hardship and deprivation that they endured. It was also the rejection by and the loss of liberty in their own country- the country with which the Issei had cast their lot and in which the Nisei had been born.” (105)
An Eye for Injustice comprehensively explores the experience of Nikkei in Idaho. In this compilation of essays and speeches, Robert C. Sims speaks on the community more broadly by investigating the history of those who lived in Idaho before Minidoka confined 13,000 men, women, and children. Sims’s work does not neglect the violation of civil rights at Minidoka concentration camp. Instead, An Eye for Injustice explores topics such as Governor Chase Clark’s racist remarks and ideology, teaching children during wartime at Minidoka, and the demonstrations of patriotism and loyalty of those who served in the military, despite leaving their families behind barbed wire in Idaho.
An Eye for Injustice tells the story of Minidoka as it continues today. Essays come from a number of contributors including Hanako Wakatsui, the former Chief of Interpretation at Minidoka National Historic Site, and Jim Azumano, who recalled Sims’s efforts in copying a document where Harry Stafford advocated on behalf of Ise Inuzuka to retain her family’s property when Multnomah County officials tried to steal the property based on unpaid taxes.
Despite Robert C. Sims’s position as a dean for Boise State University’s College of Social Sciences and Public Affairs, now the School of Public Administration, his essays and speeches are poignant and clear without becoming too academic for readers. He sought to reach the public rather than to keep his work tucked away behind a paywall.
