On this day, March 30, 1942, 227 residents of Bainbridge Island, Washington, were rounded up.

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Local News

A1 Revisited: The Seattle Times’ coverage of the 1942 removal of 227 Bainbridge residents left a harmful legacy

March 27, 2022 at 6:00 am Updated March 27, 2022 at 5:21 pm



1 of 6 | Crowds jam Seattle’s Marion Street pedestrian overpass to witness the U.S. Army’s mass removal of all Japanese American residents of Bainbridge Island on March 30, 1942. Soldiers had led them onto the ferry, and in Seattle they were put on a train bound for California. The Times did not publish this picture then. (The Associated Press)

By Naomi Ishisaka
Seattle Times columnist

This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Howard G Buffett Fund for Women Journalists.

Sometimes the only way forward is to look back.

This week marks the 80th anniversary of the first removals of Japanese Americans from their homes on the West Coast. Starting with 227 residents of Bainbridge Island on March 30, 1942, women, men and children were forced to leave their jobs, schools, homes and the lives they knew for an uncertain future. By the end, 120,000 Japanese Americans — two-thirds of them U.S. citizens — would be incarcerated in desolate camps in remote regions primarily in the Western interior during World War II.

Today, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 and the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans is widely seen as one of the country’s grossest violations of civil liberties. But in the years leading up to it, the U.S. media’s anti-Japanese fear mongering, racism and war hysteria created a rationale for the suspension of civil rights that was accepted by the public.

A rare number of media outlets — most notably the Bainbridge Island Review — took a principled stand against incarceration. Others, including The Seattle Times, did not. Eight decades later, Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen called that decision a “low point” in the paper’s history.

Today we launch a project called A1 Revisited, scrutinizing our coverage of historic moments — starting with the day Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from Bainbridge — to begin to be accountable for the impact of past mistakes on our region.

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Tue Jan 30, 2024, 09:06 AM: 2023: Governor Murphy Establishes January 30 as Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution

Tue Jan 30, 2024, 08:49 AM: On this day, January 30, 1919, Fred Korematsu was born.

Tue Jan 30, 2024, 08:40 AM: Today, January 30, is the "Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution" in Virginia.

Tue Jan 30, 2024, 08:35 AM: Today, January 30, is the "Fred Korematsu Day of Civil Liberties and the Constitution" in California.

Thu Mar 30, 2023, 07:06 AM: On this day, March 30, 1942, 227 residents of Bainbridge Island, Washington, were rounded up.

Thu Mar 30, 2023, 07:02 AM: On this day, March 30, 1942, 227 residents of Bainbridge Island, Washington, were rounded up.

Mon Jan 30, 2023: On this day, January 30, 1919, Fred Korematsu was born.

Wed Mar 30, 2022: On this day, March 30, 1942, 227 residents of Bainbridge Island, Washington, were rounded up.