Writing
Fear, Football, and the Theft of Freedom: Scott Fujita Talks Family and Football
June 29, 2025
Although professional football has not always been a sport associated with athletes with a WWII incarceration story to tell, it took a player with a Super Bowl victory and 11 years in the NFL to generate increased national attention on the unjust wartime mass detention of Japanese Americans. Former New Orleans Saints linebacker Scott Fujita—the adopted son of a Japanese American father—became an unlikely spokesperson when he narrated the NFL Emmy-nominated documentary, 9066: Fear, Football, and the Theft of Freedom. In his role as narrator, he also became the emissary for the scrappy but proud camp football team, the Heart Mountain Eagles.
June 29, 2025
Although professional football has not always been a sport associated with athletes with a WWII incarceration story to tell, it took a player with a Super Bowl victory and 11 years in the NFL to generate increased national attention on the unjust wartime mass detention of Japanese Americans. Former New Orleans Saints linebacker Scott Fujita—the adopted son of a Japanese American father—became an unlikely spokesperson when he narrated the NFL Emmy-nominated documentary, 9066: Fear, Football, and the Theft of Freedom. In his role as narrator, he also became the emissary for the scrappy but proud camp football team, the Heart Mountain Eagles.
Finding Joy in Cuba
January 6, 2024
It’s hard to imagine anyone traveling to Cuba and coming back unchanged. It’s a place that has withstood the extremes of enormous wealth and poverty, slavery and revolution, and Soviet aid and the U.S. embargo.Despite these historic ups and present-day downs, there is a vibrancy in the streets, culture, and people that is intoxicating. Streets overflow with pulsating music, enticing dance, colorful cars, and ubiquitous art—all despite crushing poverty that has only gotten worse due to and since the pandemic.
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Living, Dying, and Passing It On
April 8, 2023
As Los Angeles skies began to clear after the first spell of frigid March rain, a three-generation family gathering was being held to mark Ireichō, the book as monument to those incarcerated during World War II. Convening the intimate get-together was a familiar face in the Nikkei community, someone celebrated for his decades of selfless leadership and commitment to such causes as Asian American studies, redress and reparations, Little Tokyo preservation, LGBTQ rights, youth empowerment, and more.
After relinquishing years of key leadership of such Little Tokyo mainstay organizations as the National Coalition for Redress and Reparations (now known as Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress), Little Tokyo People’s Rights Organization (LTPRO), Little Tokyo Service Center, and Kizuna, Alan Nishio could now be seen presiding over one of his final and most personal meetings.
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