Everybody knows names like Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib, but not many have heard of Camp McCoy and its 18,000 prisoners, some of whom were from the Sacramento area, and held at Tule Lake, California. A new documentary depicting the internment of Japanese-Americans at Camp McCoy during World War II shows yet another side of humanitarianism gone awry.

“From a Silk Cocoon,” the second film by Professor Emeritus Satsuki Ina from the department of counselor education, is about to make its campus debut. The film takes an intimate look at the Japanese internment camps in America during World War II.

Ina’s parents were forced into the camp and designated as “enemy aliens.” The film will have its first free screening at 7 p.m. on Sept. 28 in the University Ballroom. The film premiered earlier this year at Crest Theatre. “From a Silk Cocoon” is written and directed by Ina and takes a deep look into the injustices which her parents and many Japanese-Americans experienced during those turbulent times. The film explores the many fears Ina’s parents had about being separated and alone, and fearing that they may never be reunited as a family. Ina’s mother gave birth to two children while in the Japanese internment camps, one of whom was Ina.

“It (the film) is relevant today because of terrorism, and the American public is feeding into the media which is dehumanizing anybody wearing a turban,” Ina said.

Ina said she hopes that her film will show people that society needs to recognize the dehumanizing affect of the media, and that injustices happening today are not that different from yesterday.

“History has repeated itself once again with civil liberties and due process being violated. A sense of fear similar to WW II has once again come back to terrorize normal citizens because of their skin color,” Ina said.

It wasn’t until the death of Ina’s parents that she learned her mother and father communicated through letters and poetry from different camps. The letters show how traumatic the experience was and the fear of never being reunited with their loved ones.

The film’s budget was $70,000 and had a force of 150 Japanese-American volunteers, including numerous cast members from Sacramento State. The film was selected by the New York International Independent Film Festival and will be shown through various cities in the U.S. Ina’s first documentary, “Children of the Camp”, features six individuals who grew up as imprisoned children in these camps. It was released in 2000 and PBS aired it more than 110 times. Ina said she is unsure whether she will continue her film career, but her films are sure to reach many students and individuals alike.

Thomas Barron can be reached at [email protected]