Tag Archives: California
Airport keeping out WWll Survivors
Stop the Proposed Fence at the Tulelake Municipal Airport, site of the former Tule Lake Segregation Center, California
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During World War II, more than 120,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry were forced from their homes and unjustly imprisoned in ten concentration camps across the United States, solely on the basis of race. The Tule Lake camp in Modoc County, California (near the California-Oregon border) became a maximum-security Segregation Center to incarcerate 12,000 inmates who resisted their imprisonment and branded by the federal government as disloyal. Today, a small airport used primarily by crop dusting planes cuts through the center of the Tule Lake site.
I need your help because the Federal Aviation Administration is proposing construction of an eight-foot high, three-mile long fence around the perimeter of the airport that will cut off our access to the Tule Lake site. Besides being utterly unnecessary in such a desolate place, such a fence would desecrate the physical and spiritual aspects of Tule Lake, which has great historical and personal importance to me and many others.
I am shocked by this insensitive and disrespectful plan. This massive fence will interfere with the desire I and visitors to Tule Lake have — to mourn the unjust imprisonment and to heal the scars of the past. Instead, we will be assaulted with a reminder of rejection, exclusion, and emotional pain.
I was born in the Tule Lake Segregation Center. My parents were American citizens who protested their unjust incarceration and answered “no” to the government-imposed “loyalty questionnaire.” As punishment for their dissidence, the government removed them from the Topaz concentration camp to the maximum-security Tule Lake Segregation Center. From there, my father was taken from us and interned as an “enemy alien” in a Department of Justice camp in North Dakota. Incarcerated for no other crime than having the face of the enemy, my family lived behind barbed wire for 4-1/2 years.
I’m part of a group of survivors, their families, and friends who organize tours and educational events at the Tule Lake Segregation Center. If this fence is constructed, it will send a strong message to Japanese Americans that they are not welcome at the site where they walked long distances to eat meals, attend school, and use the latrines. A fence will prevent all Americans from experiencing the dimension and magnitude of the concentration camp where people experienced mass exclusion and racial hatred.
The FAA has the power to protect Tule Lake, a sacred site. In doing so, it has the power to honor, rather than desecrate, the remembrance of one of the darkest chapters in American history.
According to the FAA, in an effort to be more “sensitive” to our concerns, the proposed fence would not be topped with barbed wire — but that’s just not enough. Our nation’s history of the unjust incarceration of those of Japanese ancestry during WWII is often forgotten. We must be able to remember what happened to our ancestors to be sure this never happens again.
I’m calling on the FAA to respect our community’s needs and wishes and reject this proposal. Please show your support for the most sensitive solution: DO NOT BUILD THE FENCE AT TULE LAKE.
Rich Hunter via Change.org
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My son Nixon “Wildcard” Hunter is truly a miracle. After a premature birth he’s faced serious health challenges, including a most recent death defying hospital stay — the doctors say he’s lucky to be alive. But our medical provider, United Healthcare, didn’t cover the cost of everything, including his cochlear implant surgery.
I started a petition asking UHC to cover my newborn son’s cochlear implant surgery and it quickly grew to over 45,000 signatures, including yours. Less than a month later UHC called to tell me that his cochlear implant surgery would be covered!
As a parent, I was scared that I didn’t know how my wife and I were going to afford all of the procedures Nixon needed. Seeing the outpour of support on our petition from people across the country who had gone through the same thing inspired us to keep fighting — without those stories and signatures of support, we couldn’t have won.
My wife and I are excited to move forward from this uncertain chapter of our lives and be a family again with our new son. Thank you so much for all your help.
Rich Hunter
Fracking forum: Secure your spot
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This is crazy, Washington!

| Here’s TJ’s number, call them maybe?
Their customers are calling, but Trader Joe’s still refuses to meet with us to discuss ending the sale of meat raised on antibiotics. The grocer says it listens to its customers, so we’re ramping up more calls. Can you call them, maybe? |
To save our antibiotics, we can’t just wait for Congress to act. We have to go directly to grocery chains selling antibiotic-raised meat and get them to stop.
So we targeted Trader Joe’s, one of the nation’s most progressive grocers, to lead the way in the fight to save our antibiotics.
But after presenting a half-million of your signatures, sending thousands of emails, postcards and fliers – and running full-page ads in the hometown newspapers where they’re headquartered – Trader Joe’s management still refuses to sit down and talk with us about stopping the sale of this meat.
This is crazy! Now we need a little help from you to convince them.
Trader Joe’s prides itself on listening to its customers. Since the company is headquartered in California, we recently put ads in the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle asking customers to call company execs and ask them to end the sale of antibiotic-raised beef, poultry and pork. The execs got a LOT of calls!
What did Trader Joe’s do? They dug in even deeper, telling callers they will keep selling meat raised on antibiotics. Pretty unbelievable for a company that claims to listen to its customers. The Pacific-Northwest is a major market for Trader Joes. Your call may be the tipping point.
We’re tackling the overuse of antibiotics in our food animals on every front – including testing meat for drug-resistant superbugs, lobbying in Congress, and pushing industry and the marketplace to stop this risky practice. Join us in making a safer future for your family by making a call now.
Sincerely, Jean Halloran, NotInMyFood.org, a project of Consumers Union Policy and Action from Consumer Reports






Andrew A. Rosenberg, Ph.D. Director, Center for Science and Democracy
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