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The Two-Disc Collector's Edition DVD of CONSCIENCE AND THE CONSTITUTION for home video use is now available for order. You can purchase by mail, by phone, or securely online via the PayPal button. For educational and institutional use, please use our updated Order pages. Read more about the features on the new DVD, learn about our story, see a video preview, or watch the opening of the film.

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Sunday, May 6, 2012
Gloria KubotaWe’re saddened to learn of the passing on April 26 of Gloria Kubota. Gloria was one of the most delightful people you'd ever want to meet, and she embodied the female perspective on the resistance of the Fair Play Committee documented in our film.

Gloira reminded us of the particular worries that forced expulsion heaped upon mothers like her, like having to bring canned milk and food for her young daughter on the long train ride to an American concentration camp in Wyoming. Once in camp, she was one of the few women to brave the scorn of other Nisei mothers by hosting her husband's meetings of the nascent Fair Play Committee, and typing their bulletins onto mimeograph stencils. Gloria tells a funny story about her struggle with typing in an extended interview on Disc Two of our new DVD. You can read more about Gloria in her biography on our PBS.org site, and in the San Jose Mercury-News obit. After we finished the film Gloria stayed in touch, bringing my family fruit from her orchard in Saratoga. Our condolences to her extended family. She will be dearly missed.

Monday, April 23, 2012
Tateuchi Democracy Forum Please join us on Saturday, May 12, for the California debut of the new Two-Disc Collector’s Edition DVD of Conscience and the Constitution. Producer Frank Abe will screen the film and debut a new DVD featurette, “The JACL Apologizes.” Q&A with the filmmaker and DVD signing will follow the screening in theTateuchi Democracy Forum. Admission is free to the museum and the screening, thanks to the "Target Free Family Day" in celebration of Asian Pacific Heritage Month.

Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Koji Steven Sakai on the 8Asians.com blog places the courtroom photo of the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee number five on his list of the "Top 10 Iconic Japanese American Photos" of all time, ahead of the 442 and behind another local icon, the photo of Fumiko Hayashida holding her daughter Natalie while being evicted from their home on Bainbridge Island.

Monday, April 2, 2012
Bainbridge Island panel Bainbridge Island audiences get it. They've embraced the exclusion very easily simply as part of their history, much like the residents I met in Eden, Idaho. Thanks to the 100 Islanders who came out Friday night for the DVD screening and discussion at Sakai Intermediate School. And thanks to Kay Sakai for sharing her memory not only of James Omura living on Bainbridge, but of working in the hospital on the night of the Manzanar Riot! See the photo gallery on our Facebook movie page, photos courtesy of Vivian Esteban Hwang, and a video glimpse of the audience watching the screening, courtesy of Vern Nakata.

Thursday, March 22, 2012
Bainbridge memorial logoIf you're on Bainbridge Island, please come to our next screening of the film on Friday, March 30, as Islanders commemorate the 70th anniversary of the first forced removal of Japanese Americans in WW2. They’re calling it "A Day of History, Honor and Healing,” and will also celebrate the unique legacy of a community that stood by their Japanese American friends and neighbors and welcomed them home. The screening will be at 6:30 p.m. at the Sonoji Sakai Intermediate School, 9343 Sportsman Club Road, admission free, and will be followed by a discussion with producer/writer Frank Abe, U.W. professor Dr. Tetsuden Kashima, and Bainbridge Island camp survivors. Download a printable program of the full day's events.

Monday, March 12, 2012
I admit was floored when I saw the Northwest Asian Weekly put its review of our DVD on the front page this week. I mean, I was glad to talk to their correspondent, Andrew Hamlin, but not this. Editor Stacy Nguyen didn’t think so either, at first, but she read the piece and thought it was a great story. So she put it up there.

Regarding the reference in the piece to anti-war movements of the 1960s, I hope readers don’t come away with the notion that the Heart Mountain draft resisters were in any way pacifists or somehow reluctant to fight in WW2. These were guys who said they would be glad to fight – just as soon as their rights were first restored and their families released from camp. And the proof of that is that some of the guys who served time in prison for refusing to be drafted from inside a concentration camp, later gladly reported for duty, as free Americans, when drafted into service for the Korean War.

Incidentally, the DVD will be back in stock early this week at Kinokuniya Books at Uwajimaya in Seattle. Thanks for those who have asked for it there, it helps keep the bookstore interested in carrying Japanese American material. If you can’t make it there, it’s also available here.

David in store, 2005, courtesy of Deborah ToddWednesday, March 7, 2012
Thanks for visiting from our tribute in Crosscut Public Media on the passing of David Ishii, Bookseller. David put a public face on the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans for generations that passed through his store, read the exclusion order framed on the wall, looked through his shelves of Asian Americana and Pacific Northwest history, and stoipped to talk to him about redress, the resisters, or the nearby birthplaces of John Okada and Monica Sone. David was a friend of our film, and his passing leaves a deep hole not only in our hearts but in the life of the city he enriched with his passions for baseball, fly fishing, the opera and all the arts. He
connected us all and built community. See also our comments in The Seattle Times, "Longtime bookseller David Ishii was quite a story himself."

Saturday, February 18, 2012
Audience at Wing Luke screening
Thanks to the more than 75 who came out today for the Seattle DVD release at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience. Some were waiting in line for the museum to open at 10am to get a ticket for the 1pm screening, then quickly filled the Tateuchi Story Theater. This was one of our most rapt audiences, who laughed in all the right places; even the babe in arms enjoyed the film quietly.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and questions and it was a pleasure to meet so many of you afterwards, including Miyoko who told me the story of why Jim Akutsu switched churches after the death of his mother. For Mike Tagawa, who told me of his days as an original Black Panther, here's the ITVS documentary with lost footage of the Panthers that just aired last week on PBS. I'm sorry I lost track of the woman who wanted the Japanese lyrics to the Song of Cheyenne, I wanted to direct her to this image of the actual scrap of paper that we found in James Kado's wallet. It is this song to which Mako fit the melody of the Japanese Hawaiian work song, "Hore Hore Bushi," and which we were delighted to be able to include on our new Two-Disc DVD.

I also want to thank the staff for their terrific arrangements for todays's DVD release: community programs manager Vivian Chan, education director Charlene Mano-Shen (who said the audience was "blown away" by the experience, and who is pictured above welcoming them) and Hanh Pham and Trayvian in The Marketplace. Speaking of which, only at The Marketplace can you now obtain the hard-to-find 18x24 inch film festival poster for CONSCIENCE AND THE CONSTITUTION, for the nominal price of $5, half of which goes to support the museum.

If you saw the screening today, or any past screening, please leave your feedback here.

Wing Luke logoFriday, February 17, 2012
Thanks to Moira Macdonald of The Seattle Times for highlighting in her column in the "Movietimes" section our first public screening of the new Two-Disc Collector's Edition DVD of "Conscience and the Constitution." And thanks to those who have RSVP'd on Facebook. No reservation or ticket needed. Just come by
the Wing Luke Asian Museum in the Tateuchi Story Theater, 719 South King Street, Seattle, on Saturday, Feb. 18 at 1:00 p.m. Producer Frank Abe will screen the film and debut a new DVD featurette, "The JACL Apologizes," on events that occurred after the film's release, answer questions, and sign DVD's.

Also in Seattle, see the new review in the International Examiner. Having read the paper for decades, it’s an honor to be included in the IE Arts section edited by poet and greengrocer Alan Lau. This review from Chizu Omori is among the most detailed yet. Looks great online but the article is truly impressive in print, pick up the paper if you can.

Finally, this Saturday, Feb. 11, Seattle University is hosting the The 25th Anniversary of the United States v. Hirabayashi Coram Nobis Case: Its Meaning Then and Its Relevance Now, with a lineup starting with Tom Ikeda and Peter Irons and ending with the Sansei attorneys on the legal team. Should be quite a reunion with old friends.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012
Gordon Hirabayashi (UPI)Obscured in much of this week's news coverage of the passing of Gordon Hirabayashi is the fact that Gordon was not only a Constitutional test case, he was a Nisei draft resister like the Heart Mountain boys. His case, along with those of Fred Korematsu and Min Yasui, was opposed by the wartime Japanese American Citizens League because, as Mike Masaoka puts it on our DVD, "they were criminal cases," and JACL favored its own civil habeas corpus case fronted by the irreproachable Mitsuye Endo. Listen to how Mike explains it in our bonus DVD audio feature, "Masaoka on test cases." Read the New York Times obituary.

Kinokuniya BookstoreFriday, December 23, 2011
For last-minute shoppers, the new DVD is just now available at Kinokuniya Bookstore in Seattle --
along with the Japanese American National Museum in LA, the National JA Historical Society in SF, and Nikkei Traditions of San Jose Japantown.

Densho logo For you college and high school instructors who can use our DVD in the classroom, you have an additional teaching resource available to you through the acclaimed Densho project, the online streaming video source for interviews with the surviving Japanese American incarcerees. We donated to Densho the tapes of all 26 interviews that we conducted for the film. You and your students can go from the extended interviews in our DVD bonus features to the Densho Digital Archive and delve further into the unedited interviews, complete with full transcripts for ease of study. This is a unique source of primary material for students. Here's how Densho director Tom Ikeda describes it in his Densho eNews for December (scroll down).

Materials about Heart Mountain Draft Resistance

Filmmaker Frank Abe does an excellent job, according to a review in the Rafu Shimpo, of expanding upon the World War II draft resistance story at the Heart Mountain concentration camp with his expanded two-disc collector's edition DVD of Conscience and the Constitution. The bonus features of the DVD set include extended interview clips from some of the 26 individuals that Abe interviewed for the film. Abe donated these 26 interviews to Densho and these interviews are available for viewing in their entirety in the Densho online archive.

Pacific Citizen advertsiement Monday, December 5, 2011
Thanks for visiting for the first time if you're seeing our ad in the current edition of the Pacific Citizen. You can learn more about the new Two-Disc DVD release, and preview a few clips on our YouTube page, and order a copy for your school, library, or for yourself or a member of your family. Our interview with former assistant PC editor Martha Nakagawa appears on page 12 of the paper edition of the current issue, and perhaps we can make an arrangement for posting it.

Monday, November 14, 2011
See our new updated page about the JACL that provides a single portal to our online content on the new Mike Masaoka audio and video content on the DVD, the Lim Report, and the 2002 JACL apology ceremony. This is the resisters.com/jacl page to which the DVD directs viewers after each of the JACL-related segments on Disc Two. Your feedback welcomed. Still working on a Wordpress rebuild to enable more viewer interactivity on these pages.

Friday, November 11, 2011
book cover, "Looking Like the Enemy"On this Veteran's Day, a fitting testimonial from a new viewer of the DVD. Mary Matsuda Gruenewald is the author of the memoir, Looking Like the Enemy. She had just watched the film and said she couldn't wait to share her thoughts, so living in Seattle like me she called on the phone. We spoke for a while and here's what she later shared:

An important documentary. The story is beautifully crafted, and the accompanying music score helps to heighten the impact. I was deeply touched.

As someone who was interned at Heart Mountain during the height of the resistance movement, I can testify to the emotional turmoil that faced our entire community. My family was on one side of the controversy. When we sent my older brother off to Europe to fight in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, I had no capacity to acknowledge the viewpoint of the resisters.

Now I am grateful to you and the other contributors to Conscience and the Constitution for your sensitive and accurate explanation of the resistance movement. After all this time, I am finally able to hear the other side, and fully appreciate the importance of what the resistors did on behalf of all Japanese Americans, and others struggling for their rights.

Conscience and the Constitution is a reminder that there are two sides to every issue. We would do well to consider the virtues of both.

-- Mary Matsuda Gruenewald
Author, Looking Like the Enemy

Sunday, October 23, 2011
8 Asians website logoHad fun doing an online interview with Koji Steven Sakai for 8Asians.com, a collaborative blog for Asian American issues. Please see "8Questions with Frank Abe of Conscience and the Constitution," and leave a comment there or share the page with others on Facebook. Thanks.

Chizu Omori columnSunday, October 16, 2011
Thanks to Chizu Omori for examining our new DVD in her latest Nichi Bei Weekly column, "RABBIT RAMBLINGS: A question of loyalty and ‘Conscience’." Chizu zeroes in on one of features I was most looking forward to releasing on the DVD: the bulk of my 1988 interview for KIRO Newsradio with wartime JACL leader Mike Masaoka.

Martha Nakagawa's review in the Nichi Bei, "Extras in ‘Conscience’ DVD add a fuller, if not more controversial, picture," also captures the significance of this piece for scholars and students:

The best and most controversial part of the DVD is the additional footage of wartime JACL leader Masaoka. Abe includes a 19-minute radio interview he did with Masaoka in 1988, when Abe was a radio news reporter. Abe asks the hard-hitting questions, has documentation to back up everything and gives Masaoka no wiggle room. It is an extraordinary interview, and Masaoka’s answers are revealing.

On the home video of Masaoka's "Rebuttal to Critics," Martha astutely fills in what is left unsaid in his peoration. More on that in a future post.

George Toshio JohnstonSaturday, October 1, 2011
Catching up to the fine two-part interview and DVD review from columnist George Toshio Johnston in the pages of the Rafu Shimpo newspaper from Los Angeles. Both appeared in his long-running "Into the Next Stage" column: "Frank Abe Is Back With a Fresh ‘Conscience" from July 21 and "Continued: ‘Conscience and the Constitution" from August 4.

Thursday, September 22, 2011
logo: Rafu Shimpo newspaperTwo new reviews appeared on the same day today: Martha Nakagawa in the Rafu Shimpo, "‘Conscience’ DVD Set Full of Valuable Material," and Eddie Chern in his Frozen Glory blog, "Conscience and the Constitution: A Review." Thanks to both for their thoughtful observations. The Rafu piece even includes images of the two disc labels and menu screenshots.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

newspaper ad for DVDWelcome if you're joining us for the first time via our first ad for the DVD in the NichiBei Weekly Obon issue. Order the DVD here safely and securely.

To examine all the bonus features of the two-disc set, check out the previews of the new DVD artwork below, all of which is also posted in our Online Press Kit.

See especially the Disc One and Disc Two inserts for the track listing of all the titles.

 

 

 

DVD casewrap front
DVD casewrap back
Scene selection menu
Front cover (300dpi, 1 MB)
Back cover (300dpi, 1 MB)
DVD outtakes menu
DVD extended interviews menu
DVD Disc 1 label
DVD Disc 2 label
DVD Disc 1 insert
DVD Disc 2 insert

Read our news archive: 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 |2005 | 2004 |2003 | 2002 | 2001

Watch the story of the resisters for yourself. Order the new 2-disc Collector's Edition DVD by clicking on the PayPal button or by calling Transit Media at 1-800-343-5540.

For homework help, please see our PBS Online site at www.pbs.org/conscience for online documents and an online Classroom Guide, and send a comment, compliment or complaint via the ITVS Comments page. Teachers can download our newly-updated Classroom Guide as a 328 KB Word document.

PBS SYNOPSIS: CONSCIENCE AND THE CONSTITUTION: This award-winning and controversial documentary reveals the untold story of the largest organized resistance to the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans, and the suppression of that resistance by Japanese-American leaders. (CC, Stereo, one hour)

In World War II a handful of young Americans refused to be drafted from the American concentration camp at Heart Mountain, Wyoming. Organized under the banner of the Fair Play Committee, they were ready to fight for their country, but not before the government restored their rights as U.S. citizens and released their families from camp.

It was the largest organized resistance to incarceration, leading to the largest trial for draft resistance in U.S. history. The government prosecuted them as criminals; Japanese American leaders and veterans ostracized them as traitors. The resisters served two years in prison, and for the next 50 were written out of the official history of Japanese America. Only recently have we rediscovered the resisters and restored them to the community. Through their eyes we delve into the heart of the Japanese American conscience and a public debate that is still alive today.

AWARDS:
BEST FEATURE FILM: VC FilmFest 2000, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film & Video Festival
BEST DOCUMENTARY: San Luis Obispo International Film Festival
BEST DOCUMENTARY: New York International Independent Film & Video Festival
BEST OF FESTIVAL: Vermont International Film Festival (War and Peace category)
BEST MUSIC SCORE: Emerald City Awards, Seattle
NATIONAL JOURNALISM AWARD: Asian American Journalists Association
AMERICAN SCENE AWARD: American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
DARUMA CIVIL RIGHTS AWARD: Sacramento Asian American community

Independent Television Service logo"Conscience and the Constitution" is produced by Frank Abe in association with the Independent Television Service, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund, created by Congress to sponsor research on the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans. Additional funding is provided by the Motoda Foundation of Seattle, the Anheuser-Busch Companies, Brooks and Sumi Iwakiri, and 45 individual Friends of the Fair Play Committee.California State Library logo

This Web site and the companion PBS Online site are made possible by a grant from the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, created by the California State Legislature and administered by the California State Library. Additional support provided by Michi and Walter Weglyn.

Entire site © 1998-2012 by Frank Abe