A petite powerhouse, Mei Nakano could command a room
with her steady eyes and quiet conviction. I admired her
and still consider her to be an inspiration and influence in
my life.
When she was 17, she and her family were forcibly
removed from their home and incarcerated at Santa Anita
Assembly Center and then Amache Incarceration Camp in
Colorado. It was in Amache that she married her high
school sweetheart, Shi Nakano, though Shi was soon
drafted out of Amache to serve in the Military Intelligence
Service. Mei gave birth to her first son in the camp.
She spent much of her post-war years raising her family,
including another son and daughter. But at age 46, she had
a desire for further education and earned her BA at San
Francisco State, graduating summa cum laude, then
earning her MA at Cal State East Bay and teaching at
community colleges in the East Bay.
During the 60s and the civil rights movement, she
discovered a sense of identity and outrage against
injustice. She discovered her voice and broke her silence.
She co-founded Mina Press, wrote a children’s book,
Rikko Rabbit, as well as Japanese American Women:
Three Generations, 1890-1990, an influential Japanese
American historical work.
105Ever-growing and evolving, Mei became a community
activist. She helped establish and chaired the Sonoma
County Commission on Human Rights. She also
participated in the Peace and Justice Center and the Peace
Crane Project, which sponsors Hiroshima Remembrance
Day each year. She served on the board of the Japanese
American Citizens League, including speaking about the
Japanese American incarceration to schools and civic
organizations.
She received recognition for her efforts, including an
official commendation from Congresswoman Lynn
Woolsey, the Jack Green Civil Liberties Award from the
ACLU, and inclusion in the “Claiming Justice” public art
project in Santa Rosa in 2023.
Community members said of her that she had “undeniable
integrity, that she was “quietly powerful” and a
“peacemaker”.
I am including a poem that I wrote in memory of her.
Beauty: A Legacy
for Mei Nakano, (1924-2017)
Once I remarked how, even in your eighties,
you were among the most beautiful women I knew—
hair like snowy blossoms framing your smooth face,
your modest smile and strong, jet eyes,
a petite but upright frame, grace of movement.
Chuckling, you said that you
never thought you were attractive, marked
by a cruel taunt made in your youth,
a white youngster calling you, “U-gly!”
How often were you stung by such arrows?Incarcerated in an American prison camp,
and married behind barbed wire,
giving birth to a son there, surviving
to establish a new life—
a daughter and another son,
your family, a legacy of beauty.
At 46, you sowed new seeds as college student,
then teacher, writer, publisher, always growing,
nurturing your legacy with tenacity and wisdom.
What you cultivated still bears beautiful fruit—
founding a commission, forming coalitions,
inspiring a new generation of “smart women”.
Mei, you were beautiful,
in the way you lived your life,
steady in purpose and passion,
awake to injustice— with peace
your most beautiful legacy.
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