THESIS: The internment of memory (abbie lynn Salyers)
"According to Embrey, the Manzanar Committee originally submitted a much longer text and they were told they would ahve to change not only its length but also its wording. The State Advisory Commission fo the Department of Parks and Recreation opposed such words as 'racism,' 'economic greed,' and 'concentration camp.' Embrey recalled a heated meeting with Department of Parks and Receration Director Wiliam Penn-Mott in which he refused to allow the 'negative words' originally penned by the committee members. Warran Furutani, founding chair of the Manzanar Committee, called Penn-Mott a racist for his refusal to allow the preferred wording, and Assemblyman Alex Garcia, who represented the LIttle Tokyo district of Los Angeles, threated to take their argument to the Legistlature, at which point Penn-Mott gave in to the demands of the Manzanar Committee and JACL representatives. According to the Manzanar Historic Resource STudy, the final three sentences that appear on teh plaque today are a compromise between teh state and the committee. The state wrote the first sentence, the committee wrote the second and the third was a compromise between the two organizations."