"Every time I read something one of you has written about the progress of the Empty Chair Project, it gives me a warm
and teary feeling of both sadness and pride. Sadness that the event ever happened that caused the project to be necessary, and pride that you all are working so diligently to shed light on it. And proud of being from that beautiful place called Juneau and growing up with good hearted people. Hooray for small town Alaska!
Greetings from the East Coast."
-Sally Cole-Whiffen (a misplaced Alaskan!)
"I opened the (website) email and followed it to the beginning.You have been busy in that project. As I looked at the pictures, there is one picture of a mother and daughter outside the internment camp in Minidoka, Idaho. I was born Oct. 1st, 1942, in Burley, Idaho and lived within 10 miles of Burley until we moved to Anchorage at the start of my 6th grade year in school. All that to say that I have been to Minidoka many times. It was way out in the middle of dry desert land, totally different from the places that these Japanese people were sent from. Glad I opened the email and followed it through. Just a small way we all of that period in time are tied together in history. I lived a long ways from Juneau at that period of our history but in a very small way feel connected to your project. All Americans should feel tied to your project as this is our country, all of us, and forms of this type of discrimination are still going on and we could be next."
-Larry Mathews
"Wonderful news. The grant was a real coup--thousands apply and very few are chosen. I am so impressed with your project!"
-Kimberly Metcalfe
"Don Rude visited my brother in Spokane, Washington, because he had terminal cancer then. He told my sister that his class should have laid down across the gangplank, done a protest, But at the time, I think no one knows what to do in a situation when the law says you have to do this."
-Mary Tanaka Abo, "Moving Forward with Looking Back," Juneau Empire 8/12/12
"I fought in the Pacific for three years during World War II. When I came to Juneau and heard the stories of how Juneau people responded to the taking of their Japanese friends and neighbors after Pearl Harbor, I thought to myself, this town's got it right. This is the kind of place I want to live."
-Bill Overstreet, former City and Borough of Juneau mayor, Superintendent of Juneau schools and Alaska's Director of International Trade with Japan.
"It is rare that we get the opportunity to illustrate a positive relationship between two cultures within a community during a trying time."
-Andy Pekovich, Empty Chair Committee Member
Dear Members and Organizers of the Empty Chair
Project,
My Uncle Bill, William Tanaka, passed away on September 22, 2013. He was the younger brother of my father, John Tanaka. Born and raised in Juneau, the whole Tanaka family had fond memories of the people and the place that we, as the younger generation, have heard about throughout the years. Thank you.
-Catherine Tanaka Bianchetto ( A donation was made in William Tanaka's name by Catherine's family...Tyler, Alicia, Bob, and Catherine Tanaka Bianchetto)
The Empty Chair Project 