Search

The memorial at the San Bruno BART Station plaza based on a Dorothea Lange photograph of Mochida sisters departing for incarceration at Tanforan.

"It’s incredibly important to keep this history alive because, even though it happened 80 years ago, with Executive Order 9066, it’s still a history not everyone knows. It hasn’t been covered extensively in the history books. This exhibition is a place for remembrance and acknowledgement, education, and healing.”

 – Na Omi Judy Shintani, Curator, “Tanforan Incarceration 1942; Resilience Behind Barbed Wire”

In 1942, following the issuance of Executive Order 9066, the U.S. government incarcerated over 120,000  people of Japanese heritage, 8,000 of whom started their imprisonment at the Tanforan detention center on the site of a repurposed racetrack in San Bruno. The hastily whitewashed stalls, the barracks, and the grandstand served as the incarcerees’ living quarters. Even with a fresh coat of paint, a pervasive stench of horses and manure remained, and barbed wire fences and armed guard towers ringed the perimeter.

Today, the Tanforan shopping center and adjacent BART station occupy the site of the former detention center. The tragedies that occurred there have not been forgotten.

In August, a new memorial and exhibition were unveiled at Tanforan to commemorate the tragedy that occurred there and the fierce resilience of the prisoners, 64% of whom were U.S. citizens.

Outside the San Bruno BART Station is a powerful memorial created by the Tanforan Assembly Center Memorial Committee. The centerpiece of the memorial is Sandra Shaw’s bronze statue of two little girls, suitcases in tow. There is also a replica horse stall one can walk through and a memorial wall with the names of the 8,000 incarcerees. The monument is punctuated by poetry by incarcerees.

Inside the BART station, a new exhibition, “Tanforan Incarceration 1942: Resilience Behind Barbed Wire,” covers the walls to the right of the Station Agent booth. The exhibition was organized by the BART Art Program and curated by artist Na Omi Judy Shintani. Carole Jeung designed the panels. “Resilience Behind Barbed Wire” replaces a previous installation of photographs created by Dorothea Lange and Paul Kitagaki Jr. (Some of Lange’s and Kitagaki’s images remain in the current exhibition.)

Shintani connected with BART through the Asian American Women Artists Association. In addition to being a skilled curator, Shintani is also an artist who has created many works about Japanese incarceration. Japanese American incarceration is highly personal for Shintani, as well; her mother’s father and father’s family were incarcerated at Japanese concentration camps, she said.

Shintani wanted the sixteen panels of the exhibition to educate, as well as illuminate, the creativity and resilience of the people incarcerated at Tanforan.

“I feel people get a full picture of what happened, how the people were feeling that were there,” she said by phone recently. “…You can say 8,000 people were incarcerated, but who were they as individuals? That’s what I wanted to bring to light, some of the personal stories that people can relate to even if they’re not Japanese Americans.”

Photos by Dorothea Lange and Paul Kitagaki Jr. in the exhibition.

In her curation, Shintani not only included art made by people incarcerated at Tanforan, but also contemporary pieces from incarceree descendant artists whose work connects to this history – the next generation.

Shintani thinks the exhibition can be “very healing” for generations of families of Japanese descendants who were unjustly imprisoned. “It’s a very moving exhibition,” she said. “I think it’ll bring up lots of emotions for people.”

A BART station may not be the first place you expect to find such a profound exhibition, but that is, in some ways, the point.

“Horse tracks go away, but this was a place where people were forced into a situation none of their making,” said Art Program Manager Jennifer Easton. “You can’t erase that, nor should you.”

BART recognizes the power of what some scholars and activists call “trauma-informed placemaking,” which stresses the importance of spaces and interventions for collective grieving. While acknowledging that BART “had no culpability” in the incarceration, Easton said she applauds the BART Board of Directors for recognizing the importance of “allowing the land to be used for this.”

“It’s really something to be proud of,” she said.

Easton and Shintani also described the challenge – and delight – of designing such an exhibition for a BART station. Easton spoke of the “shared experience” of being a transit rider; one is literally required to interact with others when taking public transportation. There is magic in that.

“You’re creating this sense of commonality in that experience,” Easton said.

Shintani touched on the more practical aspects of installing such an exhibition in a BART station. Public access, vandalism, durability, and “bird poop” were all hurdles to overcome. She said the panels are large, colorful, and dynamic to “hopefully stop someone at some point during their trip.” Additionally, Shintani and Easton are working on a website (https://www.bart.gov/about/planning/art-program/exhibit) that delves into the history of Tanforan and its aftermath, as well as an augmented reality feature that animates and brings another layer of experience to understanding this history.

“It’s going to make it really accessible for people in the Bay Area, for people to have a place to go as a sort of family pilgrimage, and for school field trips to learn more about incarceration,” Shintani said. “It’s going to be a special place that will be here forever.”

The memorial is free and open to the public and is accessible at any time. The exhibit is accessible to anyone arriving by BART. If you are arriving to the station by another mode of transit, you may ask the Station Agent to allow you admittance to see the exhibit without purchasing a ticket. This is at the discretion of the station agent. If you are part of a group (more than 5) that wants to visit the exhibit and are not arriving by BART, please contact [email protected], at least ten business days in advance, with the date and time of your visit and approximate number of visitors so arrangements can be made.

The exhibition was funded, in part, by grants from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program, and California Humanities.

Update: Shinita Garza is now a Transportation Supervisor! 

Train Operator Shinita Garza knows that a warm demeanor can make a world of difference. “A friendly smile will keep you ten steps ahead of the game,” she said.

For this iteration of “Ten Questions,” Shinita reveals her favorite songs to sing while working, what you’ll find in her cab, and why she recently had to chase a Pomeranian. The conversation has been edited for clarity.

1. How long have you worked for BART?

       I have been working at BART now for a little over three years. 

1. What’s your role at BART?

I am a Train Operator. From what I've learned so far, people tend to perceive Train Operators as the glamourous part of BART! The reaction from people when they find out I operate the train has been wild at times. I don't necessarily view the job that way, but I won’t debate it either.

1. If you can remember, what is your earliest memory of riding the trains?

Let's see, I remember I lived in North Oakland in the early 90s. My family had actually moved from a pretty rough part of Oakland. I was so glad to be out of that neighborhood. But I still wanted the attend [the junior high school] that was nearby. All my cousins went there, and I didn't want to transfer. So, I had to catch BART from MacArthur Station to the Coliseum Station and essentially walk by the neighborhood that I was so happy to be out of. The BART ride, or the actual action of boarding a train at 13 by myself, just made it feel like a very distant memory to me and a mini adventure to school and back.

1. What’s something that might surprise us about your job?

The number of pets we have to rescue. Last week I had to rescue an escaped Pomeranian on the aerial between Bayfair and Hayward – absolute insanity!

1. Name your favorite BART station or route and why.

Anything that does not require taking the train underground. I just enjoy been aboveground in the sun or the rain. You can observe all the neighborhoods and the mountains and lakes going towards Berryessa or the sunsets and sunrises going toward Antioch. It’s all really beautiful and colorful.

1. What do you typically do to pass the time on the train?

I sing Disney theme songs or 80s sitcom themes or 80s songs in general.

1. What’s on your desk besides your computer?

I don't have a real desk – just the dashboard and a constant cup of coffee.

1. If you acquired a decommissioned legacy BART car, what would you transform it into?

I’m really into fantasy. “Lord of the Rings” is my favorite trilogy. It's the best, no debate. I would convert the train into a mini Airbnb in the mountains somewhere, and it would be the most fantastic fantasy-themed room you could rent.

1. Here’s your chance to brag. What’s something cool about BART you’d like to highlight?

The amount of power in our hands. A single train car weighs roughly 60,000 lbs. Multiply that by 10! And it’s in our hands.

1. What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned at BART? 

A friendly smile will keep you ten steps ahead of the game with any interaction. You can deescalate a situation, make someone feel safe and cared about, earn trust, even if for a moment. All this can be done with a smile. It works out most times.