Americans, Nisei veterans with flag ceremony
/Sacramento News and Review, May 22, 2025
By Justine Chahal
The California Museum hosted a 48-Star Flag Gifting Ceremony on May 17 as a part of its “Uprooted: An American Story” exhibit.
Created in 2021, the 48-Star Project involves multiple American flags with 48 stars traveling across the country to be signed by camp survivors and those born in the U.S. who participated in military efforts, also known as Nisei veterans. Gogo created the project after he began to learn more about the incarceration of Japanese Americans and about civil rights activist Fred Korematsu, who resisted internment arguing in his Supreme Court case that the incarceration of Japanese Americans was unconstitutional.
Photo: Mits Yamamoto, 99, of Fresno, who was sent to a Japanese internment camp at the age of 16 in Jerome, Arkansas, shakes hands with Judge Johnny Gogo, Creator of the 48-Star Flag Project, on May 17. (Photo by Andri Tambunan)
This story is part of the Solving Sacramento journalism collaborative. Our partners include California Groundbreakers, Capital Public Radio, Hmong Daily News, Outword, Russian America Media, Sacramento Business Journal, Sacramento News & Review and Sacramento Observer.