From neighbors to activists: Unveiling Monterey’s history of social action
CARMEL – An 86 year old 16 mm video and a bundle of signed petitions from the 1940s might not be significant on their own, but together they tell the story of a Monterey community that came together to protect its neighbors.
“Enduring Democracy: The Monterey Petition” will be screened at the Carmel Film Festival Oct. 6. Directed by David Schendel, the 2022 film is centered around a 1938 video of Japanese American locals spending a day on Fisherman’s Wharf. Found alongside the video were petitions created and signed by the neighbors of those same Japanese Americans who were targeted and ostracized following World War II.
“This was a great opportunity to tell the story from the resistance point of view,” said Schendel. “All of the stories I’ve seen about Japanese incarceration in World War II were told from the point of view of the victim and that’s probably due to the fact nobody had any idea there was a resistance against it. This was the first documented existence of a resistance movement.”
When these documents were found in a filing cabinet in the Japanese American Citizens League Hall in Monterey, the civil liberties organization reached out to several filmmakers to get the film made.
When he met with the league, Schendel pitched the idea to “tell the story of the people who fought for their neighbors’ civil rights, cared about their neighbors and wanted to welcome them back to Monterey and have them be part of the community.”
Included in the film are testimonies from the children of those who led the petition drive, family members of internment camp prisoners and some survivors of those camps themselves.
The film highlights the efforts by a group of women led by Toni Jackson, an editor for John Steinbeck, to curb anti-Japanese propaganda on the Monterey Peninsula and its media outlets.
Jackson’s petition, A Democratic Way of Life for All, is the only documented, organized public resistance to anti-Japanese rhetoric at the time.
When Mollie Sumida, an internment camp prisoner, submitted a letter to the editor of the Monterey Herald describing the violence she had been subjected to, residents were inspired to sign Jackson’s petition. The petition drive and Sumida’s letter were all featured in the Herald, and ultimately put a stop to what Schendel describes as “fear campaigns” funded by wealthy individuals on the Peninsula.
This film will hopefully “restore humanity,” in its viewers, said Schendel. “We are constantly in a mirage of the media trying to separate us, put us into groups … What I want people to do is come together, see the film and then learn about your neighbor … Reach out to them, don’t be afraid of them and try to box them out if they’re not part of your group.”
Simply put, this film was created to build bridges. The 1938 video and petitions were discovered in 2016, a time when American society was massively divided and harmful rhetoric was shared on all sides. A few years later following the COVID-19 pandemic, Asian-American hate crimes saw a rise due to very similar hate speech used in the 1940s. Facing another divisive election year, the timing of this film is just right, according to Schendel.
“(In 2020) there was a very similar kind of feeling to what was happening in World War II when people were being called out for how they looked or their beliefs,” said Schendel. “It’s like this was sent from above. This is the right time and place for this film and these petitions to be found.”
The film will be part of the Carmel International Film Festival held at the Golden Bough Theatre on Monte Verde Street. On Oct. 5 and 6, over 25 films will be screened in various categories, ranging from best short film to best historical legacy film. “Enduring Democracy” was submitted in the “Best of the Monterey Peninsula” competition.
To bring it full circle and show the film in Monterey for the first time since its release is “kind of a homecoming,” said Schendel. “It’s gonna be very emotional.”
