Story Holders: Speaking the Multi-Generational Silence of Japanese American Incarceration by West Mulholland

Producer West Mulholland explores generational silence within the Japanese American community. A holder of heritage and a carrier of stories that are not his own, Mulholland searches for what it means to narrate an inherited silence near the desert fences of Manzanar, an American Incarceration Camp and living National Historic Site. Produced with support from the Braden Storytelling Grant and the Stanford Storytelling Project.  Interviewees Bryan Watanabe, adult son of Manzanar survivor Tsuneo “Tom” Watanabe Sarah Bone, Manzanar veteran park ranger Natalie Tokita, UCLA undergraduate student, granddaughter of Manzanar survivors & Arnold Maeda Manzanar Pilgrimage Grant Recipient Music Sound effects: ambient noises collected at Manzanar, August 2025 Taiko drums; Kyodo Taiko (UCLA) at 2023 Manzanar Pilgrimage References National Park Service: Manzanar: National Historic Site California JANM: Japanese American National Museum Densho “Man Walking With Grandson,” Densho Digital Archives, The Dorothea Lange Collection, Public Domain, 1942. Special Thanks Bryan and Lynda Watanabe, Sarah Bone, Natalie Tokita, Manzanar National Park Service, and the Stanford Storytelling Project.