"Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani"

Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani is an 86-year-old artist who was born in Sacramento, CA, in 1920, and raised in Hiroshima, Japan. At 18, he returned to the US to pursue a career in art and escape the growing militarism in Japan. He was living in Seattle when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. Executive Order 9066 sent Jimmy to Tule Lake in northern California. When the government required internees to take a loyalty test, Tule Lake became a segregation center where those deemed "disloyal" were congregated. Thousands there renounced their US citizenship in protest. Jimmy was one of them. After the war ended, Jimmy and hundreds of other renunciants continued to be held without charge, first in Tule Lake, then in a Department of Justice INS camp in Crystal City, TX. In 1946, Jimmy was transferred to Seabrook Farms, a frozen food manufacturing plant near Bridgeton, New Jersey. Here, he and other renunciants on "relaxed internment," worked the 12 hour night shift, 6 days a week, sorting vegetables on an assembly line. By August 1947, Jimmy was finally released. Jimmy arrived in NYC in the early 1950's to attempt to resume his art career. When an art professor found him sleeping in Columbia University’s library, Jimmy was referred to the New York Buddhist Church where he was provided room, board, and training as a cook. For years he traveled the East Coast doing seasonal work in resorts, summer camps, and country clubs. While cooking at a restaurant on Long Island, he met Jackson Pollock.

Jimmy's US citizenship was finally restored in 1959, but by then he had moved so often that the government's letter never reached him. Eventually Jimmy became a live-in cook on Park Avenue. But when his employer died in the late 1980's, Jimmy was again suddenly without a home or a job. Within a year, he was living in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, selling his artwork to survive. He met filmmaker Linda Hattendorf ("The Cats of Mirikitani" - Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award winner 2006) in Soho in 2001. Shortly after becoming her documentary subject, she helped him apply for Social Security, SSI, and housing benefits, and in 2002 he moved into an assisted-living retirement center run by Village Care of New York.

- excerpted from www.thecatsofmirikitani.com


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Introduction
Jimmy and his art, 1940s Jimmy at the Exhibit Opening a/p/a, Oct. 06, 2006	Artist Bio Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani is an 86-year-old artist who was born in Sacramento, CA, in 1920, and raised in Hiroshima, Japan. At 18, he returned to the US to pursue a career in art and escape the growing militarism in Japan. He was living in Seattle when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941. Executive Order 9066 sent Jimmy to Tule Lake in northern California. When the government required internees to take a loyalty test, Tule Lake became a segregation center where those deemed "disloyal" were congregated. Thousands there renounced their US citizenship in protest. Jimmy was one of them. After the war ended, Jimmy and hundreds of other renunciants continued to be held without charge, first in Tule Lake, then in a Department of Justice INS camp in Crystal City, TX. In 1946, Jimmy was transferred to Seabrook Farms, a frozen food manufacturing plant near Bridgeton, New Jersey. Here, he and other renunciants on "relaxed internment," worked the 12 hour night shift, 6 days a week, sorting vegetables on an assembly line. By August 1947, Jimmy was finally released. Jimmy arrived in NYC in the early 1950's to attempt to resume his art career. When an art professor found him sleeping in Columbia University’s library, Jimmy was referred to the New York Buddhist Church where he was provided room, board, and training as a cook. For years he traveled the East Coast doing seasonal work in resorts, summer camps, and country clubs. While cooking at a restaurant on Long Island, he met Jackson Pollock. Jimmy's US citizenship was finally restored in 1959, but by then he had moved so often that the government's letter never reached him. Eventually Jimmy became a live-in cook on Park Avenue. But when his employer died in the late 1980's, Jimmy was again suddenly without a home or a job. Within a year, he was living in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, selling his artwork to survive. He met filmmaker Linda Hattendorf ("The Cats of Mirikitani" - Tribeca Film Festival Audience Award winner 2006) in Soho in 2001. Shortly after becoming her documentary subject, she helped him apply for Social Security, SSI, and housing benefits, and in 2002 he moved into an assisted-living retirement center run by Village Care of New York. - excerpted from www.thecatsofmirikitani.com