George Omi
George Omi was born and raised in San Francisco and grew up within a Japanese American community. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, Omi, then 10 years old, feared what might happen to him as a Japanese American. As the FBI surveilled the community Omi’s parents destroyed their Japanese items. The FBI searched the family’s dry-cleaning shop and questioned Omi’s father repeatedly. After the search, Omi’s family moved to Stockton to avoid the eviction and incarceration of Japanese Americans. However, the family was soon evicted and forcibly moved to Stockton Temporary WCCA “Assembly Center” and later Rohwer WRA Concentration Camp. Soon before the war’s end, Omi’s family left Rohwer to resettle in Denver, Colorado, where his parents were able to find a job in the cleaning business. After spending a year in Denver, the Omi family returned to California, where they opened up another dry cleaning shop.
