In 2025, Mission Viejo Library embarked on a grant-funded project inviting the community to consider how ordinary individuals can counteract injustice. This project comprised of an exhibit, an author event, and a letter-writing campaign that culminated in a piece of community art now located at the Mission Viejo Library.
Over 80 years ago, the United States government evacuated and relocated more than 100,000 Japanese Americans on the West Coast after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Nearly 70,000 of the evacuees were American citizens. All lost personal liberties; most lost homes and property as well.
While anti-Japanese sentiment swept California, San Diego children's librarian Clara Breed took action in the face of injustice. An ordinary citizen, she did what she could, providing paper, envelopes, and stamps to her young Japanese American library patrons and urging them to write after they were forces from their homes.
The letters they sent paint a vivid picture of life in the internment camps and remind us of the power of kindness and compassion. A key theme that emerges in these letters is gratitude. Miss Breed provided a lifeline to her library patrons whose lives had been upended in a breech of civil liberties. Inspired by these letters, Mission Viejo community members participated in a gratitude letter-writing project. Local artist Fernando Del Rosario took these letters and crafted a collage that mimics falling paper. This artwork symbolizes connection and remembrance, with overlapping letters representing the idea that not every act of gratitude is visible.
The project was funded by the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program, administered by the California State Library.