Ralph Lazo

High school student from Los Angeles who voluntarily went with his Nisei friends to Manzanar in 1942. Of Mexican and Irish descent, young Ralph Lazo (1924–92) grew up among Nisei, many of whom attended Belmont High School with him. Though not subject to forced removal and incarceration, Lazo opted to join his Nisei friends at Manzanar as a show of support and as a protest against injustice. He was among the very few inmates of non-Japanese descent in any of the War Relocation Authority administered camps and perhaps the only one who was not the spouse of a Japanese American. He left Manzanar to serve in the army and went on to a career as a teacher and counselor, retaining ties to the Japanese American community through his life. He is the subject of the 2004 film, Stand Up for Justice: The Ralph Lazo Story .