Bellevue College and the King County Library System have partnered to celebrate alumnus Ross Ishikawa, a Northwest artist who illustrated the graphic novel, “We Hereby Refuse,” at an event on July 31 on campus. As part of King County Library’s 2025 One Bellevue One Book: Intergenerational Book Club, Ishikawa will discuss his creative process for the graphic novel, which is based on acts of resistance to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. This event is free and open to the public and you can click this link to go to the event registration page.

The graphic novel, published by the Wing Luke Museum and Chin Music Press, took nearly four years to complete and involved four creators in a process that Ishikawa found similar to his days of doing group projects at Bellevue College.

Written by Frank Abe and Tamiko Nimura, the text is drawn from the true stories of Jim Akutsu, who resisted the draft because he was classified an enemy alien; Hiroshi Kashiwagi, who refused to fill out the “loyalty questionnaire” required by the US government and renounced his citizenship; and Mitsuye Endo, whose Supreme Court case helped end the incarceration of thousands in 1944. Artist Matt Sasaki illustrated the Kashiwagi story while Ishikawa illustrated the stories of Akutsu and Endo.

Listen to Ishikawa discuss the graphic novel at the “One Bellevue One Book: We Hereby Refuse Illustrator Ross Ishikawa” at 2 PM on Thursday, July 31 at the N Building on campus.

The Bellevue College Bookstore will be selling copies of “We Hereby Refuse,” and Ishikawa will be doing a book signing.