Thursday, October 29, 2015

How Could We? How Did They?



Advanced, powerful, educated, progressive - America is all these things and more in 1942. So how could we do this to our own citizens? How could we ignore the Constitution, having spent the last nearly two hundred years holding it up to other countries as how they should govern? How could we?

Fear, bigotry, political pressure, lack of experience - the exhibits at the Manzanar Historical Site do an excellent job of presenting facts and information about this shameful piece of our history, without making excuses, without placing blame, without hiding responsibility. 

Homes, businesses, and their contents, sold for pennies on the dollar, or abandoned 
Japanese-American citizens, many born here, were rounded up by FBI agents and soldiers with rifles and "relocated" to one of ten centers. With only what they could carry, their lives were changed forever.

Moved from their beloved homes in the "exclusion" area to their new homes - relocation centers
While not the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, this was not summer camp either. Guns in eight towers were pointed in, not out. Fences of barbed wire, not white pickets, surrounded the center. Families were kept together, but in tight single-room-barracks (some relocation centers used painted horse stalls), not in homes with privacy and insulation.

Within the barracks blowing sand covered everything year round, temps reached over 100 degrees inside during the summer and near freezing in the winter
One major "uprising" in December 1942 was the result of a dispute between two factions of internees. Over 3000 marched on the administration center to protest the jailing of one of their leaders. Tear gas was fired into the crowd and ultimately gun shots killed one 17 year-old man and an older man died later in the hospital. This was not an attempt to escape.

In fact, there is no record of any attempted escape from Manzanar. 

Instead, they made the best of a really bad situation, and that is what I found most compelling about Manzanar. How did they survive the loss of their freedom, the betrayal of their country, the theft of their way of life? How did they?

Photos and recordings tell a story of sadness and regret, but also of creativity and having fun, of being productive, and even of being patriotic. 

Working in stores, serving on the police force, producing a newspaper, providing medical care, going to school, cultivating crops, building furniture - they made a life
Internees were "recruited" from relocation centers, and "allowed" to serve "their" country in segregated units that took heavy casualties.  They could die for their fellow citizens, they just couldn't live next door
Three high school classes graduated here, in cap-and-gown. Weddings, babies, competitive sports, theatre, music, art - all happened here. In spite of the ugliness of their circumstances, beauty happened here.

Manzanar is a desert - hot, cold, windy, barren. In the 20 minute film is a brief glimpse at the gardens that were built and planted and maintained and loved here. Of all I saw, this touched me the most. To make something so enchanting in such a harsh place, sings of the spirit of these people.



Peaceful gardens built in a time of war
Ponds unearthed from years of mud and blowing sand show the loving detail
Boulders selected for size, color and shape transformed this area into a beautiful and tranquil oasis
Rock as art in the small kitchen garden pond
We visited Manzanar with Dave and Sue, and John and Pam, adding intelligent conversation to the experience.  It is a sobering place, and I will visit again.

Surviving harshness by finding beauty - I think that's how.....




19 comments:

  1. Thanks. Not sure I could have written about that; well done.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Roxi. The site challenges us to see what we're capable of - on both sides of the fence

      Delete
  2. We definitely have our list of shameful actions as a country. I hope in time we will own up to all of them and at a minimum apologize and say we were wrong. This looks like a very powerful place to visit. It has always been on my California list. Excellent pictures and text on this difficult place and time. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. History is one of those things that should improve us as a species, but rarely does :-( Thanks Sherry.

      Delete
  3. That definitely was awful. It was certainly a stupid thing to do. How terrible for the families.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Another embarrassment for America.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Humbling for sure - fortunately there is evidence that most non Japanese Americans were against it even then

      Delete
  5. I believe our history books gloss over the worst of "Our Crimes", which is why many of Us Americans tend to have an over inflated sense of our country! Which is also why many other nations find us to be bullies and other 'names' that are hard to chew on. Thanks for such an insightful post Jodee!....Hey, there is so much more to explore about the US history ( the truth, we are seldom taught about to any degree).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Maura. One of the things I love about traveling at a slow pace is having the opportunity to learn history at the local level - often times a very different history from what we've been taught. Being on the Reservations in Washington this summer was eye opening as well :-(

      Delete
  6. This was a very eye opening experience. While I knew of these camps, it makes such a different impression to see it and read about with actual photos. So glad to see that they are preserving this memory. The beauty these people created within the barbed wire was amazing,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was fun to see it with you guys, to have that added interaction around such a serious and educational site. Having seen it now, I wish it was bigger part of current curriculums!

      Delete
  7. Beautiful tribute to an ugly time and place. The internees were amazing people to make the best of their horrendous situation and to thrive.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you Lisa. They had such incredible spirit.

      Delete
  8. How interesting it must have been to have the six of you visit Manzanar together, and to have the opportunity to share your impressions and thoughts. We would have loved to have been there with you. I'm struck by the amazing resilience of the people interned, and by their attempts to go on living "normal" lives within the context of such a devastating situation. Such a tribute to the human spirit.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It really was great to share it, to see it and absorb it together. You and Eric would have been a great addition to the experience. In many ways, the worst part was when they were "released" with nearly nothing.

      Delete
  9. I'd like to stop there some time. My friends father was interred there and he had very bad memories of it. He would not speak of it. Terrible time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bill's best friend from college's parents were there too. I can't even imagine the loss of freedom, the undeserved shame they must have felt.

      Delete
  10. Never heard of this particular camp before, and now two blog posts in one night! Learned a lot, thanks.

    ReplyDelete