We drove ten thousand miles to see ten sites where more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were interned in forsaken areas in the United States more than seventy years ago during World War II.
- When? During summer when our traveling companions were heat, dust, and wind - conditions under which the internees suffered for more than three years of confinement.
- Why? To see how, seventy years later, this violation of constitutional civil rights has been acknowledged and memorialized. As former US Senator Daniel Inouye said, "I hope that the mistakes made and suffering imposed upon Japanese Americans nearly 70 years ago will not be repeated against Arab-Americans whose loyalties are now being questioned."
- What? We saw monuments erected by former internees honoring soldiers of Japanese Ancestry who fought their country even though their families were incarcerated.
- Where? Desolate, "out of sight" areas like swamp land in Arkansas, high deserts in Wyoming, California, lava lands in Idaho, wasteland in Utah, Indian reservations in Arizona.
Jerome, Arkansas
Rohwer, Arkansas
Amache, Oklahoma
Heart Mountain, Wyoming
Minidoka, Idaho
Topaz, Utah
Tule Lake, California
Manzanar, California
Poston, Arizona
Gila River, Arizona
No comments:
Post a Comment