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Visiting the WWII Japanese American Internment Camps
When I first drove to Manzanar in the winter, I was struck immediately by the sheer immensity of the place. The Owens Valley is a vast remote configuration; the plane of the valley floor seems to go on forever. On the western edge there… Continue Reading “The Immensity of Place”
It might have been a place of fond memories of songs and skits were it a summer camp dining hall. It might have been a place of stability were it a military Mess Hall. The first would have been part of a voluntary experience.… Continue Reading “No Meals at Home”
As if the lack of privacy in the barracks was not enough, the bathroom and shower facilities were housed in military-style latrine buildings. The one shown here is a reconstruction of a Women’s Latrine (there was one for women and one for men in… Continue Reading “The Women’s Latrine”
Have you ever lived in military barracks? The worst military barracks of our era (constructed shortly after World War II and used at least through the Vietnam War) were far better than the barracks at Manzanar. For one thing, the military barracks were solidly… Continue Reading “LIVING IN BARRACKS”
Manzanar and the nine other WRA Camps were called all manner of things. FDR first referred to them as “Concentration camps,” when his administration was considering the detainment of over 110,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry. As they rolled out the detainment, the administration shifted… Continue Reading “It was a prison camp…”
Driving through the Owens Valley, past Bishop and another hour down to Manzanar, I can’t help wondering what was going through the minds of the coastal urban dwellers who were brought out into the middle of this vast, stark area. The War Relocation Authority,… Continue Reading “The First Sign”
Rather, Who Was Sent to Manzanar? It was not a voluntary act. There were wholesale violations of civil liberties in moving thousands of Americans of Japanese ancestry to the WRA Camps. Some people did theoretically “Volunteer” to go to the camps in the early… Continue Reading “Who Went to Manzanar?”
I’m always mindful of the uncertainty created by the U.S. government decision to imprison 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry. The image below captures just some of the initial uncertainty as Americans waited for buses that would transport them to some unknown place. “We… Continue Reading “INTO the UNCERTAINTY…”
JOURNEY of CONSCIENCE 