The two dimensional photographs throughout the center were well done, and drew you into the stories they represented (like the maternity ward scene above and the elderly couple below).
There were also information boards, videos, interactive displays, and numerous scenes set up to represent where internees lived, ate, slept, gardened, farmed, painted, sang, prayed and so much more.
Very well done................
Barb and I spent a long time walking through the center and likely I will walk through it again once or twice more this year, just because it is such a compelling place to visit.
An important part of our shared history.
An important part of our human history.
Once we left the facility Barb and I drove a short way up a short hill and I snapped a few more pictures of the grounds.
Old barracks that are not open to the public to walk through, but which still stand in the same place that they stood in the 1940s.
There was also one major park area complete with a walking trail and monuments to those Japanese-Americans who escaped the camp and who served their nation by way of military service.
On a very damp and freezing cold day the picture taking was brief and incomplete.
I'll be back..................
Barracks Home
This is our barracks, squatting on the ground,
Tar papered shacks, partitioned into rooms
By sheetrock walls, transmitting every sound
Of neighbor's gossip or the sweep of brooms
The open door welcomes the refugees,
And now at least there is no need to roam
Afar: here space enlarges memories
Beyond the bounds of camp and this new home.
The floor is carpeted with dust, wind-borne
Dry alkalai, patterned with insect feet,
What peace can such a place as this impart?
We can but sense, bewildered and forlorn,
That time, disrupted by the war from neat
Routines, must now adjust within the heart.
Tojo Suyemoto Kawakami
Tar papered shacks, partitioned into rooms
By sheetrock walls, transmitting every sound
Of neighbor's gossip or the sweep of brooms
The open door welcomes the refugees,
And now at least there is no need to roam
Afar: here space enlarges memories
Beyond the bounds of camp and this new home.
The floor is carpeted with dust, wind-borne
Dry alkalai, patterned with insect feet,
What peace can such a place as this impart?
We can but sense, bewildered and forlorn,
That time, disrupted by the war from neat
Routines, must now adjust within the heart.
Tojo Suyemoto Kawakami
******************************
Faith
My heart is proud,
My soul is glorious and free.
You, young Nisei, are fighting for
our lives, our country, future,
and everything we stand for.
We are right behind you.
You are proving that we are loyal
in Italy and wherever you go.
You will come back victorious and free,
and we will be waiting for you
in this land of liberty.
Yukio Ota
My soul is glorious and free.
You, young Nisei, are fighting for
our lives, our country, future,
and everything we stand for.
We are right behind you.
You are proving that we are loyal
in Italy and wherever you go.
You will come back victorious and free,
and we will be waiting for you
in this land of liberty.
Yukio Ota
******************************
My Plea
Oh God, I pray that I may bear a cross
To set my people free,
That I may help to take good-will across
An understanding sea.
Oh, God, I pray that someday every race
May stand on equal plane
And prejudice will find no dwelling place
In a peace that all may gain.
Mary Matsuzawa
To set my people free,
That I may help to take good-will across
An understanding sea.
Oh, God, I pray that someday every race
May stand on equal plane
And prejudice will find no dwelling place
In a peace that all may gain.
Mary Matsuzawa
No comments:
Post a Comment