The summer of 2017 gave me a chance to drive north during our team's basketball trip to SoCal. It took several hours, a brief nap and a burrito pit stop, but I finally made it to Manzanar in the late afternoon.
The closing time I heard on the voicemail message was not quite the same as the real closing time. The park was closed. I was very blessed, though. One of the rangers was still there, and she was kind enough to mark by book with the Manzanar postmark, and I was free to cover the area alone.
It is a big place and even though I was there just 90 minutes, it felt like a full day.
One of the spots that knocked me in the gut was the basketball court. I could imagine little boys and girls, teenagers escaping the reality of this place by competing every day. Or just shooting baskets and zoning out.
The worst of all the terrible things about this place was seeing the baby's headstone. Beyond explainable.
By the time I headed back to SoCal, I was at peace. Being here, finally, feeling the cool mountain air, the scorching hot sun, the dirt and rocks that have been here for millennia, it felt timeless. How do people keep their spirits intact while being jailed for years for no crime whatsoever. They made do. They made the best of it. The bravest signed up at first chance to defend the USA. In the end, injustice can never be completely reversed, but there is also an immeasurable value to the courage of those Nisei men who stepped to the frontlines, many paying the ultimate price, so Japanese-Americans could walk with dignity and, more so, the respect of most — still, not all — of their fellow citizens.
My prayer is that we all learn from history, rather than be doomed to repeat it. No one should have been quartered in these conditions, let alone a baby. A great nation owns its most horrendous mistakes. Gradually, the wounds begin to heal. Forgiveness is vital.
Luke 6:27
Peace.
One of the spots that knocked me in the gut was the basketball court. I could imagine little boys and girls, teenagers escaping the reality of this place by competing every day. Or just shooting baskets and zoning out.
The worst of all the terrible things about this place was seeing the baby's headstone. Beyond explainable.
By the time I headed back to SoCal, I was at peace. Being here, finally, feeling the cool mountain air, the scorching hot sun, the dirt and rocks that have been here for millennia, it felt timeless. How do people keep their spirits intact while being jailed for years for no crime whatsoever. They made do. They made the best of it. The bravest signed up at first chance to defend the USA. In the end, injustice can never be completely reversed, but there is also an immeasurable value to the courage of those Nisei men who stepped to the frontlines, many paying the ultimate price, so Japanese-Americans could walk with dignity and, more so, the respect of most — still, not all — of their fellow citizens.
My prayer is that we all learn from history, rather than be doomed to repeat it. No one should have been quartered in these conditions, let alone a baby. A great nation owns its most horrendous mistakes. Gradually, the wounds begin to heal. Forgiveness is vital.
Luke 6:27
Peace.
Comments
http://imagesofoldhawaii.com/japanese-internment/ By Peter Young