Prior to my visit to the historic site I had read the book Farewell to Manzanar and had learned a bit about Japanese internment in school. My understanding at that point was that following the Pearl Harbor attack and Japan’s declaration of war, Americans and American leadership had genuine cause for concern that there existed within the Japanese American population a threat to national security. During a period of time in which racial and cultural tolerance was considerably lower than today, the U.S. acted out in fear and resentment towards the Japanese. A plack placed just outside the Mansanar visiting center reads, “…the site was used as a relocation center, unjustly confining ten thousand persons of Japanese ancestry, many of whom were American Citizens…” Reflecting back on what happened, the Japanese internment is often referred to as unjust, and a shameful part of American history. Before I visited the site in person I still believed that given the atmosphere of the 1940’s, the racial tensions, and the world being at war, the decision to relocate and confine the Japanese Americans was not shocking or unbelievable. I don’t imagine that scapegoating and condemning an ethnic group whose outward appearance and culture is so different than the traditional Anglo-Saxon American and whose country of origin had declared war on the U.S. was a very hard sell. Despite my confidence in this rationalization of why or how the Japanese internment took place, it was this conclusion that I had come to prior to my visit, that was most challenged. Two things that I learned from my visit that struck me the most were: how truly American many of the Japanese in the camps were, and how they coped with having their rights so violated. These Japanese Americans included WWI veterans, American businessmen, their kids went to American schools, loved basketball, and many of their families had existed in the U.S. for generations. I read that one Japanese American WWI veteran had even been denied when he tried to enlist to fight for the U.S. in WWII. Frustrated, Joseph Kurihara would later denounce his U.S. citizenship and move to Japan after the war. As bleak as their situation was, it was encouraging to learn that Manzanar hosted their own league for basketball games. The camp even had their own team that would sometimes compete with players from the surrounding school districts. These were Americans that lost their homes, businesses, jobs, and were exiled from society. When the camps closed down, they were only provided enough money to purchase a one way bus ticket out of there. Seventy years later, the people have since moved on, and the U.S. government has formally acknowledged, apologized, and compensated those affected. The monument remains as a reminder to not repeat the same mistakes.
Reflection:
Although I thought that I knew enough about Japanese internment before my visit, I am glad that I went anyways. There were plenty of exhibits, stories, and physical pieces of history that could only be appreciated in person. Seeing the left over basketball scorebooks, kendo sparring equipment, newspaper clippings, and all the stories of the people that were there made it personal and meaningful. It is hard to empathize with the situation that the Japanese Americans were put through without actually being there and observing the remains of site first hand. There is only so much you can gather from reading an article, or from a textbook. The first thing that you notice about the location is the huge snow capped mountain range that spans from one end of the horizon to the other. It is also extremely windy, desolate, and literally in the middle of nowhere. You try to imagine what it must have been like to abruptly end everything that you have going on in your life, get relocated to a place like Manzanar and start over with almost nothing. I myself in their shoes and asked myself a lot of hypothetical questions like: If I had been a business owner, what would I have done? Would I be lucky enough to have a trustworthy friend to take over in my absence? Would I have to sell quickly and undercut the value of it like many really had to do? At that point no one could have known how long the war and their internment would last. How long did they worry about aspects on their past lives that were put on hold indefinitely? I learned that many of the residents of the internment camps were very young. For them, life in the internment camps was something they were young enough to get used to. As a college student who is anxious to earn a degree and find a job in my desired profession, the idea that my efforts and dreams to make that a reality could suddenly be stripped away is terrifying. It must have been incredibly disappointing and confusing for those that were in a similar position or had already been living out their aspirations.