It’s hard to put into words the thoughts and feelings that I experienced when I visited the historical site of the Manzanar Relocation Center. Manzanar is one of 10 relocation centers (or internment camp) where the United States forcibly imprisoned Japanese and Japanese-American citizens after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
It’s a place of injustice, a place of betrayal, a place of hardship and human suffering. And like any such place, out of it come stories of courage and perseverance, of kindness and forgiveness and hope. Since I’m not Japanese, and I have no personal involvement with the historical events the place was established as a National Park to preserve, I will just share the pictures and the links below and allow them to speak for themselves.
The one thing I can do is join my voice with that of others saying: Never Again to Anyone, Anywhere. The recent issues with Muslim Americans being profiled, watched, or detained because of their religion (and its association with terrorism, especially after the 9/11/2001 attack) makes this a very relevant issue for us today. Personally, I would not trade “safety” for the violation of innocent citizens’ rights (if such a trade could even be assured). I encourage every American who has the chance to visit this place and to take to heart the lessons of history, that they might not be repeated again.
A Photo Scrapbook
There was so much to see, and the exhibits do a very good job of sharing the story. These photos are a small sampling of the 150 or so that I took on my visit.
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- So empty, but those signs indicate where buildings used to stand.
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- What Manzanar was about.
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- Sadly, using fake news to shape public opinion isn’t new.
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- The flags of the ten relocation centers.
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- This gave a hint of the scope of the place, which was difficult to grasp because nearly all the buildings are gone.
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- More building markers.
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- This gives visitors an idea of what it was like to live here.
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- The exhibits and displays are very well done, and offer a lot of details and quotes from actual internees.
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- Pretty cold and desolate this time of year.
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- The mess hall.
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- The cemetery.
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- There is nothing that can make up for the violation of their rights, the missing years and the harm to families, but an official apology and a gesture of reparations is still an honorable thing. Glad this was done.
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- Thankful for those who did the work to ensure this part of our history was not lost, so that we could remember our mistakes — and hopefully learn from them.
Annual Event at Manzanar
The next annual pilgrimage to Manzanar is coming up April 29th, 2017. The theme this year is Never Again To Anyone, Anywhere! 75th Commemoration of Executive Order 9066. Get details on the Manzanar Committee blog.
Related Links
- Manzanar – National Park Service page
- Manzanar on Wikipedia
- Sue Kunitomi Embrey on Wikipedia – lead activist for preserving Manzanar as a historical site
- Manzanar Committee blog – information about annual pilgrimage and other current events related to the topic
- 2022 – New Work of Art Commemorating Over 125,000 Japanese Names
- Ansel Adams’ Manzanar photographs and lots of Ansel Adams photos featured in this article on Mashable
- Japanese American National Museum
- Allegiance – the Broadway musical inspired by the experiences of Japanese Americans interned in the U.S. during WWII
![By Jspeed1310 (Own work) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons](https://www.teddideppner.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/emoji-smiles_angry_face.png)
1 Comment
Nicola · at
One of the most gracious ladies I grew up with lived across the road. She had spent the war in a Japanese internment camp in Canada. She taught me about forgiveness by living it.