We decided to take a little detour on our drive from Death Valley to Joshua Tree to visit Manzanar. This was one of the ten camps where Japanese American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were incarcerated during WWII — starting in 1942, following Roosevelt’s signing of Executive Order 9066 (authorizing the creation of military areas to house Japanese people who were living in areas seen as a threat to the war effort) and not ending until 1945. We had previously been to one of the other camps (Minidoka), but we wanted to remind ourselves of what we, as a country, have been (and are) capable of out of fear. As with our previous visit, it was a cold dose of reality. It is easy to look at camps like Minidoka and then think about the camps along the Southern border today. In both cases, fear was amplified by the government and drastic overreaction was undertaken. I think everyone would benefit from visiting places like this. It’s not a dramatization; it’s real life. And it is both horrifying and depressing to see how much innocent people lost and how they were treated. It’s somewhat ironic to me that the town adjacent to the camp is Independence. I should note though, that unlike Minidoka, the buildings here are recreations. At the end of the war, the government sold off all the buildings for scrap lumber and sold the land for cents on the dollar.
I am a traveler and sometimes clay sculptor, following a long career working in consulting. My work allowed me to travel the world extensively and I was hooked. Today, I travel with my wife/best friend to explore new places, meet new people, and learn new things.
