Roadside History — Manzanar
As a child, I heard a lot about America’s history during the various wars we fought or fought in. Most of it was about the American victories or things spoken about in favor of the USA.
It’s also important to note that I grew up in the shadow of the Vietnam Conflict, the Nixon Era, and the Gas Crisis. But being that I was young, I really do not recall much of any of that, except that “Uncle Walter” kept interrupting my shows with news from Vietnam.
One of the things I was really not aware of as I was working my way through school was some of the less proud moments in US history during the second world war. I mean, you heard all the good stuff we did, all the battles we won, but there was this asterisk on those that I did not learn until much later in life while my wife and I were on a trip to Reno from Bakersfield.
Japanese Internment Camps
During our trip up Highway 395, on the eastern side of the sierras, and just past Lone Pine, we found Manzanar. I had heard about it in passing when I was younger. It was one of those places that were mentioned under your breath while talking about all the great things we did during the war.
In brief, the Manzanar Camp, located in the Owens Valley of California and operated from 1942 to 1945, was one of ten American concentration camps where over 120,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly relocated and incarcerated during World War II. This happened following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
If you are interested in knowing more about the other camps, their names were:
- Tule Lake, Northern California
- Poston, Arizona
- Gila River, Arizona
- Heart Mountain, Wyoming
- Minidoka, Idaho
- Topaz, Utah
- Jerome, Arkansas
- Rohwer, Arkansas
- Amache (also known as Granada), Colorado
The Center
As you pull into the parking lot, the first thing you notice is, ironically, how beautiful the area is. When we were there, it was just after a couple of storms blew through, so the mountains were capped with snow, the air was cool and crisp, and there was this feeling of energy in the air that comes with the feeling of adventure in a road trip.
Once you enter the building, however, you begin to feel that things are not as joyful or energetic inside.
The center is laid out intuitively and all the displays are clean and informative. They have relics that were recovered from the camp and some that people who lived there, or their families, contributed to the museum. There were a couple of films you could watch that documented the life at the camp and another one that talked about how the people detained there were rounded up. I am sorry, but that is the only phrase that applies. They were not invited or asked. They were rounded up.
If you have any humanity, you will likely get emotional while walking through here and as you watch the films. But you must do it. This is a part of American history that some would like to fade away, which makes it even more critical that we show it or see it.
While in the museum, I encourage you to buy something, anything. The money goes to help keep the place running and thusly ensure there is something to share with others.
The Camp
When we were there, there was not much of the camp to see, but I have been told that they have added a couple of buildings that are replicas of the original buildings that used to be there.
As you drive through the small roads, you begin to get a feel for the way the people lived while they were here and the lives they lived. You can imagine what it must have been like to live so close to so much beauty but not be able to go out and interact with it. What it must have felt like to be a prisoner but not be a prisoner.
As you wind your way through, you will see the places where community housing once stood, where people tried to make a life out of their predicament and make it pleasant despite the situation. I remember seeing a place where someone built a pond, an area that was part of a garden, and a cemetery. That part was the most moving for me.
When you reach the cemetery, you will see a monument. A tall, white obelisk sits at the heart of the cemetery area with the “Soul Counseling Tower” inscription and “Erected by the Manzanar Japanese, August 1943.” On this tower, you will find artifacts that people have left as tokens for the memories of people that lived and died there.
According to the National Park Service, only six people are still interred on the land at this time. And while I do not believe that their bodies house anything now, being vessels that carry the soul, I believe that you being there and remembering them and why they were there benefits everyone.
So while you are there, leave a stone on the monument, and if you are spiritual, leave a prayer or a thought. The fact that you show respect and share that is more important than you might think.
Leaving the Camp
As we left the camp, we felt deflated. That was the only word I could think of to describe how we felt. Our drive north was mostly silent and we talked about what we experienced when we had dinner that night near Lake Crowley.
And to be honest, that is what it is all about. We should be happy that places like Manzanar were not bulldozed and wiped from the earth. It is important for them to remain so that, hopefully, we can revisit them and ask ourselves, “What the hell were we thinking?” And then learn from the answers we come up with. To take our children there and say, “See what happens when we don’t think things through?”
I think it is because of the existence of places like this and the memory of their legacy that people did not do the same thing to people of Middle Eastern descent or those that practiced Islam shortly after 9/11. I knew several people that suggested this as an option. Can you imagine if they had done this again?
Closing Thoughts
Visit this place, walk around the camp, look at the things left behind. Little pieces of people’s lives that have become a monument to something we did to people because we fit them all into a category. Make sure your children or grandchildren understand what happened. Then on your way out, buy something to help support the center.
