On the Road is a weekday feature spotlighting reader photo submissions.
From the exotic to the familiar, whether you’re traveling or in your own backyard, we would love to see the world through your eyes.
Happy Monday! Looks like a great week ahead!
Albatrossity
In late August I took a long road trip (nearly 3000 miles) from my home in eastern Flyover Country to see some birds in the mountain ranges/sky islands of southeastern Arizona. I had some recent health news that was not good, and it seemed like a fine time to hit the road. I enjoyed the trip, I enjoyed the destination, and you all will see some bird photos from that photo walkabout in the next few Mondays.
But I beg your indulgence today, as this post is not about birds. As the election season looms, and we face a stark choice between a government that can work for all of us and a government that wants to deport some people and immiserate many others, I chose to make this Monday morning post about history and what it can teach us. The lesson I took was that we cannot, must not, go backward.
On other trips west, I’ve stopped to see the site of the Amache Camp in eastern Colorado (aka Grenada War Relocation Center), one of the 10 sites where Japanese-Americans were interned during the years 1942-1945. I spent more time there on this trip; if you have not visited one of these historic sites, I’d recommend it. Bill had a lovely post about a more famous camp, Manzanar, a while back, and there are a couple more easterly ones in southeastern Arkansas. Amache is not as scenic or mountainous as Manzanar, it is barely west of the KS/CO border, a mile south of US-50 in a flat and hot part of Colorado. It’s not exactly a touristy part of that state, but if you ever find yourself in the area, take an hour or so to visit it. But since most of you will never get there, here are some photos from my most recent visit. Most of them are unreadable on this page, but much larger versions are available by clicking through the links provided.
This is a map of the camp. Even though the War Relocation Authority preferred not to use that word, it was basically a camp modeled after military POW camps of the era. During the time it was in operation, it held approximately 7300 citizens, and had 560 buildings which were mostly demolished after the war. Generally just the foundations remain today. Most of them were flimsy barracks buildings, poorly insulated and with no cooking or toilet facilities. The entire camp was surrounded by barbed wire, with guard towers, searchlights, and armed sentries. Click here for larger image.
The signage is worn and sun-degraded; this is basically a high semi-desert area that is blisteringly hot in the summer and wretchedly cold and windy in the winter. Click here for larger image.
More signage. I appreciate the quote from Milton Eisenhower, who was the first head of the War Relocation Authority (he lasted about three months in this job) and later was the president of Kansas State University, where I taught for many years (although not in the Eisenhower years). Camps such as this are “…illustrative of how an entire society can somehow plunge off course”. That sounds familiar. Click here for larger image.
The camps had a meager food allowance of $0.50 per day per internee (guards and officers were fed much better, of course), so the individual gardens and the communal farm provided a welcome addition to that starvation diet. Much of the food raised here also was used to supplement the rations at the nine other internment camps. Click here for larger image.
One of the most heartbreakingly ironic aspects of the tour was an honor roll of the people from this camp who served in the military in an all-Japanese unit, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Note the Japanese surnames combined with all-American first names like Emory, or Ken, or Fred, or Buddy. Deployed to Italy and Germany, this is the most highly decorated unit in the US military. Their motto was “Go for broke!”, and they often did. This is one of four sides of that honor roll monument. Remember that they served at a time when their relatives were incarcerated in their own country, and they were in a military organization commanded by folks like Admiral Halsey who made the cover of Time with a slogan so offensive that I won’t type it out here. Click here for larger image.
The small part of the cemetery honoring the military veterans who were killed during the war has a couple of cherry trees and some concrete Japanese garden sculptures. A small green oasis in an otherwise harsh landscape. Click here for larger image.
A reconstructed guard tower, octagonal in shape and with a searchlight mounted atop it. There were eight of these on the perimeter of the camp. This shot also gives you some idea of the surrounding landscape. Click here for larger image.
The War Relocation Authority did not include K-12 education in their plans; schools were basically an afterthought. This speech from the valedictorian of the 1943 Amache High School class resonates today. Click here for larger image.
More signage. Some of those elms, windblown and broken, are indeed still standing. Click here for larger image.
For some reason I found it comforting that the most common bird I saw that day was also an immigrant, as well as a symbol of peace. Eurasian Collared-Dove (Strepopilia decaocto), on the roof of a small Japanese-style shed near the cemetery. Click here for larger image.
Wanderer
Thank you Albatrossity for this post. It reminds us that it is all too easy for fear to make people become small, frightened and mean. I hope your health improves. I look forward to your next Monday post.
JPL
An amazing post to remind us what is at stake in this election. I fear that those of darker skin than I will not be able to leave home without proper identification. How sad and why is the madman allowed to run again.
Please take care of yourself.
Rusty
Thank you for the reminder of how wrong we can go as a nation and the consequences for those that are the victims of our communal bigotry. Also please accept my prayers for your health news. You are a generous, thoughtful and beloved contributor to this funny community in a little corner of the web, may peace be with you.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Thank you so much for this.
My undergrad thesis and MA thesis advisor in the geography department at CU-Boulder always referred to the eastern plains as the “godforsakeneasternplainsofcolorado”. One word.
It’s easy to see why we dumped citizens out there. I’ve learned over the decades that the area has a beauty of it’s own.
Still couldn’t live out there tho.
MazeDancer
Well done to take us into the past. But hoping that your future health is an improving picture.
HinTN
That essay from the valedictorian is both heartbreaking and uplifting.
More beautiful words to describe the American dream, vision, way I cannot conjure myself.
As @Wanderer: said, Thank you!
BellyCat
Much appreciated post.
Nelle
I’ve driven that highway and knew nothing of this place. It reminds me that places hold all sorts of history, both tragedy and joy, and we’re often unaware of the resonance of the past, just humming below our awareness. When in eastern Colorado, I’m very aware of the Sand Creek Massacre, though. To me, it haunts the air.
Princess
Echoing the thanks of others.
H.E.Wolf
Thank you for the reminder of this sad and shameful chapter in our history, and for the chance to put ourselves in our neighbors’ shoes.
I’m very sorry to hear that you had some unwelcome health news. You’ll be in my thoughts.
lowtechcyclist
Oops, wrong thread. Too many tabs open!
SteveinPHX
Thank you for the education. I had it in my mind that these camps were all near the west coast. I grew up on the east coast and I think my secondary education neglected the broader parts of WW II history and there is so much I have learned about the West since relocating here 2000.
Cheryl from Maryland
A very important and moving post, thank you for visiting and for sharing. May we never forget and always strive to be better. For those who may never be able to see the Internment Camps, I recommend the work of the New Mexico-based photographer, Joan Myers, and her book “Whispered Silences.” I had the honor when I was at the Smithsonian to work with Ms. Myers and my colleague, Jennifer Bine, to form an exhibition of her photographs that toured the US in the late 1990s.
Also, Albatrossity, I enjoy your posts so much, your photographs and commentary are so insightful. It was sad to hear that you are having health issues, and I hope you find a good resolution.
tandem
I wish you a rapid and complete return to good health. For those of us who are not likely to get to this camp or any of the others, I’d like to recommend Julie Otsuka’s historical novel, “When the Emperor Was Divine.” https://bookshop.org/p/books/when-the-emperor-was-divine-julie-otsuka/286140?ean=9780385721813 It’s a beautiful but heartbreaking story of one family’s experience in a camp and its aftermath. The novel brought things home to me in a way that straight up law and history books did not.
Xavier
The “Chinese Elms” mentioned in the sign were undoubtedly Siberian Elms (ulmus pulmila, not ulmus sinensis). These preternaturally hardy elms were introduced all over the West in the 1930s. In Albuquerque many thousands of saplings were distributed by Mayor Clyde Tingley. The prolific seeds produced in the spring were referred to as “Tingley dandruff”.
Albatrossity
Thanks, all. It is a very sobering place to visit, but we can’t hide from it, and if the future is going to be better, we mustn’t hide from it. And thanks for the recommendations for those books! I will definitely check them out.
Re my health news, as they say, it could be better, it could be worse. It turns out that I have a genetic disease that affects both lungs and liver, alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. ‘Tis a complicated story, but I have a defective allele for alpha-1 antitrypsin from both parents, and the outcome is basically genetic emphysema. At least I didn’t spend a lot of money on cigarettes!
I’m still getting input from specialists, and it is manageable, but decidedly progressive. More here, if you are interested. I’ll keep you all posted if there are new developments, and thanks again for the kind thoughts and comments!
Albatrossity
@Xavier: Yes, they are indeed Siberian Elms, and several of them, as well as their offspring, are still scattered around the site. Most are dead; that is a harsh environment even for that hardy species.
EmbraceYourInnerCrone
This part of U.S. history needs to be taught starting in at least middle school. I am so sick of the painful past being erased
Madeleine
Thank you for these pictures. Though I knew about the camps in the northwest, I did not know about living conditions, both how little the gov’t provided or how much the internees managed to do to make their lives more bearable.
I’m concerned to hear about your health condition. I hope there are medications available to you that can delay its progress.
bluefoot
I am thinking good thoughts for you and your health!
Thanks so much for this post. It is constantly heartbreaking, how Japanese-Americans were treated. It was the memory of this that was a big part of why my mother kept her green card for decades rather than becoming American – in case she needed someplace to flee to, and to take her children. It wasn’t until the 70s that she became a citizen. My siblings and I all have Christian first names and an Asian last name, so that honor roll hits hard.
Considering TCFG’s record with kids in cages, I expect he and/or Stephen Miller already has plans for a reprise of Executive Order 9066 but without the pretext of war.
scribbler
So very sorry to hear about your health issues. Wishing you all good luck and positive outcomes going forward.
I have enjoyed your beautiful photos and evocative descriptions for a long time now, and hope you can continue to provide them for a long time to come.
hoosierspud
There was an internment camp between Missoula, MT and Lewiston, ID. After it was closed, the forest grew over it, and no one is quite sure of its location. There have been a few researchers trying to find it, and they have located a few articles that may have come from there.
way2blue
Albatrossity—Thank you for sharing these photos & commentary about a shameful episode in our history. A reminder that the seeds of this behavior are always, always waiting to sprout. I have a friend whose parents were interned. And a friend whose father took the opportunity to help himself to farmland in the Central Valley belonging to interned Japanese Americans. Bookends.
way2blue
Oh. And I’d like to think CRISPR will get to tackling your defective allele. Hope so…
Albatrossity
@way2blue: CRISPR can probably help folks in the future. But in my case the damage is done, and can’t be reversed. It’s a holding action, as they say in the military biz!
mvr
Thanks for this important message.
But also best wishes on the health front. Wish there was a way to help but it sounds like you are getting the right people to work on it.
Liminal Owl
Albatrossity, I am sorry to hear of your health issues and hope that you find successful treatment. Perhaps something yet-to-be-developed will have results beyond what we now think possible.
Thank you for the photos, and for the history lessons. I have been gleaning info about the shameful internment bit by bit from various sources over the years. In addition to history books per se, for those who are interested in such I recommend George Takei’s graphic-novel (well, nonfiction, but “comic” would be a misnomer) They Called Us Enemy, and the musical play Allegiance, both based on his family’s experiences.
And, from the Canadian singer-songwriter James Keelaghan, Kiri’s Piano—somewhat problematic, maybe, but still meaningful.
Tehanu
Thanks for this, and I hope your health management is successful. I grew up in central California and had Japanese-American friends in school, but I never knew anything about the camps until years later. Breaks my heart to know this happened and could happen again.
Jacel
For a 8th-grade social studies class book report I picked “America’s Concentration Camps” by Allan Bosworth soon after it was published in the late 1960s. That book was eye-opening. I realized what the families of some of my Japanese classmates in San Francisco had been through, but rarely spoke of A trumpeter/drummer in a concert band I conduct had been in one of the camps. A PBS station’s documentary told the story of a reunion of the members of a dance band formed at the camp, which he had played in.