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Mike Collins
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Mike Collins
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PostThu May 20, 2021 11:32 am 
WA state is recognizing the anniversary of the Japanese Internment by offering a free presentation of a play devoted to the subject. It will start at 5 PM today. https://www.washingtonhistory.org/event/day-of-remembrance/

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Ski
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PostThu May 20, 2021 12:03 pm 
Thank you, Mr. Collins. Here we go: Got a reply back from my mother already. I had my wires crossed on Mrs. Clark and Great-Grandma Potter:
my mother, in an email of 05/20/21 wrote:
I was 10. My Grandmother, Eva Potter, lived in Tacoma on South 15th and Puget Sound, in the middle of Franklin Park. The closest grocer was a little store in the front of an old house run by a Japanese American couple. They had two young children. Grandma used to send me to the “Jap” store, as she called it, for milk, bread, flour, etc.. I was a talkative kid and always carried on a conversation with Mr. and Mrs. Jap, who were kind enough to listen to the trials of a 10 year old girl. One day in December, 1941, Grandma sent me to the store. It was closed and windows boarded over. The family had just disappeared. Years later I learned that they had been interned even though they were American citizens.
my mother, in a subsequent email of 05/20/21 wrote:
Mrs. Clark was our neighbor On East 28th St. She is the one who helped us locate Pearl Harbor on her map. She also accompanied Mother on an early morning foray into McKinley Park, both wearing old men’s overcoats and carrying butcher knives. A “funny” man had been in the park accosting young girls. When Mama and Mrs. Clark came back they seemed quite giddy. The “funny” man was never heard from again.
my mother, waxing poetically in another email of 05/20/21 wrote:
There was also a funny man hanging out under the wooden stairs that ran between East M Street and Portland Avenue, just below Rogers School. This time Mama went with Mrs. Leithhead early in the morning , “for a walk”, same garb, same knives. I guess he found another locale.

"I shall wear white flannel trousers, and walk upon the beach. I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each."
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RichP
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PostThu May 20, 2021 3:20 pm 
I am just rereading No No Boy by John Okada. It deals with the post-internment period in Seattle.

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Malachai Constant
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PostThu May 20, 2021 6:47 pm 
I was raised in Kitsap County in the 50s and 60s at that time Bainbridge island was largely filled with Berry farms which were primarily operated by Japanese Americans. I was told about all this by my parents.Washington would not allow no citizens to own land in most cases and Japanese were not allowed to become naturalized. The Nehisi (second generation) were born in the US and became citizens automatically. When WWII came the Japanese were reviled in the papers particularly Hearst’s PI and by politicians. Pearl Harbor was considered an act of treachery rumors were propagated that Japanese farmers in Oahu lit fires in the cane to direct the zeros to Pearl Harbor. The Bainbridge farmers were interned first at the Puyallap Fair grounds then sent to remote areas in Idaho and Eastern California. Whites bought up all the farms at fire sale prices. When I was a kid we picked berries there. Eventually the farms became expensive houses. The history was pretty much supressed until the late 60’s. The same thing happened in Bellevue. In WWII a group of soldiers from the camps became the most decorated group in the European theater.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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oldwild
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PostFri May 21, 2021 8:26 am 
If you get a chance, check out the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial. http://bijaema.org/

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Brian R
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PostFri May 21, 2021 7:12 pm 
RichP wrote:
I am just rereading No No Boy by John Okada. It deals with the post-internment period in Seattle.
Great book! This episode is an American stain, for sure. But it is particularly a PNW and west coast stain, where anti-Japanese sentiments were especially nasty. Who locked up 110,000 Japanese--60,000 of whom were US citizens? FDR. Who targeted and firebombed Tokyo/Yokohama civilians in their homes on the night of March 10th 1945, incinerating over 105,000 non-combatants? FDR. His perceived legacy is long overdue for an historical correction. More than any president in American history, IMO.

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Malachai Constant
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PostFri May 21, 2021 10:09 pm 
As did Earl Warren Republican governor of California and the US Supreme Court, hate and fear are not unique to any party.

"You do not laugh when you look at the mountains, or when you look at the sea." Lafcadio Hearn
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Brian R
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PostFri May 21, 2021 11:06 pm 
Malachai Constant wrote:
hate and fear are not unique to any party.
A refreshing concession--but who said anything about party? FDR gave the order, 9066. Internment of Japanese was specific to the west coast and it's peculiar hysteria. Especially here in Washington State. Japanese nationals and citizens in the Hawaiian Islands, not yet a state, ironically, were exempted. As for the firebombing of Japanese cities that began just before the spring of 1945, even Le May, who carried out FDR's orders, later admitted it was a war crime.

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Gregory
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PostSun Jun 13, 2021 8:25 am 
First "job" I ever had was picking strawberries for a Japanese farmer on braindead. I was probably twelve and was picked up in the back of a dump truck in Bremerton. My father made sure I knew about the terrible things this man had suffered during the war. Made a bit of money building ridiculous homes there.

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