Manzanar was one of the 10 internment camps concentration camps built to hold Japanese Americans during WWII. My intention here is not to recount its history, wiki has better information then I could ever summarize in a simple diary.
The last Saturday in April, an annual pilgrimage takes place.
I recall at some point in school a brief mention that America did this during WWII. But I do mean brief. Up until a few months ago, I had no idea where these places were. Today, I visited Manzanar for the first time.
I had planned to Diary this even before setting off this morning, but I had originally intended to do a photo heavy one. Upon arriving, the batteries in my digital camera lasted about a minute. It was one of many things that did not go right. My words will have to suffice. My goal here is to document some of what I felt today.
To say Manzanar is a powerful place, would understate it. With the roughly 2000 people that were there for the pilgrimage ceremony, it changed the experience I'm sure. Normally upon entering the site, you get a map that would help you see where you are, whats around you. They were out by the time I got there. The wandering I did, I often stumbled onto something, wondering, "What was this?", only to have gone a little further along one of the trails and spot a sign explaining exactly what used to be there. Something that would have been on the map.
A good example of the difference in the experience, would be the "interfaith service" which was part of the Pilgrimage Ceremony. When I was there during the Ceremony, there were so many people it was difficult to see much of anything that was going on. A few hours later, I returned. Part of me was curious to see what had been done with all of the flowers that were handed to people one by one as they entered that area. But standing there, without the crowd,... it was so desolate.
Normally when one would visit, you would have an opportunity to get a guided walking tour by one of the Park Ranger staff. On my initial walk to get to the ceremony, we passed a couple of groups that were being given such a tour. Pausing, and listening to what they had to say, these folk know their stuff. Having a true and proper guided tour I'm sure would have added a completely different element to what I experienced today.
I didn't fully understand that I could have driven right to the cemetery area, where the pilgrimage event was held, so I walked it. Even after walking it (without a map), the scale of this place didn't hit me.
It was only later, when I finally went into the "Interpretation Center". I wandered around, reading the different exhibits. Over in the corner they had what was probably a 10' x 10' model of what the facility looked like when it was being used. That's when it hit me--This is what we did, to our own people. Yeah, I cried. I couldn't even walk away. All I could do was cover my mouth to prevent a total outbreak of sobbing.
For some reason, even walking this site, I thought, yeah, its desert. It's Big. 10k people were held here. None of that hits home. It's no different then I'm sure a lot of us feel when we hear it mentioned on MSNBC of how many times KSM was waterboarded. It sounds extreme, sure. It doesn't feel extreme to anyone who has not had it happen to them. Numbers are numbers, and while its nice to know the facts, it doesn't always drive home the truth. Looking the rows and rows of barracks, realizing 4 families apiece shared each one. That's what it took for me to get a feel for the number of people that were effected by that single site.
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I had wanted to say a little about what I would recommend for anyone visiting this place, but I've been up for 18 hours. Roughly 450mi driven today. 7 hours of emotionally intense experiences. Oh yeah, and I got a nice sunburn to show for it. I'll have to leave it at that.