i am weeping...

tonite, the movie "Come See the Paradise" aired.  i had forgotten the power of film to leave me hollow and in tears.

this film, starring

Dennis Quaid ... Jack McGurn
Tamlyn Tomita ... Lily Yuriko Kawamura/McGann
Sab Shimono ... Hiroshi Kawamura
Shizuko Hoshi ... Mrs. Kawamura
Stan Egi ... Charlie Kawamura
Ronald Yamamoto ... Harry Kawamura
Akemi Nishino ... Dulcie Kawamura
Naomi Nakano ... Joyce Kawamura
Brady Tsurutani ... Frankie Kawamura

is about the experience of one family during the internment of the japanese americans in wwii.

it is simply told with little extravagance of set - instead the bleak, stark dryness of the production compounds the helplessness of those who were taken against our constitution and made to forfeit everything: their homes, their lives, their dignity and for many, their lives.

that this is now shown underscores how little we remember the past and how willing we are to throw away those things that the founders of this nation envisioned for ALL her citizens... and not just her citizens, for those who live supposedly under the flag of freedom.

it is more pognant now that once again, our constitution is being assailed by those who have no more respect  for that document than those who sought to inter the japanese out of fear.

i cannot help but wonder what terrifies some to such extreme that they would forgo all that this country represents - both then and now.

why this diary?  why now?  why show this powerful film at this time?

we are under attack but not from terrorists - but from our own apathy in standing silent while lives are destroyed, people are held without charge, our rights are being eroded and ournation dies.

in the next while, there are going to be many cries for action - to stand up and demand that our representatives - OUR representatives, not those of the corporate or political realm - OUR REPRESENTATIVES stop these assaults on our constitution - that they restore habeus corpus - that they CEASE spying on american citizens  - that they STOP ATTACKING SOVEREIGN NATIONS IN OUR NAME!

it is time for us to gather and make our voices heard!  when you are asked to stand up - do so - make the time to phone, write, picket, protest, scream at the top of your lungs!  the time is short - and what we do will define us for all of history to judge - just like that shameful time when we imprisoned people from another continent to farm our fields, just like the time when we imprisoned those from yet another continent because they were "different".  what we do now, in the name of bush's war - imprisoning those have done nothing to harm us, yet we imprison because we are afraid.

we need not be afraid of others, my friends - we need only to fear our own action - or inaction.

i am weeping - not for the actors, the screenplay, the tragedy that was then - i weep for the now - for us - for our own lessons unlearned.

•  it is no wonder that totalitarian regimes

  fear the artists to such degree...

  when this film portrays with such poignancy the disgraceful treatment of americans due to blind and irrational fear, those who should be afraid are the "leaders" who make such decisions and inflict them upon their citizenry.

  there is a page in history that is reserved for george w. bush.  it will not speak kindly his name.

  by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 07:13:58 AM PDT

  •  This would make a great tag line

    there is a page in history that is reserved for george w. bush.  it will not speak kindly his name.

    by CTLiberal on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 08:13:47 AM PDT

    •  please feel free to use with my blessing! n/t

      by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 08:16:49 AM PDT

•  I actually watched that film last week-end.

  Very well done, and for some reason I had never heard of this film before.  

  Yes, it is such a harsh reminder of what could become of us, once again in America, under Bush.

  by panicbean on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 07:18:40 AM PDT

  •  the film is running right now on cable

    on hbo.... it should run for the month - worth finding it on your schedule and either taping or taking the time to watch.

    if you can, watch it with those you love... the lessons given are never to early!  the film is done in retrospect - told by the japanese mother to her young child .... relating all that went before as the child grew up.  some things, the child remembers, others are lost.

    by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 08:44:56 AM PDT

•  Film is the major ART of our time

  it can hold the power to change minds and hearts.

  Thank you for the heads up.

  by Agathena on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 07:25:41 AM PDT

•  i hope you will all forgive my leaving the diary

  i am still very upset and unable to coherently express what i feel.  that doesn't mean you can't - just, right now, i am not able to write.

  by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 07:27:10 AM PDT

  •  thank you for this diary

    I haven't seen the film but based on your diary, I will.  

    by FindingMyVoice on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 07:37:43 AM PDT

    •  Thanks for the nod re: bumper stickers,

      Great tag name, it's a wonderous thing when a human finds that voice, it rings clear and true, like a bell!

      ;0)

      by DianeL on Sat Mar 03, 2007 at 12:08:30 PM PDT

•  edrie

  what station is this airing on?  Is it a new film?  I think I have seen a film on this subject a few years ago.
  Of course in 50 years we are going to wonder how we allowed Arab people to be so abused, particularly those deported and those taken captive to places like gitmo. And we will have to apologize and stories will be written and movies made.
  I think it is the nature of man because we certainly are not the only guilty people.

  by TeresaInPa on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 07:37:08 AM PDT

  •  The film was actually done in 1990.

    I know I was so surprised that I had missed it for such a very long time. I saw it on cable, but cannot remember which channel, as I usually do not watch tv, but tend to surf and land on something, anything, that looks remotely interesting, as this movie did.

    Didn't mean to answer for the diarist, but I believe she stated she was taking an emotional wellness moment, which I can so relate to.

    by panicbean on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 07:56:53 AM PDT

    •  thank you for stepping in for me...

      i'm now going back to "the secret garden"....it is a good way to bring the sadness back to hope.

      by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 08:15:40 AM PDT

    •  thanks pb

      I think this was the movie I saw years ago.  It is very good.  I am going to try to see if it is repeated on cable anytime soon.

      by TeresaInPa on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 09:19:48 AM PDT

      •  it is playing on hbo - hopefully

        they will  repeat it!

        by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 09:22:39 AM PDT

  •  i'm hiding in the secret garden at the

    moment... i'm glad this film is airing following
    Come See the Paradise.  the film was made in 1990, as panicbean said - while "The Secret Garden" was fade in 1993.  they are good films to back together - one based on loss - the other based on hope.

    i remember reading "the secret garden" as a child - it was one of my favorite books!

    by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 08:14:44 AM PDT

    •  edrie

      have you ever heard the CD from the broadway show?  It was done in the early 90s I think and even if you don't like musicals, you might like this one.  The music is by one of the Simon sister who is not Carly, can't think of her name at the moment, but the music is glorious and enchanted.

      I think it is Lucy Simon and Joanna is the opera singer.

      I wish I could send you the music files from my computer.
      If you were in the mood to download a few of the songs from Itunes ( I am not sure they have them, but they might) , I would recommend the following:

      Lily's Eyes

      Come to My Garden

      Wick

      A Bit of Earth

      and

      How Could I know

      by TeresaInPa on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 09:26:17 AM PDT

      •  Oh, and this one

        What you have to do is finish what you have begun
        I don't know just how, but it's not over till you've won
        When you see the storm is comin
        See the lighnin part the skies
        It's to late to run
        there's terror in your eyes.
        What you do then is remeber this old thing you heard me say
        "It's this storm, not you, that's bound to blow away."
        HOLD ON!
        Hold on to someone standin by.
        HOLD ON!
        Don't even ask how long or why
        Chile, hold on to what you know is true,
        hold on till you get through
        CHILD, OH CHILD!
        Hold on...
        When you feel you're face is boiling
        fear a devils' at your door
        there's no place to hide
        you're frozen to the floor
        What you do then is you tell yourself that it'll be ok
        "It's this dream, not me, that's bound to go away"
        HOLD ON!
        hold on the night will soon be by
        HOLD ON!
        And think of something else to try
        hold theres angels on their way
        hold on and hear them say
        "CHILD, OH CHILD!"

        and it doesn't even matter
        if the danger and the doom
        come from up above,
        or down below,
        or just come flying at you from across the room

        When you see a man who's ragin
        and he's jealous and he fears
        that you've walked through walls he's hid behind for years.
        What you do then is you tell yourself to hold on out, you say
        "Its this day, not me, that bound to go away"
        It's this day
        NOT ME!
        That's bound to go...
        AWAY

        by TeresaInPa on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 09:43:18 AM PDT

      •  this is from secret garden?

        i've not heard the musical - would love to.

        being a newyorker who worked theatre for over 25 years (did ballet costumes) but was ever at the "second acts" 8^), standing room and operas.... a very rich time - from the 70's through the 80's...

        thanks for the tips - i'll go searching!

        by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 09:48:46 AM PDT

        •  I keep forgetting

          you are theater people.  Yes I think you will love it.

          by TeresaInPa on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 10:24:13 AM PDT

  •  Dover Bitch, w/ Digby's assist, writes

    on the issue of racism encouraged by our government towards the Arab people in our war with Iraq.

    Much has been written already to discredit "The Arab Mind." Its absurd reduction of millions of people to a cartoon stereotype has already led to Americans building naked pyramids of Iraqis. But even though Bush called Abu Ghraib the biggest mistake of the war last June, as Dibgy notes, the U.S. Marines are still encouraged to read this garbage.

       

    But there is something disturbing on that reading list, which is that the top recomendation for staff sergeants and first lieutenants --- the leaders who generally have the most face to face contact with the locals --- is that piece of trash "The Arab Mind." I had thought that it was only considered a bible by the senior brass. I didn't know they were having the troops read it too. No wonder things have gone so badly.

       This is another in a long line of errors, but it points to one of the biggest motivations for this invasion and occupation --- racism. There were far too many people who were willing to believe that when it came to teaching the world who's boss, any arab would do. This book helped create the sense that arabs are all alike and that they are just a little bit less evolved than we purebred (hah!) Americans.

    (Link to Digby can be found on the Dover Bitch post)

    by goodasgold on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 08:31:23 AM PDT

    •  the ONLY way people can be taught to

      kill is to teach them first to hate.

      we and every culture that kills first has to dehumanize those who are to be killed.

      we ignore history - we teach that the vietnamese, the japanese, the negroes, the jews, the gypsies, the gays, the palestinians, the iranians and the iraqis were of simplistic minds - not to be seen as real people.

      the stereotypes only serve to strip a group of its human qualities - the qualities that make them like ourselves.

      rogers and hammerstein summed it up perfectly with the song that says "you've got to be carefully taught..."

      Cable:
      You've got to be taught
      To hate and fear,
      You've got to be taught
      From year to year,
      It's got to be drummed
      In your dear little ear
      You've got to be carefully taught.

      You've got to be taught to be afraid
      Of people whose eyes are oddly made,
      And people whose skin is a diff'rent shade,
      You've got to be carefully taught.

      You've got to be taught before it's too late,
      Before you are six or seven or eight,
      To hate all the people your relatives hate,
      You've got to be carefully taught!

      "south pacific" was first on broadway four years after the discovery of the concentration camps in germany - just four years...  the message that was then seems still lost on us today...

      by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 08:42:37 AM PDT

•  when I was a kid I lived near one of the camps

  it had been deserted long ago, but the buldings still stood with the fences with barb wire to keep them in, it wasn't torn down until the 70's I will never forget the site, and the memory of what it lloked like and to know what we did in the 1940's was wrong  as wrong as Gitmo today  

  by testvet6778 on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 07:50:25 AM PDT

•  My sister and I grew up with a family

  where her classmate had been born in one of the camps.  Living as we did in a community which also had a few Holocaust survivors, and a number of families that had gotten out just in time (the couple across the street, the husband was Austrian and got out into Switzerland in 1939, where he met and married his Swiss Jewish wife  - and they got to the states before it became impossible).  Perhaps that is why we grew up sensitive to the connection - of wrongness - between our treatment of the Japanese on the W Coast, and the treatment of our coreligionists, in fact, to any discriminatory treatment of people.

  by teacherken on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 07:52:15 AM PDT

•  Has the past become the now?

  Winter Rabbit writes distressing diaries chronicling the well planned, purposeful eradication of Native Americans beginning with Columbus.  It is staggering to comprehend a US policy devoted to the elimination of an entire race.  But that was back then.  

  Bushco's sense of Divine Destiny becomes eerily reminiscent.

  by JFinNe on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 07:52:40 AM PDT

•  Yep, a stunning movie.

  I saw it when it first came out.  I think I'll put it on my Netflix queue so I can see it again.

  It's a very stark reminder that even a nation founded on the very best of principles is capable of great evil.

  I don't, and never will, understand why such evil is tolerated by the citizenry.  People seem willing to tolerate, condone even, acts done in their name by their governments that they would never dream of committing themselves.  They can't, or won't, see that either way they are accountable for the evil.

  by Mehitabel9 on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 08:13:03 AM PDT

  •  bush did one thing he promised...

    he did unite this nation - in fear!

    and such is our shame....

    by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 08:18:01 AM PDT

•  another tragedy unfolding now

  is the massive outpouring of refugees from iraq into syria, lebanon and surrounding countries.  these nations are so overburdened that they are closing their borders - not unlike the shutting out of the jewish immigrants prior and during wwii.

  yet, we who have created this grief upon the nation of iraq are closing our borders to those refugees - using the excuse that ANY person with ties to ANY organization that can be labeld "subversive" in iraq cannot be admitted to this nation.

  we have once again created an entire nation of the displaced... who will hold america accountable?

  by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 08:53:34 AM PDT

•  Korematsu v. U.S. was the decision

  that legalized our mistreatment of Americans of Japanese ancestry during the war. When I read Korematsu v. U.S. in law school, and especially the dissent, I was convinced we would never become so hysterical as to commit a similar outrage in the future. The reaction of our government and most of it's citizens after 9/11 proved me wrong. It isn't just the torture and detentions without charges or trial but also the mindset against American Muslims. Will we ever learn?

  by Gary Norton on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 08:59:12 AM PDT

  •  not as long as the travesty known as NCLB

    is forced on the nation!

    teaching to the test instead of teaching people to think and discern logic and ethics will always shortcircut rational behavior.

    the destruction of all that was built to bring this nation forward after world war ii is slowly being dismantled to lead this nation back into darkness.

    and for what design?  greed.  plain and simple.

    by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 09:07:34 AM PDT

    •  Not that simple and 'teaching to the test'

      is not 'the problem.'

      Yes, education should involve ctitical thinking, logic, ethics, yadda, yadda, yadda,  But those issues all rely on knowledge and the basic skills to acquire knowledge - principally, language and math.  As a teacher, I always tested my students for those skills to gauge my effectiveness as a teacher and the student's ability at any skill level.

      Yes, testing needs improvement, as does teaching and everthing else I can think of.  But until educators stop focusing on minor problems and get real about major problems in education, we will not progress.  One-third of our students STILL do not graduate high school.

      by oldpro on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 11:46:25 AM PDT

      •  should expand that "teaching to the test"

        comment - i mean teaching to the STANDARDIZED test that is required now!

        i have no objection to immediate knowledge of results learning - i have no objection to testing to show the student how well he/she does/doesn't understand the material - BUT when the ONLY objective is to get students to PASS a standardized test so that the school receives funding for the next year, the process becomes stilted.

        we have also, as you aptly point out, so many other problems in our schools such as underfunding where teachers buy the supplies for their students, overcrowding, discipline problems that make corcoran prison look normal, lack of staffing, lack of trained teachers, etc., that it would appear the "right" has won!  they have indeed dismantled the once great educational system we had in america.  

        it was all done with funding - or lack of it.

        america needs to wake up soon or there will be n more america as once envisioned by our forefathers (and foremothers!)

        by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 12:00:09 PM PDT

    •  Why did you hijack your diary

      to talk about NCLB?

      by Gary Norton on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 12:37:03 PM PDT

      •  gary, issues don't exist in a vacuum...

        my alma mater years ago instituted a new program of study for the freshment class - it was taking ALL elements of a liberal arts education and teaching them within context of each other - in other words, how did history affect art and how did math interact with art.

        what is the sociology of religious idealogy and how does science interact with sociology?

        the idea was new at the time (early 80's) and took into consideration that ALL we do influences and interacts with every other part of our world.

        nclb is a "new" approach to education that many teachers have said actually stops the creative flow of teaching - this creativity is part of what allows us to view that which has happened in the past and then apply it to the future.

        we do not look at the sociology of racism, fear, dissemination of information through art, media, etc. in its application to such events as the internment of the japanese.  we do not examine the development of iraq, israel, the middle east and asia in context.  we are not "educated" to understand the complexities of these civilizations, therefore try to impose OUR interpretation of "civilization" upon theirs.

        this diary was and is about lessons not learned - not just of american citizens kept behind barbed wire in an unconstitutional move based on fear.

        if we take that broader scope and apply it to today's world, we get GITMO, we get invasion, we get war, we get bias - not unlike viet nam, not unlike so many other mistakes historically made.

        what i would love to see is an indepth analysis of HOW we ended up making these mistakes in light of past errors - and why we haven't learned from those errors.

        one poster below asked the very real question (one which i hadn't considered) about why teaching of american history ALWAYS starts at the same place and never progresses to modern issues and modern (last 75 years).  to understand how society can be so duped by our politicians, we only need realize how unaware most americans of voting age are concerning true american involvement (from educational perspective) in wwI, WWII, korea, viet nam, panama (oh, yeah, that WAS a war, wasn't it!) and now afghanistan and iraq.

        we NEED an educational system that works and teaches analytical thinking... we don't have it - we have nclb - which is not succeeding.

        so, no, i didn't hijack my diary - i expanded it to a wider view of the same issue.

        by edrie on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 11:41:23 PM PDT

        •  Thanks for the explanation. I understand

          now what you were trying to do. At the time I really was interested in seeing if people could really focus on the internment policy and why it was so bad. I had a fleeting hope that some would even read the decision.

          I am a great believer in a true liberal arts education. I believe there is plenty of time for training later. An it sounds as if  your Alma Mater may have taken that a step further. I think, though, that the Jesuit schools have been trying to do that all along.

          I am not a fan of NCLB but probably not for the reasons you hold. I just view it as a means for Bush to ultimately gut public education in favor of privatization. I think they had hopes along those lines that have since been dashed.

          The question about where to start with history is good, but ultimately boils down to time. I tend to think the opposite. If people understood, really understood, the period 1640-1680 they would better understand why we are where we are today. But, at the expense of what, does one teach that? And then you get those who say high school students need to be taught money management.

          Anyway, thanks for getting back to me. I will check later.

          by Gary Norton on Sun Feb 25, 2007 at 11:00:22 AM PDT

          •  what better way to make converts than

            to dangle the lust and money in front of kids eyes - that is why we have the drug problems we do - no future in "legit" world - but instant gratification in the seamy drug world (bought and paid for by the very rich (uberrich) who are importing and controlling the flow of drugs and the underground economy it generates.  the kids get the leavings and they think they have hit it big.  just pawns in the ultimate play for money and power.

            i agree with you that nclb was an attempt to drive charter schools and undercut the public education system that the neos loathe and fear so much.  unfortunately for them, that hasn't gone as planned any better than any of their other wild schemes and delusions.  that gives me hope for the future!

            i like your analysis - would love to see more from you in the form of diaries and work on this - much more productive than the obama obama hilary hilary nonstop renditions around here.  my email is in my profile - let me know if you are interested in possbily collaberating on some of these issues.  when i looked at the stats and saw that there are still 400,000 people looking at this site a day, it gives me hope that this information will start reaching people and motivate them to do something to make a difference!

            glad you stopped back by - looking forward to seeing you a lot in the future!  sounds like we share common interests and goals...

            there is a grave need for awakening in this country - a dangerous time period where we will either learn or perish as a free society.

            by edrie on Sun Feb 25, 2007 at 09:37:46 PM PDT

  •  And, reparations were paid to underscore and

    acknowledge the wrong.

    Here on the west coast locals are very aware of the history.  Many of our neighbors were interned after being removed from our communities and many came back...people we knew then and know now.  No one we know saw them as a threat but no one objected to their removal either...a combination of fear and helplessness superseded by a level of trust in the president who signed the law.

    Translating that knowledge and experience to the present is not so easy as it seems.  Such lessons are far more complex when applied to new situations as human rights almost always are.  We have few or no muslims in our community and if we do, they are not known, 'valued' members.  Many people think that they, personally, are patriots with nothing to fear from gov't access to their mail, phones, email, even their homes and persons for searches, and that they only people who would object are those with something to hide!

    by oldpro on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 11:57:42 AM PDT

    •  I agree. Analogies are never perfect. But

      our willingness to succumb to fear, and fear mongering, and turn a blind eye to injustice are still with us. It seems that every generation has to relearn the lessons of the past.

      by Gary Norton on Sat Feb 24, 2007 at 12:43:46 PM PDT

•  Beautiful diary edrie n/t

  by DianeL on Sat Mar 03, 2007 at 12:12:02 PM PDT