Manzanar

I'm glad to see a monument there, some things even if they are ugly should be remembered.
from wikipedia:

The inscription is in Japanese and reads 慰霊塔 (ireitõ), meaning "Monument to console the souls of the dead." The inscription on the back reads "August 1943" and "erected by the Manzanar Japanese."

Thanks Ned. It's a very somber location and I figured it's a good image to post, given our current political climate.

Well photographed.

Several of those concentration camps have similar monuments as well as grave yards. Manzanar is the most famous...but there were more...the detained children are now 70-80yrs if they're still living.

Well photographed. The light behind the monument creates a glow that signifies hope to me.

I have a neighbour who experienced one of these. He does not talk about it.

My mother-in-law and her family were sent to Minidoka, in Idaho, from the Seattle area. Because she had a sensitivity to dust, the family had moved away from the "Japan Town" to a more rural area, and so the kids never were around many Japanese people until they went to camp, and never felt very Japanese. All the family members I've ever met (including the issei) wear their shoes inside. Here is a pretty complete article about my wife's uncle, which mentions her mother, Jane, a couple times. She's been gone for about 20 years, he passed away last fall. Of his 5 children, there are 3 PhD and 2 MS.

http://aapress.com/community/don-maeda-still-making-crowns-at-86/

He never did see the sense in having all the barbed wire and guards. "So you get out of the camp and walk across 50 miles of sage brush, with no water, to the nearest town big enough to have a movie theatre. Well, when you get there, your still a Jap!"