supertoni021
08-20-2005, 01:57 AM
She was stripped of her home and her life. Jeanne Wakatsuki was once a prisoner in "the land of the free." She was born on September 26, 1934, in Inglewood, C.A..
President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in the year of 1942, which permited the incarceration of Japanesse-Americans in the United States. To ensure security of the U.S. and its borders from the threat of Japanesse invasions. They were removed from their homes and sent to internment camps throughout the country. Jeanne was the youngest of the Wakatsuki children, only seven at the time. Even though Jeanne was born in the United States and only spoke english she was taken to Manzanar, a Japanesse internment camp and treated as an enemy, without constitutional rights
The Wakatsuki family spent the next three years at Manzanar, with ten thousand other Japanesse-Americans, attempting to live "normally," surrounded by barbed wire and under continuous surveillance of armed guards in searchlight towers. Jeanne was involved in many activities within the camp including the Girls' Glee Club, baton twirling, talent shows, and even school. After being in the camp for nearlly three years, she started to believe that it was her fault for being there, and she started to lose her self-confidence. Everyday was a struggle for her and her family. The barracks where they slept were too small for a large size family like the Wakatsukis but they were forced to live in them anyway. She grew apart from her father when he became abusive and started drinking. After three years of this horrible imprisoned lifestyle all the Japanesse-Americans, that were incarcerated, were forced to leave, because they would soon be shutting the camp down. Many were elated once they heard this news while others were dumbfounded and confused and were not sure of where to go from there; they were to be uprooted once more.
By time the camp was shut down, Jeanne was almost in highschool. She was forced to returned to a society of civilization after the camp had taken both her self-confidence and her confidence in her culture. Jeanne now had to face the future. Something she had no control over ; her destiny, her fate. At the age of ten she knew that if anyone looked at her with hate or spoke words of hate towards her, that she would have to accept it because something about her deserved it. As Jeanne came to realize what Manzanar had ment, it filled her with disgrace for being a person guilty of something tremendous enough to deserve thatt kind of punishment.
Jeanne strived to become the "All American Kid" but her father disaproved of this because he saw only his culture and wanted nothing to do with another, for neither himself nor his family. Once she realized this she lost tremendous respect for him and this drew them farther apart, like placing a wedge in between them. Her mother on the other hand was someone she had always wanted to be close to, she did not see what the big deal was with accepting another culture. At the age of seventeen she knew that there was no way she would ever be seen as a "normal" girl. She played outside with her bestfriend leading a marching band with the baton twirling skills she had learned at Manzanar.
The first to go to college and the first to marry outside her race. Jeanne went to San Jose St. college where she studied sociology and journalism. This is where she met her husband, James Houston, and they married in 1957. She also attended Sorbonne University in Paris. Jeanne also worked as a probation officer and a groupworker in San Mateo, C.A.. Many years after being released from Manzanar, she felt that she had drempt the whole thing up, that she actually never went to the camp. In 1966, she met a caucasian women who had worked for one year as a photographer at Manzanar. She could barely speak to her. She desperately wanted to, but all her questions were caught in her throat. This time it was not the pain of the memory. It was then that she finally realized that all the horrible things had really happened.
Jeanne, now Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, thought that by dreaming up Manzanar, SHE was in a way, trying to justify that it did not happen. Manzanar became much more than a memory, it became a state of mind. Now, having seen it, Jeanne no longer wanted to wanted to lose it nor to have those years erased. By having found it, she says what you can only truely say when you have come to know a place: FAREWELL.
WHAT DO YOU THINK???
President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in the year of 1942, which permited the incarceration of Japanesse-Americans in the United States. To ensure security of the U.S. and its borders from the threat of Japanesse invasions. They were removed from their homes and sent to internment camps throughout the country. Jeanne was the youngest of the Wakatsuki children, only seven at the time. Even though Jeanne was born in the United States and only spoke english she was taken to Manzanar, a Japanesse internment camp and treated as an enemy, without constitutional rights
The Wakatsuki family spent the next three years at Manzanar, with ten thousand other Japanesse-Americans, attempting to live "normally," surrounded by barbed wire and under continuous surveillance of armed guards in searchlight towers. Jeanne was involved in many activities within the camp including the Girls' Glee Club, baton twirling, talent shows, and even school. After being in the camp for nearlly three years, she started to believe that it was her fault for being there, and she started to lose her self-confidence. Everyday was a struggle for her and her family. The barracks where they slept were too small for a large size family like the Wakatsukis but they were forced to live in them anyway. She grew apart from her father when he became abusive and started drinking. After three years of this horrible imprisoned lifestyle all the Japanesse-Americans, that were incarcerated, were forced to leave, because they would soon be shutting the camp down. Many were elated once they heard this news while others were dumbfounded and confused and were not sure of where to go from there; they were to be uprooted once more.
By time the camp was shut down, Jeanne was almost in highschool. She was forced to returned to a society of civilization after the camp had taken both her self-confidence and her confidence in her culture. Jeanne now had to face the future. Something she had no control over ; her destiny, her fate. At the age of ten she knew that if anyone looked at her with hate or spoke words of hate towards her, that she would have to accept it because something about her deserved it. As Jeanne came to realize what Manzanar had ment, it filled her with disgrace for being a person guilty of something tremendous enough to deserve thatt kind of punishment.
Jeanne strived to become the "All American Kid" but her father disaproved of this because he saw only his culture and wanted nothing to do with another, for neither himself nor his family. Once she realized this she lost tremendous respect for him and this drew them farther apart, like placing a wedge in between them. Her mother on the other hand was someone she had always wanted to be close to, she did not see what the big deal was with accepting another culture. At the age of seventeen she knew that there was no way she would ever be seen as a "normal" girl. She played outside with her bestfriend leading a marching band with the baton twirling skills she had learned at Manzanar.
The first to go to college and the first to marry outside her race. Jeanne went to San Jose St. college where she studied sociology and journalism. This is where she met her husband, James Houston, and they married in 1957. She also attended Sorbonne University in Paris. Jeanne also worked as a probation officer and a groupworker in San Mateo, C.A.. Many years after being released from Manzanar, she felt that she had drempt the whole thing up, that she actually never went to the camp. In 1966, she met a caucasian women who had worked for one year as a photographer at Manzanar. She could barely speak to her. She desperately wanted to, but all her questions were caught in her throat. This time it was not the pain of the memory. It was then that she finally realized that all the horrible things had really happened.
Jeanne, now Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, thought that by dreaming up Manzanar, SHE was in a way, trying to justify that it did not happen. Manzanar became much more than a memory, it became a state of mind. Now, having seen it, Jeanne no longer wanted to wanted to lose it nor to have those years erased. By having found it, she says what you can only truely say when you have come to know a place: FAREWELL.
WHAT DO YOU THINK???