Manzanar, California
My first boyfriend that I loved was Japanese. I lost the Super Bowl XXI bet and the agreement was that the loser had to buy an expensive dinner. This was a big deal as the game was locally played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. I was so confident the Denver Broncos were going to destroy the NY Giants, but I lost a good football game. We were friends for a couple of years, so the dinner was awkward, because I told him, “This is not a date. I just lost a bet - so don’t trip. Let’s just have dinner and I’ll see ya next week at work.” He was studying to be a mechanic so I wasn’t accustomed to seeing him in ‘normal’ clothes other than blue collar scrubs. But he cleaned up well and smelled good, and he loved his monster truck. He started talking crap about my losing team, and I threw verbal rocks at the NY Giants. After the awkwardness dissipated, dinner was soon over and time to leave. We got to the parking lot and he asked, “Do you want to go dancing in Hollywood?” I smirked and asked, “Can you dance?”
“Janet Jackson is my real girlfriend. So yeah I can dance.” he countered.
We both laughed and I replied, “I’m game. Let’s go.”
He was the only person that told me about Manzanar as his family was directly impacted by it. It was the first time I heard of it. I was twenty-one and he was about ten years older as most of my work colleagues and peers were a decade older than me. I never forgot his stories as the pain was deep from the generational wound that did not scar over well. He was also born and raised in Los Angeles, like me. Something rare these days.
Growing up in LA I was usually called a JAP or a NIP from bullies in elementary, that continued through Jr. high school. These were the two names most used instead of Niger towards me. Although I didn't know the history behind the insult, I started to hate Japanese people because no one else got called that but me in my family, from outsiders. The only thing I knew about Japan as a kid was that our Silverware was imported from there. That’s it.
Derogatory artist renditions in the cartoons we used to watch, especially Bugs Bunny would depict foreign nationality with exaggerated comical dismissal. This included Native Americans as well. All depicted in a negative light to subconsciously educate the next generation with Prejudice prior to investigation of Truth. Because of the continuous name calling, “watch out you Jap! Fk U Jap! Hey stupid Nip!” Those bullies received a double portion beat down for getting it wrong! I’m Samoan. And secondly, for racist remarks about quiet but strong people. By the time I was in high school, I didn't like Japanese people from being called a JAP, and cartoons; until I did my own homework objectively as an outsider looking in.
Environmental Prison
Fine dust filled with salt blows from the river bottom of the empty Owens Lake bed, about fifty miles south. The Mulholland water project pumped the Owens Valley River dry, to accommodate the growing population of Los Angeles 230 miles away. In less than a decade, the once lush Owens Valley River area, became a desert with salt residue from the riverbed that clings to all living fauna and destroys it. By 1913 the aqueduct system was completed, leaving a salt riverbed behind; that blows salt sediments for miles sealing the fate of the surrounding area to remain a desert. Continuous powerful winds that also carry voices from the past that can be heard if one stays too long - like I did back in 2021. A mental fortress - opposite to the green mountain terrains of Japanese islands. Here the Mountains are different. Unfriendly, ancient like the gates of Mordor they are majestic and terrifyingly final in their stand. Hopelessness seeps in if you camp too long here in the desert: Base camp for Evil and Wicked Spirits unlike the movies. Matthew 12:43-45
Forced Experimentation
Typhoid Shot - Japanese Test Subjects, Prior to National Rollout
I remember reading the stats that were alarming regarding the sudden rise in Breast Cancer with the Nisei generation. An unheard of - but not discussed spike in one generation that had zero breast cancer from the prior generation. The Japanese daughters born to immigrant parents developed breast cancer - an increase of 42% after the camp experiment of three years. All of a sudden right? Bullsh*t.
How Long Do We Stay in this Hot, Windy, Desert Prison?
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