Courtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration
The Minidoka Relocation Center is shown in this August 1943 photo from the War Relocation Authority. According to the original caption, this photo looks down at the rows of barracks westward from block 44. At extreme left is a corner of the dining hall where the 275 to 300 residents of the block ate. At center background is the sanitation building including showers, lavatories, toilets and washtubs. Nearly all the residents planted flowers and vegetable gardens in front of their barracks.
On Feb. 19, 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066 authorized the forced incarceration of 120,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans. Approximately two-thirds were U.S. citizens, and 40-50% were children. This year marks the 80th anniversary of that fateful day.
The executive order was like a tornado that dismantled thousands of innocent lives and left a wake of trauma which will linger for generations.
I was born in the Minidoka, Idaho War Relocation Center, which was a World War II American concentration camp. My camp identification number was 11464d. We lived in Block 26, Barrack #2. All of my stateside relatives were forcibly incarcerated without the commission of a crime or a trial. Other relatives in Hiroshima suffered the atomic bombing.
Several years ago, I read one of my poems at the Minidoka Pilgrimage, an annual event honoring survivors and descendants of incarceration. During a discussion period, a middle-aged man stood up and said he was raped as a child. He went on to describe the forced incarceration of the Japanese as a rape of an entire community based on race.
His words echoed true as incarcerated Japanese and Japanese Americans behaved like rape victims — many were silent, held anger, got depressed, committed suicide and/or tried to prove they were worthy Americans by volunteering to fight in the military for America. As victims, survivors transferred the shame and sadness to their children.
For me, there is not a day that I don’t think about Minidoka.
Cold wind from Idaho
The following is an excerpt from my poem, “War on Terror, Border Crossing” from the book “A Cold Wind from Idaho” (Black Lawrence Press):
I carry my own fence.
Barbed wire encircles me always.
Determined not to follow my parents’ path
into clinical depression or a bleeding ulcer-
my shins are raked by the steel teeth
of my unwilled confinements.
Wearing this yellow skin, I am unable
to walk freely in my own country.
But I learn, border by border
to leap safely in sudden movements
leaving no remnants snagged on the wire.
Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton spoke to the causes of the injustice. Their letters of apology stated the causes were: race discrimination, wartime hysteria and failed leadership.
How is America doing today on those criteria?
Race discrimination still exists based on George Floyd and anti-Asian (COVID-19) hate and violence. Wartime hysteria was called propaganda then and today it is “fake news” or outright lies. Finally, “failed political leadership” is evident every day on the news.
Since the causes of the forced incarceration are still alive and well, I looked to Minidoka for meaning. For years I behaved like a victim.
With help I moved from being a victim to become a witness. I learned that Minidoka is a sacred place and a reminder of America’s promise of “liberty and justice for all.”
Unfortunately, darkness looms ahead for the Minidoka National Historic Site.
LS Power of New York proposes to build 400 windmills over 700 feet tall and almost surround Minidoka. The windmills will change visual sight lines, create blade flashes in the sky and generally overpower the peace and healing aspects of Minidoka. No such projects would ever be proposed for Arlington Cemetery, the 911 Memorial or the Vietnam Memorial. But LS Power feels that this historic site which holds truth about America is a prime target for desecration.
If you believe in “liberty and justice for all,” help preserve this Idaho memorial. Help ensure that 400 windmills do not desecrate the landscape and obliterate the American stories of survival embedded in this sacred land. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Lawrence Y. Matsuda, Block 26, Barrack #2, Minidoka War Relocation Center
Lawrence Matsuda was born in the Minidoka, Idaho concentration camp during World War II. He and his family were among the approximately 120,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese held without due process for approximately three years or more. Matsuda, who holds a doctorate in education from the University of Washington, is a retired educator and consultant. He was also a board member of the Friends of Minidoka. He is a poet and writer and has visited Minidoka at least seven times as part of the Minidoka Pilgrimage.
Upcoming film screenings
The Friends of Minidoka is commemorating the 80th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066 with the screening of the film “Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066” and post-screening panel discussions in Ketchum (Feb. 19), Twin Falls (Feb. 20) and Boise (Feb. 21). You can find details at http://www.minidoka.org. You can contact Friends of Minidoka by email at info@minidoka.org.