Modern Day Internment Camp

In 1988, President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act to compensate more than 100,000 people of Japanese descent who were incarcerated in internment camps during World War II. The legislation offered a formal apology and paid out $20,000 in compensation to each surviving victim. The law won congressional approval only after a decade-long campaign by the Japanese-American community.

The Japanese-American internment camps were often nothing more than makeshift barracks, with families and children cramped together behind barbed wires. Most of the internees were U.S. citizens from the West Coast who were forced to abandon or liquidate their businesses when war relocation authorities escorted them to the camps.

John Tateishi says the experience was both humiliating and disorienting. "We came out of these camps with a sense of shame and guilt, of having been considered betrayers of our country." He says that after the war most families never spoke about it. "There were no complaints, no big rallies or demands for justice because it was not the Japanese way."

Without warning, in recent weeks, all but one of our accesses to Highway 89 have been blocked with barbed wire. It’s very disconcerting. What about Emergency Vehicles? A mass evacuation? At 7:45 AM on the morning (June 2) of Isaak’s graduation at the Dee Events Center in Ogden, cars were lined up from Highway 89 to Main Street in Kaysville--a small minority of the people who would need to leave if there were an emergency. It feels like internment when fences and barricades block most of our streets. Why are we being hemmed in? Will history show that we, or our descendants, are entitled to a public apology? 

 Country Road Access to Highway 89 - barricaded

 Raymond Road access to Highway 89 - barricaded

 Definitely no cars.

 As long as I had my camera along . . .

 I have a soft spot in my heart for lambs since Daddy was a sheep man

 I couldn't resist.

Daddy often brought dogie lambs home for us to bottle feed

Brother Edgington from our Ward.

 This used to be an access to Highway 89. Blocked a few years ago.

 Making sure no cars get through.

 Still sometimes they do.

 Beauty knows no blockades.

 

 You can walk from one neighborhood to another but you can't drive.

 Or jog if you're ambitious.

 You can walk to Kaysville Center Street but you can't drive from our neighborhood.

 We can't even get our trikes through anymore.

 You can walk to Burton School from our neighborhood but you can't drive. 

 You can walk to church from the back but you can't drive.

 Blocked access to Green Road from our neighborhood

 Fenced.
I learned this song in 3rd grade.*
Don't Fence Me In
Robert Fletcher & Cole Porter

Oh, give me land, lots of land under starry skies above
Don't fence me in
Let me ride through the wide open country that I love
Don't fence me in

Let me be by myself in the evenin' breeze
And listen to the murmur of the cottonwood trees
Send me off forever but I ask you please
Don't fence me in

Just turn me loose, let me straddle my old saddle
Underneath the western skies
On my cayuse, let me wander over yonder
Till I see the mountains rise

I want to ride to the ridge where the West commences
And gaze at the moon till I lose my senses
And I can't look at hobbles and I can't stand fences
Don't fence me in

 You still can go South on Highway 89 on Green Road

if you are very brave or stupid because of limited blend lane.
55 mph speed limit, which means 70.

 Cement blockade so you can't go North or get on Green Road from the South.

 Blocked roads are definitely in vogue.

We are surrounded by blockades and barbed wire.

When will they bring in the barracks?

*Miss Carpenter was my 3rd grade teacher
until Christmas time when she got married

and we never saw her again.

The other song she taught us that I haven't forgotten is:

Swingin’ on a Star

Burke/van heusen

Would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a mule

A mule is an animal with long funny ears
He kicks up at anything he hears
His back is brawny - and his brain is weak
He's just plain stupid with a - stubborn streak

And by the way, if you hate to go to school
You may grow up to be a mule

Would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a pig

A pig is an animal with dirt on his face
His shoes are a terrible disgrace
He ain't got no manners when he eats his food
He's fat and lazy - and extremely rude

But if you don't care a feather or a fig
You may grow up to be a pig

Would you like to swing on a star
Carry moonbeams home in a jar
And be better off than you are
Or would you rather be a fish

A fish won't do anything but swim in a brook
He can't write his name or read a book
And to fool the people is his only thought
Though he slippery - he still gets caught
But then if that sort of life is what you wish
You may grow up to be a fish

And all the monkeys aren't in a zoo
Every day you meet quite a few
So you see it's all up to you
You can be better than you are
You could be swinging on a star