Comparing Civil Liberties during Jap. Internment camps to after Sept. 11

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On CSPAN2 10pm

Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese-American Internment Camps
Mary Matsuda Gruenewald

Author Mary Matsuda Gruenewald talks about her experience in a Japanese-American Internment Camp during World War II in her memoir, "Looking like the Enemy." Throughout her discussion, she describes the day-to-day activities in the internment camp and reads various excerpts from her book. The author displays a poster announcing the removal of Japanese Americans as well as the tag she was issued upon arrival at the first camp. Ms. Gruenewald compares the government's handling of civil liberties since September 11, 2001 and the way she and other Japanese Americans were treated in the 1940’s. This event was hosted by the Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, Washington.

Mary Matsuda Gruenewald was sent to an internment camp for Japanese-Americans when she was seventeen. She worked as a registered nurse for more than twenty-five years and established the Consulting Nurse Service within the Group Health Cooperative in 1971. Ms. Gruenewald received an Asian American Living Pioneer Award in 2003. "Looking Like the Enemy" is her first book.

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1. "In my culture, and in my family, we didn't talk about our feelings...

particularly the negative ones. depression, anxiety, stress."

"I realized my 4 nieces and nephews, and my 3 children knew nothing about what their grandparents had been through."

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2. "in 1942 I knew intuitively that my life would change...

but I had no idea how much it would change."

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3. "they didn't call us 'citizens' because it's illegal to imprison citizens.

we were called "alien and non-alien" " :cry:

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4. "we saw soldiers, with bayonets fixed....

I thought we were going to be taken away to be shot"

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5. "Am I Japanese, or American, in this barb-wire camp...

about to perform this ancient dance" :cry:

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6. an exerpt...

The train ride out of Pinedale, though stressful, was at least a break from the monotonous routine of one and a half months in the camp. The old train cars were musty, dirty and creaky, just like the last train. As before, the windows were smoked and we could not look at the passing landscape. How I wished we could have seen signs of normal life.

Rocking back and forth on the decrepit seats, we were lost in our thoughts. Papa-san sat erect most of the time, occasionally leaning his head against the headrest while he intermittently sighed deeply and stared into space. Periodically his eyes glazed over and a frown creased his forehead. I imagined, He is feeling the loss of all he and Mama-san have worked so hard to establish. I turned away, unable to tolerate his loss on top of my own.

When I looked across at Mama-san she nodded her head and smiled as though to reassure me, yet I could see the sadness in her eyes. At times she sat with her hands clasped in her lap, her lips pressed tightly together, as she discreetly looked around at those who rode with her to the next unknown destination.

Papa-san, Mama-san, and I remained seated most of the time, but Yoneichi moved about the train car talking with people. When he came back to sit with us, his foot jiggled nervously up and down. Others dozed or looked about with dull eyes. We were all preoccupied with questions of the future.

http://www.janmag.com/features/lookinglikeexc.html

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7. Am I the only one watching? this is heartbreaking. nt

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8. first Question.. to answer she brings up the protest of Gonzales

at speech.... :woohoo: