Japanese Internment Memorial

All is Well.

The first thing that caught my eye was the scene towards the beginning of the piece. It includes a ship with people getting off it, going through the immigration office, and then sitting in a large kitchen with many family members eating a happy dinner. I liked this scene because it reminded me of my family. I have a pretty big family and we always eat a lot at every occasion. The last part of this scene just seemed very realistic and like something that I could personally relate to. The part that I can not relate to, however, is that of the people getting off the ships. Both sides of my family have been in the United States since the early 1800s, so I never got to see the bright faces of family members and friends, hoping for a new beginning. This scene is important because it gives the main background that people are coming over to a new country, when everything is good and peaceful.

Advertising in Art.

The second thing that I noticed was that there was a scene of a downtown area with all kinds of shops selling things. I also found it kind of interesting, especially since I am an advertising major, that on the shop’s windows were signs for Coca-Cola and Pepsi. I wouldn’t have expected to find brand names on a piece of artwork like this, but it just goes to show that strong brands go through everything and at the end of it all and decades later, they are standing strong. In this same scene there are busses loading people to take to the internment camps. You can tell that this was probably somewhere that used to be fun to go to and perhaps spend some free time, but it was so quickly turned in to a place that many of those people would never want to see again. This scene is important because it is the place where their whole journey started. It also portrays the shock and utter disappointment the people had.

Push for an End

Finally, the last couple of feet of the piece were my favorite. They had gotten used to this lifestyle in a sense, and it seemed like it didn’t really bother them as much as it should have. They were also gracefully shown accepting an apology and depicted as the bigger people out of the whole situation. I was amazed that they still kept up some of their regular activities that they participated in before going to these camps, such as the Boy Scouts. I love the fact that they set up classes to both keep them entertained and learn. This scene is important because it shows a little bit of how life still went on for them while they were in the camps and that there was finally and end to it all.

I think that we as a nation are constantly learning and have become very careful about using politically correct terms that are constantly improving. The whole reason we study history is so we don’t repeat the mistakes that we have made, and to learn from them. I like to think that this day in age we have come to accept all people, no matter race, age, gender, or sexual orientation. I think if something like this did happen in today’s age, the country, if not, the world, would be in an uproar.

Despite being trapped in prisons for which they did not deserve, they still smiled, laughed, and played. Despite this, they still strived to learn. And most of all, despite all of this, they still saluted this flag.