Comments on: “Why Does Racism Persist in the United States of America?” lecture

By: mike_brewer

mike_brewer — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:24:07 +0000

You are just a superb community town crier for events! How big is your kitchen calendar? I will definitely attend this talk. I hope a ton of school children do also.
That camp housed folks who did not pay their taxes too! As you know it was a work camp. If we did that today, it would be packed with shopping center owners!!

By: erniemccray

erniemccray — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 07:15:25 +0000

Aloha!

By: Carolyn Classen

Carolyn Classen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:17:37 +0000

Postnote: There going to be a talk about this prison camp on December 13 at Agua Caliente Park, 12325 E. Roger Rd. in NE Pima County: 13, Sun 1:00-2:00 p.m. Agua Caliente Park Catalina Prison/Honor Camp’s Place in History. USFS Archaeologist Mary Farrell reveals the historical significance of the Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site located on the way to Mount Lemmon. For more information call 615-7855 or eeducation@pima.gov.

By: Carolyn Classen

Carolyn Classen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 02:01:03 +0000

That something special was probably the “aloha spirit” which is practiced there.

By: Carolyn Classen

Carolyn Classen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:42:05 +0000

…Hirabayashi, not an easy Japanese name to remember. No, I haven’t seen the plaque but I know about that former prison camp now the “Gordon Hirabayashi Recreation Site” in the Coronado National Forest. Dr. Hirabayashi served his time there for his conviction for refusing to comply with the relocation order in Spokane, WA to go to an internment camp. Only years later did I find out that in 1942 Japanese American men who tried to enlist were classified “4-C” as unsuitable due to race or ancestry. My dad told me he had tried to enlist after Pearl Harbor and he was refused, hence he fled to Chicago before the camp roundup in LA.

By: mike_brewer

mike_brewer — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:19:53 +0000

Coastal Cities are more of a concern for our National Defense, so some jerkos took that as a rationalization for such behavior. Have you read the full commemorative plaque at the internment camp on the way to Mount Lemon? The one that was once called Soldiers Camp and now named after George Hir…??? forgot the spelling, sorry.

By: erniemccray

erniemccray — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 23:00:07 +0000

I’ve felt something special each of the three times I’ve visited Hawaii, not to mention the warm climate and warm ocean.

By: Carolyn Classen

Carolyn Classen — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 20:03:54 +0000

Wow, thanks for the compliment Ernie. I just re-read The Diary of Anne Frank (after seeing the play at the U of A Tornabene theater), and was deeply moved by one of her final statements in 1944, “in spite of everything I really believe people are good at heart.” I think I grew up believing in that as well in my small, rural plantation village back in Hawaii, where there was (and still is) a very strong sense of community and caring for each other as human beings.

By: erniemccray

erniemccray — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 18:16:59 +0000

And if we can find the love in ourselves we move on. Your love for the world, Carolyn, shows in Carolyn’s Community. Keep it coming.

By: Carolyn Classen

Carolyn Classen — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:47:44 +0000

Thanks Ernie McCray for sharing your heartfelt article. In 1942 my father Francis Sueo Sugiyama was one of those expelled from University of Southern California’s dental school (along with 8 others) because he was Japanese American. (He never got an apology or honorary degree from them.) He fled to Chicago, took courses at Loyola and then got admitted to the dental school at U of Maryland where he completed his degree in 1946. I knew first hand about this loss of his civil rights, and years later I worked for U.S. Senator Dan Inouye as a legislative aide, and we passed legislation to create the National Commission that investigated this wrong against my people. My father did not want me to contact USC and he died 13 years ago. By the way, he did not encounter any racism in Chicago or Baltimore during the war, only in Los Angeles.