Kenji... Internment camps...

-At this moment I'm waiting for my library to receive my book. I should have it by saturday... Or so they say.
- In the mean time i figured I'd do my best to understand what happened in the 1940's and how the U.S Government portrayed things to be.
- As soon as I knew we were talking about Japanese Internment camps in the 1940's U.S. I began thinking about one of my favorite songs. The song is called Kenji by Fort Minor. Though the song is listed as a track by Fort Minor, the real story of the song belongs to lead artist and Japanese- American, Mike Shinoda. 
- In the song Mike talks about his grandfather's and other older family members recollections of the Japanese internment camps. I thought that it's only fitting that if I couldn't read the book and post about it, I could use this song as a point of relevance. I've been listening to this song for years because it has true meaning and depth. It talks about the Japanese being caught so off-guard by this treatment, especially in their own country. You can hear in his voice the feelings he possesses, anger not towards the U.S. but the situation in itself.


-The name Kenji is code name for Shinoda's grandfather.


-Here are some lyrics from the first verse. The song is too long to post all of the lyrics like I wanted to.


"When everybody was afraid of the Germans, afraid of the Japs,
But most of all afraid of a homeland attack,
And that morning when Ken went out on the doormat,
His world went black 'cause,
Right there; front page news,
Three weeks before 1942,
"Pearl Harbour's Been Bombed And The Japs Are Comin',"
Pictures of soldiers dyin' and runnin',
Ken knew what it would lead to,
Just like he guessed, the President said,
"The evil Japanese in our home country will be locked away,"
They gave Ken, a couple of days,
To get his whole life packed in two bags,
Just two bags, couldn't even pack his clothes,
Some folks didn't even have a suitcase, to pack anything in,
So two trash bags is all they gave them"


-From the second verse...


"Prisoners of war in their own damn country,
What for?
Time passed in the prison town,
He wondered if they would live it down, if and when they were free,
The only way out was joinin' the army,
And supposedly, some men went out for the army, signed on,
And ended up flyin' to Japan with a bomb,
That 15 kilotonne blast, put an end to the war pretty fast,
Two cities were blown to bits; the end of the war came quick,
Ken got out, big hopes of a normal life, with his kids and his wife,
But, when they got back to their home,
What they saw made them feel so alone,
These people had trashed every room,
Smashed in the windows and bashed in the doors,
Written on the walls and the floor,
"Japs not welcome anymore."
And Kenji dropped both of his bags at his sides and just stood outside,
He, looked at his wife without words to say,
She looked back at him wiping tears away,
And, said "Someday we'll be OK, someday,"
Now the names have been changed, but the story's true,
My family was locked up back in '42,
My family was there it was dark and damp,
And they called it an internment camp"