And Then They Came For Me

“AND THEN THEY CAME FOR ME” is a powerful exhibit about the internment of Japanese-American citizens living on the west coast of the United States during World War II.

We were fortunate to get to see it. On the second floor of the gallery, a documentary about the internment is shown each hour. There are also photographs and artifacts from the internment.

While I knew that the internment took place, I didn’t know until seeing this film about some of the worst abuses. I didn’t know that the people being herded into these subhuman conditions were given a loyalty oath test. Those who didn’t pass it were put in maximum security prisons along with their young children, some of them babies. I didn’t know that the government forbid photography of the barbed wire fences censoring the news coverage that came out of the camps. Dorothea Lange and Ansel Adams were hired to take pictures. While they were given many restrictions, they managed to take some pictures that showed the humanity and the tragedy of this blot on American’s conscience. A Japanese man who was interned smuggled a banned camera into the internment camp. Many of these heretofore unseen photos are shown in the gallery.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan issued a half-hearted apology to the Japanese-Americans who were interned and each family was given $20,000. This hardly compensates for the five years of these peoples’ lives that they’ll never get back. It didn’t compensate for the businesses and farms that were taken from them. When the Japanese returned to their homes after the War, their businesses were gone or unclaimable in most cases. They continued to be taunted and discriminated against. What is $20,000 in the face of such loss?

Most Americans don’t learn about the Japanese internment in history classes. Many of us, have never heard of it. Fortunately, we have this exhibit to tell us or remind us.

In this time of talk of Muslim registries and deporting Mexican-Americans, we would do well to remember what can happen when hysteria and bigotry carry the day. We need to look back and vow that we won’t allow this to happen again. While FDR is in large part responsible for this, it couldn’t have happened without the passive consent of the American people.

“And Then They Came for Me” is also the title of a poem written just after World War II by the pastor Martin Niemoller.

First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

“And Then They Came for Me” is free and open to the public and has been shown at the Alphawood Gallery at 2401 North Halsted Street in Chicago since June 29^th of this year and will close on November 19^th. This is short notice but if you have time to see this exhibit in its closing days, it’s a must see.

The exhibit is traveling to the New York International Center of Photography and will open there on January 26, 2018.