My father came Japan in 1905 He was 15 when he immigrated Japan He worked until was able to buy - to actually build a store Let tell you the story in the form of a dream, I don't know why I have to it but I know what it means, Close your eyes, just the scene, As I paint it for it was World War II, When this named Kenji woke up, was not a soldier, He was just a man with a family who owned a in LA, That day, he crawled of bed like he always did, and eggs with wife and kids, He lived on the second floor of a little store ran, He to LA from Japan, They him 'Immigrant,' In Japanese, say he was called "Issei," That meant 'First Generation The United States,' When everyone was afraid of the Germans, afraid the Japs, But most of all of a homeland attack, that morning when Ken went out on the doormat, world went black 'cause, Right there; page news, weeks before 1942, "Pearl Harbour's Been Bombed And The Are Comin'" Pictures of soldiers and runnin', Ken knew what it would lead Just he guessed, the President said, "The Japanese in our home country will be locked away," They Ken, a couple of days, To get whole life packed in two bags, Just two bags, couldn't even his clothes, Some folks even have a suitcase, to pack anything in, So two trash bags is all gave them, the kids asked mom "Where are we goin'?" Nobody even knew to say to them, Ken didn't lie, he said "The US is lookin' for spies, So we have to live in a place called Where a lot of Japanese people Stop it don't look at gunmen, don't wanna get the soldiers wonderin', If gonna run or not, 'Cause if you run then you might get Other than try not to think about it, Try not to worry it; bein' so crowded, Someday we'll get someday, someday. As soon as war out The F.B.I. came and they just come the house and "You have come" "All the have to go" They took Mr. People didn't understand did they have to take him? Because he's laborer laborer So now they're in a town soldiers surroundin' them, Every day, every night look down at watch towers up on the wall, Ken couldn't hate them at all; were just doin' their job and, He wasn't gonna any problems, He had a little with vegetables and fruits that, He gave to the troops a basket his wife made, But in the back of his mind, he wanted his families saved, Prisoners of war in their damn country, What for? Time passed in prison town, He wanted to live it down when they were free, The only out was joinin' the army, And supposedly, some men went out for army, signed on, And up flyin' to Japan with a bomb, That 15 blast, put an end to the war pretty fast, Two cities were blown to bits; the end of war came quick, Ken got out, big hopes of a normal life, his kids and his wife, But, when they got back to their What they saw them feel so alone, These people had trashed room, Smashed in the windows and in the doors, Written on the walls the floor, "Japs not anymore." And Kenji dropped both of his bags at his sides and just outside, He, at his wife without words to say, She looked back at him wiping tears And, said "Someday we'll be okay, Now the names have been changed, but the true, My family was locked up in '42, My family there it was dark and damp, And they called it internment camp When we first got back from uhh It pretty... pretty bad I remember my husband said "Are we gonna 'til last?" Then my husband died they close the camp.