 Executive Order 9066 |
| ©Linda Allen 1989 The order came down in the middle of March THESE ARE OUR FRIENDS AND OUR NEIGHBORS All Japanese persons from Bainbridge must part LET JUSTICE FLOW LIKE A RIVER The Woodwards spoke out in the Bainbridge Review THESE ARE OUR FRIENDS AND OUR NEIGHBORS If they're coming for them, they'll be coming for you LET JUSTICE FLOW LIKE A RIVER This Island's been home since eighteen eighty-three To Japanese famililes now called enemy They had 10 days to pack or to sell all they owned To leave strawberry farms, small businesses, homes Over two hundred citizens crowded the dock And soldiers with bayonets guarded their flock They were herded like sheep on the ferry that day And the tears and the shame left us few words to say To Manzanar Camp they were taken at last Ten thousand people in a square mile of dust From the Camp they wrote letters to the Bainbridge Review "Sam and Kay just got married - how goes it with you?" The letters flowed back and forth over the miles Just friends gone away who'd be back in awhile Young men from the camp joined the army and fought While their families were left on the desert to rot After 30 long months they were told to go home There were businesses ruined and farms overgrown But many an Islander helped out a friend And cried as they welcomed them back home again So here's to the Woodwards and others who dared Here's to the Island with the courage to care For the sake of the children the story we tell We must watch out for cracks in the liberty bell Notes: Jerry Elfindahl of Bainbridge Island first told me the stories which inspired this song. The exhibit "Kadomo No Tame Ne (For The Sake Of The Children)" brought it all home. |