8 Asians

News Hour: Oregon’s Poet Laureate Reflects on Japanese Internment

On Friday’s (10/3/08) PBS’s New Hour, the news program did a story on Oregon’s Poet Laureate, Lawson Fusao Inada, a 3rd generation Japanese-American who :

“Along with more than a hundred thousand other Japanese Americans, Lawson Fusao Inada was sent to internment camps for the duration of World War II. He was one of the youngest Japanese Americans to live in the camps.”

Unfortunately, PBS doesn’t host its video program, but you can listen to Inada’s story here and listen to his poetry, as well as others in a Portland, Oregon park dedicated to Japanese-Americans who were interned.

Whenever I read, watch or listen about a story of the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, I am always shocked at one of the great injustices the United States has ever enacted on its own citizens. Let us certainly never forget this so that we will never repeat this again.

Other posts you might be interested in:

• Azn Television Creates Space for Community on their Website
• KQED: Pacific Time, Japanese internment camp
• Karoshi Strikes Again in Japan
• KTEH: The War: The Nisei Soldiers
• What Do You Know About Interracial Dating & Marriage?

Comments (1) to “News Hour: Oregon’s Poet Laureate Reflects on Japanese Internment”

1. jaehwan wrote:

   John,

   Thanks for the link. I’m local to Portland, but I had no idea that PBS interviewed Lawson Inada recently. Mr. Inada spoke at our Thymos event this past summer.

   Mr. Inada is a fantastic poet, an awesome storyteller, and an amazing teacher. Anyone who has the opportunity to see this pioneer of Asian American culture should do so. He’s absolutely phenomenal.

   Posted on 08-Oct-08 at 1:50 pm | Permalink

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