I'm sitting here in the city of Madison amidst a great white nation wondering honestly how the hell I ended
up here.
I'm reading an article about the story of a battalion that once trained not to far from here. Some 50 years
ago, one with Hawaii ties. People always ask me "Why Wisconsin"? I wonder myself time to time.
My ears are burning with emotions and pride that are indescribable, the hardship, the doubt, and the
feelings up of a generation torn by the horrors of human cruelty and differences.
Mr. ___ told me from his hospital bed that he had been there
Wisconsin the year 1942-training
To fight Nazi Fascism, Jewish Murder, American Racism.
He was offered to play for a military band
But he declined
He wasn't there to play music
The Wisconsin kids thought they were boy scouts in their military uniforms.
100th Battalion "Nisei" Japanese, Portuguese, Chinese, Hawaiian, Korean, Okinawan
Along the highway
I-94 to the Twin Cities
Between two large white bluffs
I wonder how far it is, McCoy
An unsettling feeling, the mere fact
Thoughts of the 442nd/100th bring to mind
Almost to tears
The irony of unseen ties from Hawaii to Wisconsin
Maybe I have another reason to be here
McCoy was not a wonderful place
Hawaii "AJAs" held against their will
Constant surveillance
Mistrust
Interned as the other thousands of dangerous Issei and Nisei
Of Hawaii, and the rest of a great white America.
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