My father came from Japan in 1905
He was 15 when he emigrated from Japan
He, he, he worked until he was able to buy-
To actually build a store
Let me tell you a story in the form of a dream
I don't know why I have to tell it, but I know what it means
Close your eyes, just picture the scene
As I paint it for you
It was World War II when this man named Kenji woke up
Ken was not a soldier
He was just a man with a family who owned a store in LA
That day, he crawled out of bed like he always did
Bacon and eggs with wife and kids
He lived on the second floor of a little store he ran
He moved to LA from Japan, they called him immigrant
In Japanese, he'd say he was called "iisei"
That meant first generation in the United States
When everybody was afraid of the Germans, afraid of the Japs
But most of all, afraid of a homeland attack
And that morning, when Ken went out on the doormat
His world went black 'cause
Right there, front page news, three weeks before 1942
Pearl Harbor's been bombed and "The Japs Are Coming'"
Pictures of soldiers dying and running
Ken knew what it would lead to
Just like he guessed, the president said
"The evil Japanese in our home country would be locked away"
They gave Ken a couple of days
To get his whole life packed in two bags
Just two bags, he couldn't even pack his clothes
Some folks didn't even have a suitcase to pack anything in
So two trash bags is all they gave them
And when the kids asked, "Mom, where are we going?"
Nobody even knew what to say to them
Ken didn't wanna lie, he said, "The US is looking for spies
So we have to live in a place called Manzanar
Where a lot of Japanese people are"
Stop it, don't look at the gunmen
You don't wanna get the soldiers wondering
If you're gonna run or not
'Cause if you run, then you might get shot
Other than that, try not to think about it
Try not to worry 'bout it being so crowded
'Cause someday, we'll get out, someday, someday
Yeah, soon as war broke out, the FBI came, and
They just come to the house
And you have to come, all the Japanese have to go
They took Mr. Ni, the people couldn't understand
Why'd they have to take him because he's just an innocent laborer
So now they're in a town with soldiers surrounding them
Every day, every night, looked down at them
From watchtowers up on the wall
Ken couldn't really hate them at all
They were just doing their job and
He wasn't gonna make any problems
He had a little garden
Vegetables and fruits that he gave to the troops in a basket his wife made
But in the back of his mind, he wanted his family's life saved
Prisoners of war in their own damn country, what for?
And time passed in the prison town
He wondered if he'd live it down
If and when they were free
The only way out was joining the army
And supposedly, some men went out for the army, signed on
And ended up flying to Japan with a bomb
That 15-kiloton blast put an end to the war pretty fast
Two cities were blown to bits, the end of the war came quick
And Ken got out, big hopes of a normal life
With his kids and his wife
But then they got back to their home
And what they saw made him feel so alone
These people had trashed every room
Smashed in the windows and bashed in the doors
Written on the walls and the floor
"Japs not welcome anymore"
And Kenji dropped both his bags at his sides and just stood outside
He looked at his wife without words to say
She looked back at him, wiping tears away
And said, "Someday, we'll be okay, someday"
Now, the names have been changed, but the story's true
My family was locked up back in '42
My family was there, where it was dark and damp
And they called it an internment camp
When we first got back from camp, uh, it was pretty, pretty bad
I, I remember, my husband said, "Oh, we're gonna stay 'til last"
Then my husband died before they closed the camp
