Japanese at Topaz Held Onto Faith and Pride

Summary

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What allows people, in spite of the great injustices done to them, to move on to succeed and contribute so much to our communities?

Last week's 60th anniversary of the closing of Topaz, an internment camp where Japanese-Americans were imprisoned, made me ask that question. Here was a group of citizens who had to give up all their belongings, imprisoned by their own government for three years, and when released moved on to build successful lives. When I asked some friends who had lived in those camps about it, they replied, shika-ta-ganai, a Japanese philosophy meaning, "it can't be helped . . . it happened."

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Japanese at Topaz Held Onto Faith and Pride

Years ago, I had the privilege of being invited to attend the Japanese-American farmers' annual meeting in Fresno, Calif. As I watched the more than 1,000 elderly members a...

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