“A Time”

by Fred Yamashita (whose family was interned at Heart Mt. Internment Camp in  Wyoming)

A time to be or not to be

To reiterate my show of loyalty

My love of life and land

Is like that of any other man

Then why should we be denied?

We can’t trust the “slanty eyed”

This can’t be real, this tale of fiction

Still I salute the contradiction

That waves so bold red, white and blue

It stands for freedom and justice, for who?

 

A time to see or not to see

What has happened to my family

To my people so strong, so proud

The tears they shed aren’t heard aloud

But anger and confusion seeps through the soul

And what we want America to know

Is that we will endure despite and within

The laws you have forged to fence us in

We will fight for you

Unlock these yellow hands

And with our blood, prove to be

True Americans.

Fred Yamashita speaking at the Pima County Democratic Party HQ

Fred Yamashita is the Southern Az Director of UFCW 99, United Food & Commercial Workers Union Local 99, in Tucson, Arizona. He recited this heartfelt poem at the SAJCC tour of the Gila River Internment Camp/Relocation Center memorial in Gila River, Arizona on January 24, 2015.