Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment (edited by Linda Gordon and Gary Okihro , Norton, $29.95 288p ISBN 0-393-06073-X 228pages 104photos)
Apparently Dorothea Lange was hired by the US Govt in 1942 to photograph the internment camps, but was instructed not to photograph the barbed wires, guard posts ,watchtowers, armed guards, or any images of resistance to the internments. She still managed to push the envelope though, which is probably why almost all these photos have never been published.
At the age of 12, I was profoundly shocked by our government's actions against, among others, its own citizens. I still think Franklin Roosevelt was a great President, but this was a terrrible blot on an otherwise fine administration.
Thankfully, we have never gone to war against Scotland, so I have never been placed in an internment camp. I am, howver, in danger of going to prison, since if the House of Representatives has its way, it will be a felony for me to continue to provide food for the needy without checking to see if any of them are undocumented aliens. I have no intention of changing my activities.
Perhaps Dorothea Lange's images will help to make future governmental excesses less likely.
Bookmarks