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Dancing To The Radio
Radios and cameras are considered contraband and not allowed in camp, although visiting GI’s on R & R bring cameras and radios for family members… In Dancing to the Radio, two young boys enjoy the music playing on the radio… In 1943, the Nisei kids and my parents enjoy popular music as much as their white peers; it’s the era of energetic big bands like Glen Miller, Harry James and Benny Goodman.

Gene Sogioka, c 1942-43.
“Political Fires of Discontent”

“Acts Of Violence – The Beating”
Tensions peak when two internees are accused and imprisoned for organizing the beating of an alleged FBI informer. The accused are denied legal representation and the WRA refuses to intervene on their behalf. The Beating conveys the intensity of the raw violence in a smear of red color against a cluster of male bodies pounding down on the suspected informer.

Fires Of Political Unrest
Gene Sogioka c1942-43

“Leaving Poston Sepia and White”
“Not everyone is happy to depart the camps… my maternal grandfather holds his grandson’s hand and one small suitcase as grandmother wraps a supportive arm around his sagging shoulders and carries her own suitcase in a tableau of sadness. Their faces reflect uncertainty of their return to the outside world; they have lost their home to arson during the war and their lives have changed forever.”

“The Card Game”
“Four young Nisei men sit at a table playing cards as their anxious girlfriends watch in the background waiting for a fight to break out. .. A dishwasher earns only $12.00 per month and can easily lose his pay on a single bet, but it is not enough to deter illegal card games and gambling.”

“A Fishing Tall Tale”
“An Issei man describes and embellishes the size of his catch with wide spread hands to a passing fisherman on his way back from the river with his catch, Fishing is a favorite pastime for my father and many Issei, who are allowed to walk to the Colorado River and use balls of Wonder Bread for bait. The WRA is no longer concerned that internees leave the campgrounds to fish, as there is no place to run or escape.” (Poston was the only camp not surrounded by barbed wire tk.)