Kenji

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 solider

He was just a man with a family who owned a store in L.A.

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 L.A. from Japan, they called him immigrant

In Japanese, he'd say he was called issei

That meant first generation in the United States

When everyone 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 comin'

Pictures of soldiers dyin' and runnin'

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 a days

To get his whole life packed in two bags, just two bags

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 goin'?"

Nobody even knew what to say to them

Ken didn't wanna lie, he said, the U.S. is lookin' for spies

So we have to live in a place called Manzanar

Where are lot of Japanese people are

Stop it, don't look at the gunman

You don't wanna get the soldiers wonderin'

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

So now they're in a town with soldiers surroundin' 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 doin' 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 joinin' the Army, and supposedly

Some men went out for the Army, signed on

And ended up flyin' to Japan with a bomb

That fifteen 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 of his bags at his sides

And just stood outside, he

Looked at his wife without words to say

She looked back at him, wipin' 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