If you ever have a chance to see this show — GO! This show is a blueprint for how to capture hearts and minds to engage in history.
This event — Defining Courage — about the previously overlooked incredible feats of the Nisei (Japanese American) soldiers in WWII was first brought to Hawaii in March and sold out; this April date was added, and also packed the house at the Hawaii Theatre. This is not just a documentary, not just education, and not just entertainment. It was a soul-filling, awe-inspiring, at times fury and despair inducing gift. This was such a unique production. I had thought it was a film. It was more than that. On the website, it is described as “An Immersive Experience Daring Us To Live Courageously.” First of all, there was live narration by Los Angeles-based journalist David Ono, who along with Jeff MacIntyre, produced the show. They traveled to the scenes of the events — France, Italy, Okinawa, and Saipan. This provided much of the film footage as they attempted to capture the sense of what happened, how it impacted the locals there, and the war in general. There were recorded interviews of the now elderly Nisei veterans who fought. There were incredible musical performances -vocal and instrumental — that provided another layer of expression. Chicken skin (Goose bumps.) So much talent. Everyone involved seemed to give it 100% — like they knew how significant this was. They say there are many people who do not know about the 100th Battalion and 442nd Infantry — the all Japanese American unit who fought bravely and impressively in Europe. They were the most decorated military unit in Army history for their size and length of service. Many young men were enlisted from the internment camps where their families were held captive during the war. This is depicted in the musical Allegiance starring and inspired by George Takei. It is also the subject of many novels — I recall reading No-No Boy when I was in college many years ago. This tension — that the Nisei were driven to prove their American-ness despite being so horribly treated in this country — is heart-wrenching. Defining Courage tells these stories and more. Most of the Nisei soldiers were from Hawaii — I have several uncles who were in the 100th and 442nd. There was an internment camp on Oʻahu. Those whom the government thought had ties to Japan were confined there, but they could not imprison all the Japanese in Hawaii, as they did on the mainland, there were just too many. Yet, it is believed that the men who volunteered did so for the same reasons that the mainland Nisei did — to prove their loyalty to the U.S. Included in this production are other stories of the Nisei soldiers that are lesser known, but as we find out — equally significant. One thing I did not know was that they played an important role in the liberation of the Jews from Dachau. You may be familiar with those horrifying images in which the Holocaust victims are shown in their striped prison clothes, emaciated and near death. I learned that the Nisei were cut out of the official photos so that it appeared that only the white soldiers liberated the Jews there. There is one touching story of a Nisei soldier who saved a Jewish teenagerʻs life. Also included was the war in Okinawa, where bilingual Nisei soldiers served in a unit called the Military Intelligence Service (MIS). Besides intercepting Japanese plans, they were instrumental in convincing the Okinawans, who were hiding in caves, to come out. They had been told by the Japanese that the Americans were demons and would do horrible things to them. A nisei MIS set up a loudspeaker in a cave and pleaded with the Okinawans to come to safety. There is incredible footage showing the civilians emerging from the caves. I teared up seeing the elderly men recounting their stories in interviews. The one about Okinawa, in which a Nisei knew the soldiers that he had captured because he had gone to school with them, was especially moving. Because the war was over, they embraced and cried together. So many stories. But why is it important to know this? In the news today, some fascistic politicians want to suppress history by banning books and rewriting curriculum. They want us to believe that slavery was benign and that racism is nonsense. In places that are heading in that direction, they likely wonʻt want their students to learn about the internment camps or about the bravery and contributions of the Nisei soldiers. The mission of the Japanese American National Museum, one of the productionʻs partners, is to continue to tell the story of the internment so that it wonʻt happen again — not to anyone. This show is not just about Japanese American history, but it is about justice, democracy, and equality and the courage that we need when these values are threatened. It is timely, not just in learning history, but in reflecting on the significance in todayʻs world of egregious policies that serve to elevate one groupʻs supremacy over others. This is not the America that all our soldiers fought wars over. It is what they fought against. The more you know, the more you can approach the world with clear eyes and critical minds. Fascism has no place in a democracy, even if it is in our own country.
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