Dear Reader…
Imagine being a young Japanese-American child in Los
Angeles in early 1942.
You stand on a crowded train platform on a chilly morning. You tightly squeeze your mother’s hand as you
look up at her. At first glance, she
appears calm and even has a slight smile on her face, but even at that young of
an age, you can read the fear in her eyes.
You glance around and look at some more of the families
waiting for the train. Many of them are
dressed in what appear to be some of their fanciest clothing as they clutch
bags and suitcases close to them. If you
hadn’t sensed the anxiety and chaos the past weeks, you might have thought
everyone was going on a vacation.
“We’re going on a long train trip,” your mother had told you
that morning as she tightly buttoned up your coat. “I need you to be good for me, okay?”
That’s when you noticed tears at the corners of her eyes and
how she quickly turned away from you to wipe them away.
Within the past few days, you sat on the sidelines and watched
your parents giving away or selling most of their belongings for pennies on the
dollar. At one point, your mother lost
her usual calm composure in the front yard when a Caucasian man argued with her
over the price of a porcelain ballerina figurine. When the man demanded once again that she
lower the price, she’d picked up the figurine and in one swift, violent
movement smashed it against the sidewalk.
“Now, it’s free!” she had yelled at him, before hurrying
back into the house.
Now on the train platform, men in military outfits corral
people in different directions as the chug
chug sound of the train approached.
“It’s time,” your father says, picking up the small amount
of luggage each family was permitted to carry.
You look at the identification ticket that resembled a
luggage tag that had been attached to you with a safety pin when your family
arrived as if you were just one more piece of baggage.
A silence comes over the crowd as the train approaches, and
you notice that the windows of the train have been blacked out.
“Where are we going, Mama?” you asked, as you tugged on her
skirt.
Your mother looks down at you and just shakes her head at
loss for words.
***
In February 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order
9066 which required over 100,000 Japanese-Americans who had committed no crimes
to be forcibly relocated from their homes and sent to internment camps in far
flung parts of the country. The country
was experiencing a wave of fear towards Japanese-Americans after the bombing of
Pearl Harbor during World War II. Thousands of these American citizens would
spend years held prisoner behind barbed wire fence and guard towers. Families and lives would be torn apart, and
this part of American history would spend decades practically erased from our
history books. After all, something such
as concentration camps couldn’t happen in a country such as the United
States.
Could it?
In my new novel
Gardens of Hope, can two men from the same city but segregated worlds
maintain a connection during a time in US
history that not only brands one of them as the enemy but denies that a love
such as theirs exists?
Michael Holloway Perronne
www.michaelhperronne.com
About the Author
Michael Holloway Perronne is the
author of eight books including: "A Time Before
Me," "Falling Into Me", "A Time Before Us, Men Can Do
Romance" "Gardens of Hope," and"Embrace the
Rain." His debut novel, "A Time Before Me" won the
BronzeAward, Foreword Magazine's Book of the Year Award in the Gay/Lesbian fiction category.
Michael was born and raised in Mississippi.
He received a BA in Film from the University of Southern
Mississippi and a MFA in Drama and Communications
from the University of New Orleans.
He
currently resides in Southern California and is working
on his next novel, "The Other Side of Happy."
His recent release is Gardens
of Hope.
WEBSITE & SOCIAL LINKS:
WEBSITE | GOODREADS | FACEBOOK
About the Book:
Title:
GARDENS OF HOPE
Author: Michael Holloway Perronne
Publisher: Chances Press
Pages: 268
Genre: Gay fiction/Historical Fiction/Historical Romance
Author: Michael Holloway Perronne
Publisher: Chances Press
Pages: 268
Genre: Gay fiction/Historical Fiction/Historical Romance
On the surface, Jack appears to have all a
man in World War II era 1941 could want with his solid middle-class background,
upcoming college graduation, and the perfect, devoted fiancee. But one night
when he accidentally stumbles upon a shadow life of men who desire other men in
a Downtown Los Angeles park, he begins to realize exactly what has always left
him with a feeling of emptiness.
Despite the constant danger of being
arrested by vice cops, Jack continues to visit the park every chance he has to
feel a connection, no matter how fleeting, with another man. One night he meets
a handsome and charismatic Japanese-American, Hiro, who appears to want more
than a quick encounter, and Jack surprises himself by starting to truly fall in
love for the first time.
However, after the bombing of Pearl
Harbor, President Roosevelt issues Executive Order 9066 and orders the
mandatory relocation of over 100,000 Japanese-Americans, who have never been
charged with a crime, to far flung internment camps sites. Jack and Hiro
suddenly find themselves torn apart before their secret, fledgling romance can
blossom. Desperate to find and reconnect with Hiro, Jack accepts a high school
teaching position at an internment camp in the California desert, Manzanar.
There, surrounded by armed guard towers and a prison-like environment, Jack
begins to fully realize the injustices being faced by Japanese-Americans during
one of the most controversial times of United States history and shifts his
world view- forever.
No comments:
Post a Comment