Days of Waiting

The true story of one of the few Caucasians to suffer "protective arrest" in a Japanese internment camp during World War II is recounted in the words, artwork, and photography of the victim herself: Estelle Ishigo, an Oakland born LA resident who married a Japanese American (in Mexico: interracial marriages were outlawed in California) and, rather than face separation during her husband's wartime internment, submitted herself to the same humiliation. In its brief, thirty minute length the film gives only a slim account of her experience, but while it may not shed any new light on the subject it provides at least another small reminder of a less than glorious episode in American history, one which shouldn't be swept under the carpet and forgotten, as its victims were. Long after the war, the US government settled its moral obligation by reimbursing the Ishigos for the loss of all their worldly possessions and property with a check for $102.50.