<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Unwritten Note<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The news is on everyone’s lips</div><div class="">like flies gathering on excrement:</div><div class="">President Roosevelt has ordered</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">our removal. Will we be </div><div class="">taken from our homes like vermin?</div><div class="">I know it must be a misunderstanding,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">gossip spread in these</div><div class="">harsh times. I choke </div><div class="">on acrid laughter.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">It is not possible.</div><div class="">After all, I served</div><div class="">my chosen country in the Army,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">in the Great War. So I go to see</div><div class="">my longtime friend and sheriff</div><div class="">of Monterey County.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><i class="">Is is no joke, Hideo. You’ll have to go.</i></div><div class="">He can’t look me in the eyes.</div><div class="">When he finds my body hung</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">in this rented room, with</div><div class="">my certificate of honorary citizenship</div><div class="">expressing honor and respect</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><i class="">for your loyal and splendid</i></div><div class=""><i class="">service to the country,</i></div><div class="">he will understand why</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I could not allow </div><div class="">this noble country to tarnish</div><div class="">its honor, or mine.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Jodi Hottel</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><i class="">Today, February 19, is <span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16.8px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">the 75th anniversary of the day that President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced removal and incarceration of more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans, two-thirds of whom were citizens.</span><span style="font-family: 'Open Sans', sans-serif; font-size: 16.8px; orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""> </span></i></div></body></html>