Farewell to Manzanar pages 50 to 60

                                                            Summery

Chapter 9
Papa rarely talks about his experiences at Fort Lincoln because of his humiliation at being accused of disloyalty. Other men experience this sense of helplessness and rage, and these feelings eventually build up  in the December Riot, which takes place one year after the Pearl Harbor attack. In the months before the riot, the mess hall bells ring often to signal meetings to demand better food, better wages, and even outright revolt. Some meetings lead to beatings or assassination threats. On the night of December 5, 1942, a group of men attacks Fred Tayama, a leader of the Japanese American Citizens League.
The next day, the camp authorities arrest three men for the attack and send them to jail ten miles away in the town of Independence. One of the men is a cook known for trying to organize a Kitchen Worker’s Union and accusing the white chief steward of selling food from the camp’s warehouses on the black market. His arrest triggers a riot, but Papa refuses to be apart or it. He keeps the family inside their barracks during the riot and Jeanne can hear the mobs roaming the camp, shouting slogans. Papa calls the rioters idiots, but Mama backs them up by saying that they don’t want to be treated like animals. The authorities agree to bring the cook back to camp but by 6:00 p.m., there are 2,000 rioters and the camp security force has disappeared. One group of rioters goes to free the cook, and the other goes to the hospital to finish off Fred Tayama. One group throws rocks at a unit of military police, which they use tear gas. The Japanese run away. In the confusion, the police open fire with machine guns, killing two Japanese and injuring ten others. Late that night the mess hall bells begin to toll, and Jeanne sees the camp searchlights for the first time. The bells toll all night and do not stop until noon the next day.
Chapter 10

Jeanne’s brother-in-law Kaz is a foreman of a reservoir maintenance crew that must leave the camp on the night of the riots. They are given an ax handles to protect themselves if the rioters discover them working with the administration. They drove to the reservoir, checked the water, and set up camp in a small shack where each crew must spend its twenty four hour shift. Kaz, lying in his cot, thinks he sees something go past the window. Suddenly the door flies open and four military police come rushing into the room. They back the Japanese up against the wall at gunpoint, thinking that they have discovered a group of saboteurs. The young sergeant asks what the Japanese are doing, and Kaz tells them that they are the reservoir crew and are outside camp on official orders. The sergeant is suspicious of them and asks why they have ax handles. Kaz explains that the ax handles are for protection and suggests that the sergeant go back to camp to verify the story. The reservoir crew and the military police look at each other in fear until the sergeant returns with clearance thirty minutes later.

            Characters

Kaz: Is a Foreman of a reservoir maintenance crew.