Barbed Wire

BARB ED WI RE MIA WENJEN

BETWEEN US

V I O L E TA E N C A R N A C I Ó N

In memory of my mother, Rose Takahashi Wenjen, who helped to naturalize undocumented immigrants as a civil servant.

—Mia

To my brave mom, for her unwavering courage and strength in taking that first, lonely step across borders, so that we could dream again.

—Violeta

Barbed Wire Between Us Text copyright © 2026 Mia Wenjen Illustrations copyright © 2026 Violeta Encarnación Published in 2026 by Red Comet Press, LLC, Brooklyn, NY All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Library of Congress Control Number: 2025935215 ISBN (HB): 978-1-63655-192-0 ISBN (EBOOK): 978-1-63655-193-7 25 26 27 28 29 TLF 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 First Edition Manufactured in China Red Comet Press is distributed by ABRAMS, New York

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MIA WENJEN

V I O L E TA E N C A R N A C I Ó N

BA R B ED W I RE

BETWEEN US

RED COMET PRESS

•

BROOKLYN

In this land of promise, we hoped to find a place to belong.

To our surprise, we were unjustly imprisoned.

We came with only what we could carry.

Our family was separated.

Here, the sun was harsh . . .

and the nights were cold.

We suffered from the terrible dust that got into everything, even the meager food.

We did not know how long we would be behind barbed wire.

In this time of despair, we experienced the kindness of strangers.

Neighbors helped neighbors.

Immigrants helped immigrants.

We created beauty with what little we had.

But one day, it was over.

We were free to go.

Where darkness is, light will shine again.

From behind barbed wire, new life will begin.

Where darkness is, light will shine again.

From behind barbed wire, new life will begin.

We were free to go.

But one day, it was over.

We created beauty with what little we had.

In this time of despair, we experienced the kindness of strangers.

Neighbors helped neighbors.

Immigrants helped immigrants.

We did not know how long we would be behind barbed wire.

We suffered from the terrible dust that got into everything, even the meager food.

Here, the sun was harsh and the nights were cold.

Our family was separated.

To our surprise, we were unjustly imprisoned.

We came with only what we could carry.

In this land of promise, we hoped to find a place to belong.

T H E

S E T T I N G

FORT SILL LAWTON, OKLAHOMA

A CIRCULAR STORY

Set in Fort Sill, north of Lawton and about eighty-five miles southwest of Oklahoma City, this army base served as one of more than seventy internment camps, housing approximately seven hundred Japanese Americans during World War II.

A reverso poem tells a story in verse, and then uses the same phrases, but in reverse, to tell a different story—the context changing with the illustrations that accompany them.

Author Marilyn Singer created multiple award-winning books in this style.

Barbed Wire Between Us uses this format as a metaphor for history repeating itself.

Starting in 2014, Fort Sill served as an immigrant detention center for children. It is this parallel that serves as the setting for this book.

Going back further to the 1880s, Fort Sill also housed imprisoned members of the Chiricahua Apache Tribe, including their leader, Geronimo, who died at the fort in 1909.

AUTH O R ’ S

My mother was born in San Francisco’s Japantown, making her and her siblings US citizens. Her parents emigrated from Hiroshima, Japan. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Japanese Americans were forced into prison camps known as internment camps.

My mother and her family were fortunate. They had relatives living in a remote part of Utah and relocated there. Still, life was hard. For more than four years, they lived in a tent and worked as farm laborers. My mother rarely talked about her years in Utah. I only remember her saying that there were times that her family would joke that they would have been better off at a concentration camp.

Like other Japanese Americans, her family was also separated. Her brother—my uncle—joined the 442nd Infantry Regiment in the army to prove

N OTE

his loyalty to the United States. The soldiers in his unit were Nisei (second-generation) Japanese Americans. Known for their battle cry “Go for Broke,” they were the most decorated infantry regiment for their size in US military history.

During World War II, Japanese American families were separated for many reasons. Men were sent to different camps from their families simply for teaching at a Japanese language school, being a community leader, or owning a successful business.

Evidence collected during World War II by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Kenneth Ringle of the Office of Naval Intelligence was suppressed; this evidence proved that Japanese Americans were not a security threat. In 1976, President Gerald Ford issued a formal apology to the internees, and Congress approved reparation payments in 1988.

—MIA

ISBN 978-1-63655-192-0

9 781636 551920

51999