Book by owen daniels

The Shadow on the Coast

By Owen Daniels

Owen Daniels is a Junior at Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. He is a ďŹ lm student who likes to make movies. He likes history and math, and enjoys the occasional science. This human parasite also enjoys mountain biking, swimming, and reading. He believes that the best solution to overpopulation is a mass culling of everyone who can’t do basic math.

The Shadow on the Coast

By Owen Daniels

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To my parents, who have let me leech o their earnings for the past years.

Left -tDevils Slide Bunker

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Acknowledgement First and foremost, I would like to give a huge thank you to our 4 Interviewees; David Cresson, J.Q Oeswein, Michael Mesner, and Frank Navarro for taking time out of day to meet with us and teach us. Next I want to thank Freestyle Academy for guiding me through this project and allowing me and my partner free creative range.

Cheers!

View of the Pacific Coast from Devils Slide

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Table of Contets Preface Introduction Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Conclusion

page 8 page 11 page 12 page 18 page 22 page 24 7

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Preface The Freestyle Documentary is a three-month long project involving a research paper in English, a book or magazine layout in Design, and in my case, a full blown documentary in Film. Throughout my career as a student I have loved history.

When my partner and I chose our topic to be a huge historical monument, I was ecstatic. This documentary project however, was far more than another history essay. We had to contact people we had never met, find all our resources, do all the research, and travel back and forth from Half Moon Bay almost every weekend.

This documentary was a parasite that sucked all the free time out of my body. The worst part of the experience was easily the continuous commute from Mountain View to Half Moon Bay, with a 50 minute travel distance, if there was no traďŹƒc. However, my partner and I were very fortunate to have very generous interviewees who took time out of their busy schedules to meet with us. We were never that inconvenienced by our travels to the coast, as we were pretty well organized with our dates.

When we arrived, we were astounded by the beauty of the coastal bunkers. The most rewarding experience I personally have gained was learning more about California’s personal history. I am very grateful for this documentary project, as I learned to work out of my comfort zone and try out new things.

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Introduction As you approach the cliff side, you see a decrepit structure overlooking the sea. The building seems to have become a giant canvas, as it is littered inside and out with colorful graffiti and colorful language. As the cold coastal breeze sweeps through you, you notice that despite having a tiny entrance and windows, the building is sealed off. Would it surprise you that this weathered, seemingly useless building was once an icon of military prowess, a WW2 Coastal Bunker? This bunker once stood tall, surveying the coast, but now it lies on the cliff and rots. The emblem of the bunker and the emotions of WW2 led to the incarceration of an entire race of people stimulated by the rising tensions and fear in the nation.

Throughout the world, there are very few things that begin at the creation of life and survive to present day. One primordial emotion, originating as an alarm system for the most basic of creature, has persisted throughout the creation of the earth. This emotion is fear, and to this day it affects our daily lives. Fear has evolved into many related forms of expression: doubt, cowardice and, most the dangerous of all, prejudice. Prejudice stems from the fear of differences. Whether that prejudice is racism, sexism, religious disputes, or any other, it all stems from fear.

On first examination, fear and a stone monument may seem like they have nothing in common. However, while the bunker can continue to change without little issue, today’s prejudices need to disappear.

Because if left alone, this prejudice will carry on, jumping from race to race, continuing the cycle of hatred and irrational fear that has plagued humanity for countless generations.

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CHAPTER 1:

“If you were to drive past it on Highway 1, you would see a massive concrete block. I don’t know, maybe two thirds of the size of this classroom covered with graffiti. And you’d think that somebody started a building project and then abandoned it,” says Michael Mesner, Los Altos History Teacher. He continues, “So the idea was, that it was an observation port for people to see if any Japanese aircraft or any Japanese ships headed towards the west coast.” The majority of the installations, including devil’s slide, were made in order to function as watch towers and defensive units. However, one installation known as Point Montara was set up as a military training post and artillery storage. One expert on Point Montara, J.Q Oeswein, comments, “Point Montara was an anti-aircraft training center, it was a top secret facility and it was top secret for many reasons, including the technology that eventually developed the radar, which was top secret at the time.” Montara and Devil’s slide are only a few miles apart, most likely making the bunker Point Montara’s’ main watchtower. One of the more incredible feats of the bunker and Point Montara were how rapidly they were constructed and mobilized.

The reason for this mobilization, of course, was due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. “We probably should’ve seen it coming. There had been some indications that this was going to happen and that would bring us into the war,” says Frank Navarro, a historian. Pearl Harbor, December 7th, 1941, was a day where the Japanese military sent Kamikaze pilots down on to an American Harbor containing battleships, submarines, and aircraft carriers. This attack pushed the United States into WW2. “And from that instant on, from that day of infamy, as the president called it,on until the end of the war, Americans, especially the Americans right here on the California coast, were feeling threatened as that’s exactly what could happen to the California coast.” David Cresson, Californian Historian said. This mobilization turned into a complete lock down for California: Commercial planes were forced to land, Boats were forced to stay in port, many forms of radios and outside communication were taken from Civilians, and the entire coastal area became militarized. Oeswein elaborates, saying that, “This was a very unique place in fact the whole coast side in the beginning of the war right after Pearl Harbor in December 13

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1941. The military actually moved in and set up fortifications all along the west coast. And of course this is because we were vulnerable to Japanese attack. So they pretty much came in and took over the whole West Coast and set up military installations almost everywhere.� Today, the bunker stands atop the cliff side, still surveying the ocean, a shadow of its former influence. Although these installations were a sign of comfort and security for most Americans, they had a completely different meaning to the Japanese Americans, who faced great fear and prejudice throughout the wartime.

Left- Remains of Anti Aircraft Training Center

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“WELL, THE BUNKER WAS CONSTRUCTED IN THE CONTEXT OF WORLD WAR TWO, THE ONES ON DEVIL SLIDE. SO THERE IS FEAR THAT THE JAPANESE WILL BE ABLE TO MAKE AN ATTACK OR AT LEAST AN APPROACH TO THE CALIFORNIA COAST.”

Michael Mesner

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Chapter 11 On December 7th, 1941, The United States of America was attacked and brought into World War 2.

During the early stages of the U.S.A’s WW2 mobilization, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made a decision that shaped the lives of every American, of all minorities. This was a decision influenced by irrational fear and prejudice.

On February 19th, 1942, the President passed Executive Order 9066, calling for the relocation of all Japanese Americans and Immigrants. Regarding the incident, Mesner remarks, “Well, the government found that there was absolutely no evidence that any of the Japanese Americans, these are American citizens, we’re talking about, had done anything wrong. No evidence that they had done anything to sabotage the American war effort. Nevertheless, they were still locked up and President Roosevelt gave an executive order that gave the military the ability to relocate the Japanese Americans away from the west coast.” Due to this order, many of the Japanese Americans and Japanese Immigrants in California were relocated from their homes and farms, getting sent to tiny internment camps to live as prisoners.

Cresson comments on the racism during the war: “Nothing compared to the Japanese who, of course, had the misfortune of not only being the enemy that was to the west, but also they had the misfortune of having a different skin color, which made it even easier to exercise your prejudices.” Many people at the time were afraid that the Japanese Americans were spying and relaying information to the supposed

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Japanese Submarines and thus, were so afraid of the possibility that their prejudice against the Japanese rose to drastic levels. “There was a great deal of fear in this war. People watched carefully and, the Japanese, were of a different race, and that fear would play a role,” Navarro explains. The Japanese were first rounded up near old race tracks, taking only what they could carry. Then, soon after, they were taken to one of 10 incarceration camps. These camps were located in isolated, mountainous areas, deprived of any other human contact besides their own community. “It was basically a concentration camp,” Cresson Remarks, “and they stayed in that concentration camp from 1942 until the war was over in 1945 because we were so afraid of what these Japanese people could do.”

Throughout this war, both Americans and Japanese Americans felt very similar fears for very different reasons. While Americans felt threatened for their lives and safety due to an enemy attack. The Japanese felt fear for their lives, due to their own country’s prejudice. Like the bunker, this American feelings of irrational fear persisted long after WW2 ended, even though the object of fear has changed. This time, the irrational fear and prejudice has focused its attention on Muslims.

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Archived Photo of Executive Order 9066, beginning the internment of Japanese Americans. - Credit to Atomic Heritage

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Photo of Japanese Americans entering an Internment Camp - Archive Photo Credit to http-/dneiwert.blogspot.com

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Chapter 111 On September 11, 2001, The United States of America was attacked. A terrorist organization known as Al Qaeda crashed 2 planes into the World Trade Center, bringing the U.S into the war on Terrorism.

Unfortunately, what would occur from 9/11 onward, would be the growing prejudice against Muslims. “There were some incidents of hatred against Muslims and Afghanis on the days following 9/11 in the Bay Area, particularly in the East Bay,” Mesner recalls. This hatred, led on by the newfound fear and prejudice towards Muslims, spread across the nation. “You have to remember that at this particular time, especially after the Japanese attacked – this was a major major event similar to, I guess, when 9/11 would be in your lifetime.

We were attacked and we had to respond,” Oeswein says.

Unfortunately, Oeswein’s comparison of Pearl Harbor and 9/11 is dead accurate.

After the Japanese Americans returned from internment, they were issued a government apology, and sent on their 22

way. While some Japanese were welcomed back with opened arms, many were rejected from their old homes. “It’s a sad commentary because Californians tend to think of themselves as very open minded, very liberal, very accepting, particularly in northern California. And our true history is full of our racial hatred and racial mishaps,” Mesner remarks. The prejudice and irrational fear against Muslim Americans is full throttle to this day, with many people still holding their prejudices against Muslims. “So in the case with Muslims, we have a tendency to want to demonize these people and when a nation is going through economic peril or feeling under attack,” Navarro laments.

Most notably, we’ve seen the fear and prejudice towards Muslims rise between 2016 through 2018 with the election of President Donald Trump. President Trump, throughout his campaign, manipulated the fears and prejudices of his followers to his advantage, as all politicians do. The irrational fear from 1941 has not changed.

It has just shifted its view from Japanese Americans to Muslim Americans. To stop this irrational fear, Americans must give up on their prejudice, and look towards people as humans. “Hopefully as Americans we will come to terms with it, but, we’re not coming to terms with it nearly fast enough,” Navarro says.

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Conclusion The Devil’s Slide Bunker still stands today as a monument to the past. The war of the worlds has ended, and the war against fear has just begun. As George Santayana famously said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” If we continue to allow the fear to persist, it will become like Devil’s Slide –. completely different from its original form, but still there. We need to end irrational fear and prejudice, or else the cycle of fear will eventually lead to an outburst of hatred.

Right- Remains of Point Montara Wall

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Works Cited

Cresson, David Personal Interview, March 26th, 2018 History.com. “Japanese Internment Camps.” History.com, History.com, 3 Mar. 2018, www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/japanese-americanrelocation.

Lussenhop, Jessica. “The Fear of Being Muslim in North America.” British Broadcasting Channel, BBC, 5 Mar. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/ magazine-35044958.

Mathes, Michael. “California Historical Society Quarterly Vol. 44, No. 4 (Dec., 1965), Pp. 323-331.” JSTOR [JSTOR], California Press, 24 Feb. 2018, www.jstor.org/stable/25155757.

Messner, Michael Personal Interview, March 31st, 2018 Navarro, Frank Personal Interview, March 7th, 2018 Oeswein, JQ, Personal Interview, March 15th, 2018 Sebby, Daniel M. “California Military History: California and World War II.” Historic California Posts : Fort Barry: Battery Mendell, Military Museum, 12 Feb. 2018, www.militarymuseum.org/HistoryWWII.html.

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ushistory.org. “Japanese-American Internment.” Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association, 13 Mar. 2018, www.ushistory.org/ us/51e.asp.

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Special thanks to Freestyle Academy and my Partner, Ben Peterson

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The Shadow on the Coast

By Owen Daniels

Owen Daniels is a Junior at Mountain View High School and Freestyle Academy. He is a ďŹ lm student who likes to make movies. He likes history and math, and enjoys the occasional science. This human parasite also enjoys mountain biking, swimming, and reading. He believes that the best solution to overpopulation is a mass culling of everyone who can’t do basic math.