Traveling is coffee for the soul.
There are many astonishing and wonderful things in the world, and I like to travel and see them. I am a middle-ageish man and I live in Northeastern Europe. My wife often travels with me, voluntarily. All pictures are taken by me, unless otherwise indicated.
The Field of Angels, a memorial to enslaved children who died in their infancy.
Can you even begin to imagine, what it would have felt like if, when you were five years old, you would have suddenly been taken away from your family and friends, it would have been explained to you that you have been sold to a new owner who will take you far away and you will never see your parents and siblings again?
Me neither. Thank God.
Countless people, however, have experienced such things, and worse: the slaves. Whitney Plantation is one of the best places to try and understand the sinister and repulsive history of American slavery. It is one of the many tourist-oriented plantations by the Mississippi between New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Whitney is, however, the only one of those whose point of view is not that of the rich owners but that of those on whose work the wealth was based on - the enslaved.
The beautiful gardens of the plantations bear few traces of the horrors of the past.
In my opinion, museums at best can help visitors better understand things, to make history more real to them. I think Whitney Plantation does a good job in this. I already knew most of the facts the guide and exhibitions told me, but the visit helped me to better understand those facts. Of course, there is - thankfully - no way for me to completely understand what the slaves really experienced and felt.
Unlike most other plantations, the visitors are first taken to the miserable slave cabins, only later to the prestigious big house.
Even more than the violent and savage treatment of the enslaved - which, of course, is horrific - I felt disgusted by the complete denial of their humanity. The enslaved were cynically treated like merchandise, or pack animals, or machinery. The practice I find most repulsive was the breeding of human children for merchandise. An enslaved person was an expensive investment, worth a lot of money for the owner. Therefore, it was in the plantation owners' interests to produce more enslaved people, for their own use or to be sold. This was generally not very difficult, as anyone born to an enslaved mother was automatically considered a slave. Who the father was, did not matter. Consequently many enslaved women had to live, or die, as breeding machinery: they may have had more than ten children, many of whom were sold or otherwise taken from the mothers at a very early age. Enslaved men and women may have been forced together, on the peril of violence, to produce offspring. If an enslaved woman failed to have children by other means, the owner may have raped and impregnated her himself, and consequently place his own children in a position comparable to that of cattle or machinery, or merchandise. These cases were not exceptional at all.
There are statues of enslaved children on the Whitney Plantation. This one depicts Anna, who was given as a house pet - our guide indeed used the word "pet" - to the childless woman who owned the plantation at the time. Later, at 14, Anna gave birth to her first child, whose father was the middle-aged brother of her owner.
A visit to the plantation always includes a guided tour, explaining the gruesome everyday life on a slave plantation: hard work, in Whitney's case on sugarcane fields, as usual in Southern Louisiana, often on cotton field in more Northern parts; many enslaved workers could not stand the inhumane working conditions alive for more than a few years. The guide described the violence, the awful food, the unworthy living quarters. In the exhibitions, there are many oral history quotes from 1930s interviews with Americans who were born enslaved. They are used to give voice to those who were so often silenced. There are several books based on the interviews, and some have been used in a documentary film.
A quote from the 1930s interview with Hannah Chapman, who was born enslaved.
The visit to Whitney Plantation made an enormous impression on me, even though as a Finn I feel no direct connection to the history and legacy of American slavery. I can only imagine what the visit is like for the descendants of enslaved African-Americans, or the white slave owners. From New Orleans, the visit takes a few hours: we left the city after breakfast and were back for late-ish lunch. I consider the time well spent. If you don't have an access to your own or rented vehicle, there are tours by bus, which may include visits to other places, too.
John Cummings, the founder of Whitney Plantation museum. He told that his goal was not to promote guilt but understanding: "Those responsible are in Hell, if you believe that".
One of the highlights of the tour was a chance encounter with John Cummings, the current owner of the plantation and the founder of the museum. Mr. Cummings, a retired lawyer, is a very good speaker and gave us an interesting account of the founding and goals of the museum. Sometimes, in American public debate, it is asked should the African-Americans not be able to leave the legacy of the slavery behind, as it was abolished 150 years ago. According to Cummings, this sentiment is based on unfamiliarity and inadequate understanding of the realities of slavery. That's why he says: "I, personally, will no longer be content to live in ignorance. Do not ask the question, 'why can't they get over it', unless you know what the 'it' is".
In the video below Cummings and other staff at Whitney Plantation share further thoughts and information.
We visited the Whitney Plantation on May 24th 2017.
The Accident happened in reactor number 4, which was situated in the part of the building to the left of the picture. The reactor number 3, to the right, remained in production until December 2000.
Mankind, as a species, is far from perfection. Sooner or later human beings will make mistakes. This applies to all human activity. Smaller mistakes may remain unnoticed. Often mankind is able to repair the consequences of its bigger mistakes, too. Some big errors, however, may result in irreversible disaster and destruction.
One of the costliest mistakes of human history took place about 30 years before I wrote these lines. It happened in Soviet Union's Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plat, in present-day Ukraine very close to the Belorussian border. Actually it was a series of mistakes, as usual in the history of great disasters. A relatively simple explanation of what happened is found here. There are numerous more detailed accounts in books and online, including Wikipedia.
I was a child at the time of the disaster, but I remember it well. I recall a sense of nervous uncertainty. What exactly has really happened? How dangerous it really is? Will we die of cancer if we go out when it rains? Can we eat wild berries ever again? Do we have to leave our homes? In fact, the Chernobyl disaster had almost no effect on my life, or anyone's life in Finland. Those 150 000 Ukrainians and Belorussians who had to leave their homes, now dangerously close to the disaster area, were worse off. "Only" 41 deaths have been directly attributed to the disaster, but human and econimical cost of health problems and environmental damage are probably impossible to calculate.
A memorial to the firefighters killed in the disaster.
Today it is possible to visit Chernobyl on an organized tour. I visited the area in 2011, a few months after the 25th anniversary of the disaster. Access to the immediate area around the power plant is strictly controlled by the Ukrainian authorities. The only permissible way to see the area is group tours, which are organized by several tour companies in Kiev. Every company seemed to charge a similar price, which, of course, raises some questions. I bought my ticket from Solo East Travel and have no complaints about the services. A little bureaucracy was required before the trip: I gave my personal data and passport number to the company when placing my reservation, and immediately after arriving in Kiev, the day before the tour, visited the company office to pay reservation fee.
Anyone who plans visiting Chernobyl should be aware that the Ukrainian authorities have occasionally cancelled all tours to the area on short notice. This happened shortly before I had booked my trip, and it was quite uncertain until last minute if I would get to Chernobyl at all. The current conflict between Ukraine and Russia affects everything in Ukraine. Things may change rapidly and are difficult to predict. It should be noted that the focal point of the crisis is far away from Chernobyl, in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine and conflict has caused no danger to travelers in other parts of Ukraine. Kiev and areas around Chernobyl have remained peaceful.
Warning signs at the entrance to Chernobyl restricted area.
My group's bus left Kiev early in the morning, and returned in the evening. Around the plant, there are two controlled areas, a smaller closed area right around the plant and a bigger restricted area around the closed area. Access to both areas was strictly controlled, the passports were checked on arrival and radiation levels on visitors' bodies and clothes are measured on leaving. A guide joined our group in the restricted area. It is strictly forbidden to move on one's own in the areas, everyone must remain with their group. The guides are employed by the government of Ukraine, not the tour companies. The guide assigned to our group was excellent, he gave a thorough account of the events and answered our numerous questions in a friendly and apprehensible manner.
Even in the closed area the radiation is not much more intense than natural background radiation. We were told that a flight over Atlantic results exposes passengers to more radiation than a day-trip to Chernobyl. However, everyone had to sign a document resigning the right to take legal action against the Ukrainian government in case of loss of health after visiting Chernobyl.
A short introduction to the events.
The authorities procrastinated with the decision to evacuate the area, but when the operation finally begun it was executed rapidly. We were told that the children in this kindergarten were having a nap when suddenly buses appeared to take them away.
Toys lef outside the kindergarten.
Radioactive fallout is absorbed by vegetation and trees in the area. A forest fire in Chernobyl is a huge risk, because the fallout could be released back to atmosphere from the burning trees and it could be widely distributed by the wind.
Personally, the abandoned town of Pripyat was most impressive. Particularly the school made me think: I was a schoolkid myself at the time of the accident. Even if Soviet 1980s school materials look rather different than Finnish, the classrooms felt eerily familiar. It was easy to picture my own school in similar state after 25 years of abandonment. I could not avoid thinking that all the world may some day look like Pripyat, after mankind has destroyed itself.
The nature is reclaiming the closed area. Pripyat is turning to a forest, and roots of the trees slowly shatter concrete. I find this thought both scary and comforting.
Best hotel in Pripyatt.
A classroom in the school.
Forest has conquered the school courtyard.
Pripyat indoor swimming pool.
A traveling funfair remains permanently on a square in Pripyat.
Moss grows on bumper car track.
In Chernobyl, dress in a long-sleeved shirt or jacket and long-legged pants. A hat is also a good idea. In an Ukrainian summer a lighter outfit may seem more appropriate, but since visiting the buildings involves walking through bushes, it's a good idea to protect skin from ticks and scratching branches. Water and photographic equipment is also needed. Everything else is probable better left in your accommodation. Lunch was included in our tour price, and the power plant staff canteen served tasty food. Is it not wrong to travel to places of disaster and suffering, like Chernobyl? Is it right that tour groups make a profit on the misfortune and death of thousands of people? Seeking thrill is a place like that is a little questionable, isn't it? Did I go to Chernobyl in order to prove something to others? These questions are worth consideration. I understand very well if someone wants to stay away of Chernobyl or other places of disaster and suffering, for example the concentration camps of the second world war. It is good and proper to think about one's motives when visiting this kind of places. In my opinion one can in good conscience travel to Chernobyl and comparable places, but not because of some ego-boosting bucket list or in order to brag about extreme experiences and "courage". The visit should be for better understanding, and also to respect those who suffered. I believe this is easier, if one tries and gets to know the character of the place before the visit. In case of Chernobyl this means familiarizing oneself with the basics of the history and effects of the disaster. Obviously tour groups profit on Chernobyl trips, and undeniably this involves questions about morality. Of course, I do not know where exactly the 160 US dollars I paid Solo East Travel went. As stated above, the guide assigned to our group was an excellent professional and helpful in understanding Chernobyl. I am happy if my money helped paying his wages.
I recommend the Chernobyl disaster museum in Kiev to those who can't or do not want to visit Chernobyl - and to visitors of Chernobyl, too. It is very informative, but some parts of the exhibition felt a litlle confusing to me.
There's a nuclear power plant less than 25 km (some 15 miles) away from my home. I wouldn't mind if everyone working there visited Chernobyl as part of their training.
One observation tower is standing, but that one is a replica from 2005, too.
In the Californian Desert west from Sierra Nevada the summer temperatures can reach nightmarish heights. The shade temperature frequently rises over 40 centigrades (104 Fahrenheit) - but shade is nowhere to be found, with nothing but knee-high shrubs growing as far as the eye can see. Thankfully, our rental car was equipped with air conditioning and we did bring plenty of water to drink. In the middle of the desert, between the small towns of Lone Pine and Independence, not far from Death Valley National Park, lies perhaps the worst place in the desert: Manzanar.
During the Second World War more than 10000 Japanese-Americans were forcefully relocated from the Californian coast, most of them from Los Angeles and around, to "Manzanar War Relocation Center", a small square area in the middle of the desert, to cramped barracks behind barbed wire. All told, over 100000 Americans of Japanese ancestry were relocated to Manzanar and other camps like it. The majority were citizens of the United States. Not single one of them was ever prosecuted for co-operation with the enemy. Thousands of young Japanese Americans fought in the armed forces of USA at the same time as their families were effectively imprisoned in inhumane conditions under a merciless sun. A more detailed history of Manzanar can be found, for example, in Wikipedia.
The exhibition building, originally Manzanar school auditorium. On the foregroud a firetruck from 1940s.
In 1992 Manzanar was designated a National Historic Site, a preserved area administered by the Federal Government of the United States. It is run by National Park Service, which does an excellent job here, too. There is a very informative and emotional, yet dispassionate exhibition in the only building left from the relocation camp time. I remember particularly well an example of the way the grown-ups ruin everything. "White" students from the nearby Owens Valley school once wanted to play a friendly basketball game against Manzanar school team. Unfortunately, the Owens Valley school board vetoed this idea, even though every student in both schools signed an appeal for a permission to play!
A home plate from Manzanar baseball fiedl, c. 1943. I find it rather ironic that the residents in Manzanar were keen of the most Amreican of all sports.
Without downplaying the burden of those who had to live in Manzanar, it is important to understand that it never was a similar concentration camp as those that existed at the same time in for example Germany and Soviet Union for extermination of people that the authorities deemed undesirable. No one was deliberately killed in Manzanar, there were few instances of physical violence, and at least basic health care and nutrition needs were taken care of. This doesn't mean that what happened was right. Just because even more horrible atrocities were being committed elsewhere at the same time, doesn't mean that the relocation of Japanese-Americans wasn't downright criminal. In his apology to those relocated, President Reagan more or less agreed.
People of my generation may be familiar with the relocation of Japanese-Americans from the first Karate Kid movie. In what to me is the most powerful scene in the movie Mr. Miyagi, drunk, remembers his wife who died of child-birth in Manzanar. A clip of the scene below (starts at 2:48).
Pat Morita, who played Mr. Miyagi was born in Isleton California in 1932 and a US citizen. Nevertheless, he spent a part of his childhood in a relocation center in Gila River, Arizona. Another famous American of Japanese descent, George Takei, spent the years from 1942 to the end of the war in Rohwer War Relocation Center in Arkansas and Tula Lake in California.
Manzanar is not a place to leave the visitor in high spirits. Because good food makes everything better, a decent remedy would be a visit to Lone Pine, about ten miles south of Manzanar. In the corner of Main
Street and Mountain View Street the restaurant Bonanza has amazing guacamole and the best pico de gallo either of us has ever had.
Most people probably know the Island of Alcatraz as an infamous United States Federal prison. It has, however, been many different things, too. Today it is a national park and a very popular tourist destination. Previously it has been a coastal artillery fort and a military prison, and from 1969 to 1971 it was occupied by Native Ameican activists. More detailed information is available in Wikipedia.
Graffitti by Native American can be seen for example on the water tower.
Alcatraz still belongs to the Federal Government, and it is administered by the National Park Service (NPS). During our trip tu the U.S. we visited several National Parks and other NPS-administered places. Without exception, they were taken care of excellently. In Alcatraz we took a Park Ranger-led tour about the history of the island before it became a Federal Prison in 1934. The tour was very informative and wasn't trying to paint the tragic history in bright colors. The guide told, for example, about the Native Ameican Hopi who in late 19th century were imprisoned in Alcatraz as prisones of war because they refused to send their 6-year old children to Federal boarding school dozens of miles away from their homes.
There are, surprisingly, quite a number of beatiful flowers in Alcatraz.
The main sell block can be toured with an audio guide (available in several languages, but no in Finnish, unsurprisingly). This guide, too, is outstandingly well produced. The visitors can listen to recordings of former prisoners, guards and guards families first-hand accounts on life in Alcatraz. The conditions were undeniably harsh, but probably better than in, say, Finnish prisons at the time. There was, for example, plumbing and a modern toilet in every cell, whereas in Finland many prisoners ha to use a tin bucket well into 1960s. Those prisoners who complied to the institutions' rules also got priviledges, such as newspaper subscriptions and educational opportunities. Even food was, according to the prisoners, relatively good, sometimes even delicious.
A cell in Alcatraz.
A corridor in cell block, there are three levels of cells.
Alcatraz is only a short distance from central San Francisco, and the sounds of celebrations on the New Years' Eve and 4th of July were audible in the cells. One can only imagine how bitter it must have felt for the prisoners. No one managed to escape Alcatraz Federal Prison alive from 1934 to 1963. However, three prisoners managed to break out of the building and tried to swim off the island to freedom. They were never seen again. One of the prisoners speaking on the audioguide told that he believed that they survived and went to South America. Everyone else assume that they drowned.
Those who plan to visit Alcatraz should book their tickets early, it can be done online. In high season the tickets frequently sell out weeks in advance, and even in early June the island was full booked days in advance. When in Alcatraz, beware of poo-bombing seagulls.
