Amazing how the first video made it sound like a united effort by the Japanese and military alike, as if the Japanese were saying, “yes, we should be relocated. It’s best for everyone. Let’s do this!” Someone should count how many times the word “help” is said in that video.
They never said what happened to all the pets. I didn’t see any or hear mention of them. Did the Japanese get to take them with them?
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I sing in a men’s chorus, and we just finished a concert that focused on the fates of gay men in the Holocaust. It was emotionally devastating just to sing about it. And while that was happening, our own government was rounding up their own citizens to be put in camps. And here I thought I was done being upset about World War II.
The cognitive dissonance here is just stunning. It’s okay, the thinking goes, hardly any of them died. We even gave them Americanization classes to help them stop being so damned Japanese. Who wouldn’t love a free home out in Wyoming, courtesy of the government?
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“every morning they started school with the pledge of allegiance”….
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30 years ago I worked for a really great guy. His family had owned several thousand acres of fruit & nut groves near San Mateo. They were given only a few days to divest themselves so they were forced to sell to whites for pennies on the dollar. Then he spent time in the camps & had to beg to be allowed to join the Army, despite being 3rd generation American. He earned a bronze Star, Purple Heart and a couple of other trinkets in Italy.
He spoke about this without bitterness or anger, just sorrow. Personally I don’t know how he did it, I don’t think I could have.
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should have been “several hundred” not thousand.
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When we talk about sacrifices made for freedon, we think of thebrave sacrifices made by military people in battle. These people sacrificed their feedom and fortunes, and most were probably not as happy about it as the film portrays. I don’t feel ashamed for what we did in WW2, and I admit that many of these measures were not necessary. I think the interned Japanese were fine Americans, and that they were called on to sacrifice in a time of war.
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Randall, if you’re not ashamed of this, perhaps America has no shame, and no memory of the lessons of history. Is it really worth selling our souls for the promise of greater security? I say no. Never in my name. Here’s a different history lesson: South Africa after Apartheid. They found another way. Couldn’t we all try being a little more imaginative and open toward our neighbors?
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I think two integral parts of sacrifice is knowing what you’re sacrificing yourself for, and being able to make that sacrifice willingly. Otherwise it’s not sacrifice, it’s forced internment.
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Randall, before making a statement as idiotic as that one, you should probably have some clue what you’re talking about. Our country didn’t “ask” Japanese Americans to sacrifice; we threw them in prisons because our government was afraid. Even after their unjust imprisonment, many of them lost their property, possessions, careers, and neighborhoods.
If you don’t feel ashamed of the racist imprisonment to which our government subjected U.S. citizens based on nothing more than bigotry and scare mongering, you have no sense of shame.
The US wasn’t alone in this endeavor; Canada relocated 22,000 Japanese living within 100 miles of the Pacific ocean.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_Canadian_internment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese-American_internment
Amazing how the first video made it sound like a united effort by the Japanese and military alike, as if the Japanese were saying, “yes, we should be relocated. It’s best for everyone. Let’s do this!” Someone should count how many times the word “help” is said in that video.
They never said what happened to all the pets. I didn’t see any or hear mention of them. Did the Japanese get to take them with them?
I sing in a men’s chorus, and we just finished a concert that focused on the fates of gay men in the Holocaust. It was emotionally devastating just to sing about it. And while that was happening, our own government was rounding up their own citizens to be put in camps. And here I thought I was done being upset about World War II.
The cognitive dissonance here is just stunning. It’s okay, the thinking goes, hardly any of them died. We even gave them Americanization classes to help them stop being so damned Japanese. Who wouldn’t love a free home out in Wyoming, courtesy of the government?
“every morning they started school with the pledge of allegiance”….
30 years ago I worked for a really great guy. His family had owned several thousand acres of fruit & nut groves near San Mateo. They were given only a few days to divest themselves so they were forced to sell to whites for pennies on the dollar. Then he spent time in the camps & had to beg to be allowed to join the Army, despite being 3rd generation American. He earned a bronze Star, Purple Heart and a couple of other trinkets in Italy.
He spoke about this without bitterness or anger, just sorrow. Personally I don’t know how he did it, I don’t think I could have.
should have been “several hundred” not thousand.
When we talk about sacrifices made for freedon, we think of thebrave sacrifices made by military people in battle. These people sacrificed their feedom and fortunes, and most were probably not as happy about it as the film portrays. I don’t feel ashamed for what we did in WW2, and I admit that many of these measures were not necessary. I think the interned Japanese were fine Americans, and that they were called on to sacrifice in a time of war.
Randall, if you’re not ashamed of this, perhaps America has no shame, and no memory of the lessons of history. Is it really worth selling our souls for the promise of greater security? I say no. Never in my name. Here’s a different history lesson: South Africa after Apartheid. They found another way. Couldn’t we all try being a little more imaginative and open toward our neighbors?
I think two integral parts of sacrifice is knowing what you’re sacrificing yourself for, and being able to make that sacrifice willingly. Otherwise it’s not sacrifice, it’s forced internment.
Randall, before making a statement as idiotic as that one, you should probably have some clue what you’re talking about. Our country didn’t “ask” Japanese Americans to sacrifice; we threw them in prisons because our government was afraid. Even after their unjust imprisonment, many of them lost their property, possessions, careers, and neighborhoods.
If you don’t feel ashamed of the racist imprisonment to which our government subjected U.S. citizens based on nothing more than bigotry and scare mongering, you have no sense of shame.