Internment of Japanese Americans

Until reviewing the Densho website, I honestly had limited knowledge of the Japanese American incarcerations of World War II. I recall learning a bit about the situation at some point in the past, but I was never taught about it in school growing up or exposed to any kind of documentaries, movies, media, etc. that were common for educating about the Jewish Concentration Camps in Germany. I actually find that fact very strange. It seems that the writers of our history keep that part of America's past under wraps.

I learned from Densho that Americans were very racist towards the Japanese and these prejudices and stereotypes allowed for a major injustice towards Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is so interesting to see that the fear was not just rampant among the general public, but was actually encouraged by the media and politicians of the time, even the President of the United States fed into the hysteria. People accused the Japanese Americans of espionage and providing information to the Japanese. Japanese Americans often were not even recognized as citizens, instead terms like "non-aliens" were used. The fact that these families were torn apart and sent to concentration camps, here on U.S. soil is just mind boggling. America, a land created by emigration, has one of the worst racist track records in the world. Throughout our short history there has been segregation, stereotyping, racism, class discrimination, etc. This is really ironic considering over 99% of our country is based on nationality that is NOT Native American!

However, the treatment of the Japanese Americans at the time of the attack on Pearl Harbor is not much different than the "racial profiling" common in our country today. After 9/11, many individuals that appeared to be of middle-eastern descent were automatically looked at with suspicion and caution. The Patriot Act, new airport security measures, and other governmental implementations that were dubbed "random" acts for screening for terrorists had obviously narrowed down their targets to individuals who looked a certain way. Because the hijackers and terrorist plotters that attacked our country that day were Muslims from abroad, many Muslims living in America were also looked at as the enemy. The only real difference, aside from the lack of prison camps today, is that America has a large liberal and unbiased population that has sort of kept the hysteria "in check" and pointed out injustices in the media and other propaganda as it happens, before it can become an epidemic. Although the treatment middle eastern Americans and Muslims is absolutely unfair, it is actually really brings the fear and discrimination of the WWII era Japanese Americans into perspective. We all are all guilty of the "not me" phenomenon, but can any one really say that they have never been on an airplane, since 9/11, and not noticed a person with whom they've looked at with some degree of suspicion? Even unjustly so?