Queensbury Town Board conflicts of interest have been around forever. The GOP runs the show.
Whether it’s outside contractors, staffing, policies, etc, they all pass through the GOP sieve. John Strough has been a “David” type force during his terms as Supervisor. We owe John a lot of gratitude for his tireless efforts. Say a prayer for John has he continues his work while facing a personal hardship.
We were at a museum in San Francisco several years ago and came upon a display there about the internment camps . I had never heard of them and it brought tears to my eyes seeing this travesty. Every kid in school should be taught this right along with the slavery issues. We are not perfect as a country but for heavens sake LEARN from the mistakes and go on to make things better.
It sounds like an excellent documentary, Ken. Thanks for sharing
It really was not a big secret, Janet - I remember knowing about it - born in 1938. But yes, this should be taught in school, as should ALL of our racist history towards "others".
Thank you for highlighting another travesty in our history. Outright legally sanctioned discrimination against Japanese Americans existed in the west, I understand that German Americans were shunned on the east coast during the war, but not to the extent that the Japanese Americans endured. There was also a Broadway production about the internment camps based on the actor George Takei's experience as a young boy. The play, a musical titled "Allegiance" was also filmed live with an introduction by Takei, and presented in select theaters (I saw it in 2016) and also describes the choices Japanese Americans faced while being interred and losing everything they had before. I'm sure we can single out other "accepted" discriminatory history against Jewish and Irish immigrants to name just two ethnic groups, as they arrived to make better lives for themselves. So many prejudices pepper our history while the tapestry of the world's seekers of human dignity arrive at our shores. I'm sure many or all of Ken's readers can attest to that. I think it is a weakness of the human species, we're animals after all, trying to "protect" ourselves from "The Other" in such an ugly and unforgivable way.
I was a History and Government major in college. However, I never knew of the internment of the Japanese until I read "A Fence Away from Freedom" by Ellen Levine, an author of children and adolescent books. Social justice was her focus. Her books are still available. "Snow Following on Cedars" also delves into the internment. Sadly, there are so many stories about the abuses of marginalized populations that have been ignored for decades.
What we - US residents - have done to any "other" for hundreds of years - starting with the original indigenous residents of this country? The shame doesnt apply to Japanese-Americans - it applies to our government and politicians!
Internment Camps during WWII: One more shameful episode in our history… unfortunately one of many and now we are creating more shame with Trump et al. We must resist or our imperfect democracy will be destroyed !
We were, of course, at war with Japan, but the citizens interned in camps were American. I had a Japanese-American patient whose parents those days lived in California and had a farm. When the order came, their farm was taken and they were forced into a camp. They never got back the farm. The mother worked as a hotel cleaner afterwards. Forty years later the family got a few thousand dollars from the U.S. government. My patient went on to get a PhD in mathematics. His mother was less than 5 feet tall - not much of an imposing threat.
So The United States has a long history of racial injustice; oppressing all sorts of people of color. Most recently, Joy Reid, Alex Wagner, Katie Phang and Jose Diaz Balart of MSNBC have had their shows canceled. Oddly, all are "other." Jim Crow has gone underground, but not very far. He seems to be surfacing.
Terrific description of the movie. I've read some historical fiction based on the camps but this movie is the real thing.
This is off topic but I am just horrified with what is happening at MSNBC---just LOOK who the new woman in charge is removing from anchor positions!! I am so disgusted. I tried to call and all you get is a charming voice telling you that "the mailbox is FULL." I'll BET. I hope tons of people try to express their disgust....is this an effort of MSNBC trying to come under an anti DEI move??? Terrifyingly insane. Yes, I was already disgusted with Morning Joe's initial effort to bow down to the king. I'll try other methods to express my disgust.
Rachel Maddow spent a good deal of her program last PM citing her disagreement with top MSNBC management changes…and praising the work of Joy, Alex, Katie, Jose and all the behind-the-scenes support staff whose jobs are also in jeopardy.
As an aside…our Queensbury Joann’s store was overwhelmed with shoppers this AM after last PM announcement of pending closures of ALL Joann’s stores. Only one woman, “Ellie,” who has worked there x7 years, stationed at the checkout counter. She and other Joann’s staff learned at same time as we did yesterday that closures were imminent…no previous alert.
Only 3 staff covering the whole store as no extra staff were called in to cope with the crowds today. There were 13 people in front of me and over 25 in line behind me when I checked out. The parking lots were packed with more cars than st the height of Xmas shopping season …with more customers coming into the store at noon.
They can no longer accept checks… and Joann gift cards will not be honored after this Friday.
Their arts/crafts and indoor/outdoor decor and sewing/quilting products were a lifeline during the pandemic when kids were doing online schooling and parents working at home…and ever since. Affordable and creative ways to decorate our spirits along with our homes. Such a swift loss of income for dedicated North Country employees.
I went over yesterday to sympathize with the employees. The crowds were gone. They have no idea how long they will have jobs but, like us, they had only found out the previous night. One person said it's possible they will stay open until the store is empty. I DID read in a Newsweek story that the pandemic really hurt them because people did so much online shopping rather than in the actual stores and apparently, that factor has continued even after the pandemic. 800 stores closing....what chains/malls will go next was the final question in the article.
The best way to express it is to stop watching. They were Fox News for liberals, anyway. I don’t think they lied as blatantly as Fox, but definitely there was plenty of spin. Just because I mostly agree with their point of view doesn’t mean I need them to tell me what to think!
I can agree with you but at the same time, MSNBC is NOT my only source for what's happening and I certainly don't need the tons of repetition they are capable of...... but it's still an awful development.
What’s awful is really the possible implications of those moves. Does it seem like corporate is trying to thread the needle between keeping their liberal viewers and paying homage to the “king?” I don’t watch enough MSNBC to know!
She will do exactly what Trump tells her to do. She is driven strictly by personal ambition as compared to most of the GOP senators who appear to be simply spineless.
It seems that there are at least four basic approaches to take toward history: 1. repress it; 2. ignore it; 3. try to rewrite it; or, 4. face it, accept it, and learn from it.
Thank you Ken, for your tireless historical research/retrospective articles re: our country’s disenfranchisement/abuse of American-born and immigrant men/women of color/diverse cultures, past and current, who honorably served in WW II…and within their individual communities…over the past century.
Both my parents were born in the USA. My mother was born in Arizona and my father in California. They were internees at the Gila River Internment Camp in Arizona and I was born in the internment Camp in 1943. I am 81 years old and so there are very few of us still alive. I give a presentation to local school students about the interment.
The Gila River Camp was on the Pima Indian Reservation. It was placed on the holiest place on the reservation that the Pima Indians used for their ceremonies because the Gila River at thiss location provided a barrier preventing escape. So the US Gov't desecrated the holiest place on the reservation.
These are atrocities that occured in the in some of the camps:
May 13, 1942 - A mentally ill man in his mid-forties, Ichiro Shimoda, was shot trying to escape in 1942. He’d attempted suicide twice since entering the camp, and the guards were well aware of his mental illness.
May 16, 1942 - Hikoji Takeuchi, a Nisei, is shot by a guard at Manzanar. The guard claims that he shouted at Takeuchi and that Takeuchi began to run away from him. Takeuchi claims he was collecting scrap lumber and didn't hear the guard shout. His wounds indicate that he was shot in the front.
That same year, two Californians were killed during an alleged escape attempt from the Lourdsburg, New Mexico camp. It was later revealed that Hirota Isomura and Toshiro Kobata were both extremely weak upon arrival – too weak to walk, much less escape.
April 11, 1943 - James Hatsuki Wakasa, a sixty-three-year-old chef, is shot to death by a sentry at Heart Mountain camp while allegedly trying to escape through a fence. It is later determined that Wakasa had been inside the fence and facing the sentry when shot. The sentry would stand a general court-martial on April 28 at Fort Douglas, Utah and be found "not guilty.”
May 13, 1942 - A mentally ill man in his mid-forties, Ichiro Shimoda, was shot trying to escape in 1942. He’d attempted suicide twice since entering the camp, and the guards were well aware of his mental illness.
May 16, 1942 - Hikoji Takeuchi, a Nisei, is shot by a guard at Manzanar. The guard claims that he shouted at Takeuchi and that Takeuchi began to run away from him. Takeuchi claims he was collecting scrap lumber and didn't hear the guard shout. His wounds indicate that he was shot in the front.
That same year, two Californians were killed during an alleged escape attempt from the Lourdsburg, New Mexico camp. It was later revealed that Hirota Isomura and Toshiro Kobata were both extremely weak upon arrival – too weak to walk, much less escape.
April 11, 1943 - James Hatsuki Wakasa, a sixty-three-year-old chef, is shot to death by a sentry at Heart Mountain camp while allegedly trying to escape through a fence. It is later determined that Wakasa had been inside the fence and facing the sentry when shot. The sentry would stand a general court-martial on April 28 at Fort Douglas, Utah and be found "not guilty.”
May 24, 1944 Shoichi James Okamoto is shot to death at Tule Lake by a guard after stopping a construction truck at the main gate for permission to pass. Private Bernard Goe, the guard, would be acquitted after being fined a dollar for "unauthorized use of government property" -- the bullet he used to kill James Okamoto.
Few realized that the Japanese Americans were members of the most highly decorated unit in the US Army during WWII. They fought in Europe. 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team - Everyone in the regiment (3500 men) was Japanese-American. It is the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in the history of American warfare. It was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, 8 Presidential Unit Citations (5 earned in one month), 52 distinguished Service Crosses (DSC is one step below a CMH). 21 Congressional Medals of Honor, a rate of greater than 1 for every 1000 members. Since Vietnam only 20 medals of honor have been awarded, 2 in Somalia, 14 in Afghanistan, and 4 in Iraq. 14,000 Japanese-American men served, suffered 9,486 casualties and awarded 18,143 individual medals. The unit lost so many men it’s members were replaced 2.5 times.
When you understand the history of the Asian experience in the USA, you can better understand the prejudice behind the incarceration of US citizens of Japanese descent. Here is the history of the Asian and Japanese experience in the late 19th to 20th centuries in the USA. This will be new information to all of you I am sure since this is not taught in US history courses.
Chinese exclusion Act 1882 excluded Chinese Immigration from 1882 -1943. USA & China became allies in 1943 which ended the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Between 1910 and 1924, “Protective leagues pressured legislature to restrict the economic power of Japanese Immigrants.
1913 – California passed the Alien Land Law: “aliens are ineligible for citizenship could not own agricultural property, could only lease lands for 3 years and could not bequeath land to other aliens ineligible for citizenship, could not hold more than 50% of the stock in any landowning corporation
To get around this, families put titles and leases into the names of their American-born children
1920 – law passed making it illegal to put titles/leases in American-born children’s names.
1922 – US Supreme Court decision in Takao Ozawa vs US
Asians immigrants could not become US Citizens – Japanese immigrants could NEVER become citizens. Justice Sutherland delivered the majority opinion of the Supreme Court.
The appellant is a person of the Japanese race born in Japan. He applied, on October 16, 1914, to the United States District Court for the Territory of Hawaii to be admitted as a citizen of the United States. His petition was opposed by the United States District Attorney for the District of Hawaii. Including the period of his residence in Hawaii appellant had continuously resided in the United States for 20 years. He was a graduate of the Berkeley, Cal., high school, had been nearly three years a student in the University of California, had educated his children in American schools, his family had attended American churches and he had maintained the use of the English language in his home. That he was well qualified by character and education for citizenship is conceded.
The District Court of Hawaii, however, held that, having been born in Japan and being of the Japanese race, [260 U.S. 178, 190] he was not eligible to naturalization under section 2169 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. 4358), and denied the petition.
In 1790 the first naturalization act provided that--'Any alien being a free white person ... may be admitted to become a citizen. ...' 1 Stat. 103, c. 3. This was subsequently enlarged to include aliens of African nativity and persons of African descent….. The appellant, in the case now under consideration, however, is clearly of a race which is not Caucasian and therefore belongs entirely outside the zone on the negative side.
This resulted in a Catch 22 for Japanese Immigrants
There is NO PATH TO AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP FOR JAPANESE IMMIGRANTS. If there is no path to US Citizenship, of course the majority of the internees were not US citizens.
1924 Johnson–Reed Act/Immigration Act of 1924 banned the immigration of ALL Asians
Then on December 7th, 1941 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
Local authorities and the F.B.I. begin to round up the Issei leadership of the Japanese American communities in Hawaii and on the mainland. By 6:30 a.m. the following morning 736 Issei are in custody; within 48 hours, the number would be 1,291Caught by surprise for the most part, these men are held under no formal charges and family members are forbidden from seeing them. Most would spend the war years in enemy alien internment camps run by the Justice Department.
December 11, 1941 The Western Defense Command is established with Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt as commander. The West Coast is declared a theater of war.
December 15, 1941 After a brief visit to Hawaii, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox tells the press, "I think the most effective Fifth Column work of the entire war was done in Hawaii with the possible exception of Norway"--this despite the complete lack of evidence of such sabotage.
February 19, 1942 FDR signs Executive Order 9066 which will force 120.000 Japanese into Internment camps. 66% (80,000) were US Citizens (Nisei – Second Generation born in the USA) born in the USA Average Age about 20 yo. 33% (40,000) were immigrants (Issei – First Generation Immigrants to the USA) with no path to USA citizenship.
US Justification: “military necessity” unsupported allegations of disloyalty. Impossible to tell loyal from disloyal Japanese. FDR later admitted, in a slip of the tongue, that these were “concentration camps”; and the Japanese referred to the relocation centers as concentration camps. The Japanese in Hawaii, who numbered 250,000, 40% of the islands' population, were untouched by the internment program despite the presence of critical military instillations and Martial Law.
February 25, 1942 The Navy informs Japanese American residents of Terminal Island near Los Angeles Harbor that they must leave in 48 hours. They are the first group to be removed en masse and suffer especially heavy losses as a result.
February 27, 1942 Idaho Governor Chase Clark tells a congressional committee in Seattle that Japanese would be welcome in Idaho only if they were in "concentration camps under military guard." Some credit Clark with the conception of what was to become a true scenario.
March 2, 1942 John L. DeWitt issues Public Proclamation No. 1 which creates Military Areas Nos. 1 and 2. Military Area No. 1 included the western portion of California, Oregon and Washington, and part of Arizona while Military Area No. 2 included the rest of these states. The proclamation also intended that people might be excluded from Military Area No. 1.
March 18, 1942 The president signs Executive Order 9102 establishing the War Relocation Authority with Milton Eisenhower as director. It is allocated $5.5 million.
Executive Order 9066 is appealed to the US Supreme Court in Korematsu vs United States December 18, 1944
Korematsu: Resisted the army’s order for relocation. Arrested and convicted. Argued Executive Order #9066 violated Korematsu’s 5th and 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law. COURT RULING: Order was justified for security reasons. [b]Ruled that an entire race could be labeled a “suspect classification” meaning that the government was permitted to deny the Japanese their Constitutional rights.[/b] Three judges disagreed. All 6 justices agreeing with the USA were appointed by FDR. Justice Hugo Black wrote the majority opinion. Hugo Black, once a member of the Ku Klux Klan later became a liberal reformer.
This decision is contrary to the 5th Amendment ““No person shall be held …….. without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” AND the 14th Amendment “All persons born or naturalized in the United States ….. are citizens of the United States …. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States ….. deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person …. the equal protection of the laws.”
Despite the Bill of Rights, this Supreme Court Decision HAS NEVER BEEN REVOKED and still stands as the law of the land.
Justice Frank Murphy in his dissenting Opinion wrote: the internment program “goes over ‘the very brink of constitutional power’ and falls into the ugly abyss of racism.” He added: “I dissent, therefore, from this legalization of racism. Racial discrimination in any form and in any degree has no justifiable part whatever in our democratic way of life. It is unattractive in any setting, but it is utterly revolting among a free people who have embraced the principles set forth in the Constitution of the United States.”
54 Years Later Fred Korematsu received the highest honor a UC citizen can receive, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President Bill Clinton in 1998
11,000 Japanese families had to sell their homes and businesses at an estimated loss of over $3,200,000,000.00 (2017 dollars). Evacuees were allowed to take only what they could carry. Even young children were given a package to take. What was not sold was left for the taking. Scavengers were waiting to take anything that was left behind.
After being placed in the “relocation centers.” Internees were given a “Loyalty Questionnaire (Oath)
“Question 27: Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered? Question 28: Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any and all attacks by foreign and domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or disobedience to the Japanese Emperor, or any other foreign government, power, or organization?”
If there was a way to measure the loyalty of Japanese-Americans with a loyalty questionnaire, why put 110,000 Japanese-Americans in camps?
Catch 22 - Remember that in 1922 the US Supreme Court decided that Japanese immigrants could never become US Citizens? If the Japanese immigrants had “forsworn any form of allegiance or disobedience to the Japanese Emperor, or any other foreign government, power, or organization,” they would have given up their Japanese Citizenship and legally would be without citizenship in any country.
Queensbury Town Board conflicts of interest have been around forever. The GOP runs the show.
Whether it’s outside contractors, staffing, policies, etc, they all pass through the GOP sieve. John Strough has been a “David” type force during his terms as Supervisor. We owe John a lot of gratitude for his tireless efforts. Say a prayer for John has he continues his work while facing a personal hardship.
We were at a museum in San Francisco several years ago and came upon a display there about the internment camps . I had never heard of them and it brought tears to my eyes seeing this travesty. Every kid in school should be taught this right along with the slavery issues. We are not perfect as a country but for heavens sake LEARN from the mistakes and go on to make things better.
It sounds like an excellent documentary, Ken. Thanks for sharing
It really was not a big secret, Janet - I remember knowing about it - born in 1938. But yes, this should be taught in school, as should ALL of our racist history towards "others".
Another sheep in trumps clothing
Thank you for highlighting another travesty in our history. Outright legally sanctioned discrimination against Japanese Americans existed in the west, I understand that German Americans were shunned on the east coast during the war, but not to the extent that the Japanese Americans endured. There was also a Broadway production about the internment camps based on the actor George Takei's experience as a young boy. The play, a musical titled "Allegiance" was also filmed live with an introduction by Takei, and presented in select theaters (I saw it in 2016) and also describes the choices Japanese Americans faced while being interred and losing everything they had before. I'm sure we can single out other "accepted" discriminatory history against Jewish and Irish immigrants to name just two ethnic groups, as they arrived to make better lives for themselves. So many prejudices pepper our history while the tapestry of the world's seekers of human dignity arrive at our shores. I'm sure many or all of Ken's readers can attest to that. I think it is a weakness of the human species, we're animals after all, trying to "protect" ourselves from "The Other" in such an ugly and unforgivable way.
I was a History and Government major in college. However, I never knew of the internment of the Japanese until I read "A Fence Away from Freedom" by Ellen Levine, an author of children and adolescent books. Social justice was her focus. Her books are still available. "Snow Following on Cedars" also delves into the internment. Sadly, there are so many stories about the abuses of marginalized populations that have been ignored for decades.
What we - US residents - have done to any "other" for hundreds of years - starting with the original indigenous residents of this country? The shame doesnt apply to Japanese-Americans - it applies to our government and politicians!
Internment Camps during WWII: One more shameful episode in our history… unfortunately one of many and now we are creating more shame with Trump et al. We must resist or our imperfect democracy will be destroyed !
We were, of course, at war with Japan, but the citizens interned in camps were American. I had a Japanese-American patient whose parents those days lived in California and had a farm. When the order came, their farm was taken and they were forced into a camp. They never got back the farm. The mother worked as a hotel cleaner afterwards. Forty years later the family got a few thousand dollars from the U.S. government. My patient went on to get a PhD in mathematics. His mother was less than 5 feet tall - not much of an imposing threat.
So The United States has a long history of racial injustice; oppressing all sorts of people of color. Most recently, Joy Reid, Alex Wagner, Katie Phang and Jose Diaz Balart of MSNBC have had their shows canceled. Oddly, all are "other." Jim Crow has gone underground, but not very far. He seems to be surfacing.
Of course the real problem is that we were at war with Germany and Italy too but German-Americans and Italian-Americans were not interred.
Right. German- and Italian- Americans were/are WHITE.
Internment of German Americans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_German_Americans
Terrific description of the movie. I've read some historical fiction based on the camps but this movie is the real thing.
This is off topic but I am just horrified with what is happening at MSNBC---just LOOK who the new woman in charge is removing from anchor positions!! I am so disgusted. I tried to call and all you get is a charming voice telling you that "the mailbox is FULL." I'll BET. I hope tons of people try to express their disgust....is this an effort of MSNBC trying to come under an anti DEI move??? Terrifyingly insane. Yes, I was already disgusted with Morning Joe's initial effort to bow down to the king. I'll try other methods to express my disgust.
Rachel Maddow spent a good deal of her program last PM citing her disagreement with top MSNBC management changes…and praising the work of Joy, Alex, Katie, Jose and all the behind-the-scenes support staff whose jobs are also in jeopardy.
As an aside…our Queensbury Joann’s store was overwhelmed with shoppers this AM after last PM announcement of pending closures of ALL Joann’s stores. Only one woman, “Ellie,” who has worked there x7 years, stationed at the checkout counter. She and other Joann’s staff learned at same time as we did yesterday that closures were imminent…no previous alert.
Only 3 staff covering the whole store as no extra staff were called in to cope with the crowds today. There were 13 people in front of me and over 25 in line behind me when I checked out. The parking lots were packed with more cars than st the height of Xmas shopping season …with more customers coming into the store at noon.
They can no longer accept checks… and Joann gift cards will not be honored after this Friday.
Pass the word!
Oh no......I had no idea. Thank you. I'm horrified....I'm spending too much of my life now...BEING horrified!!!! Thank you, Susan.
Their arts/crafts and indoor/outdoor decor and sewing/quilting products were a lifeline during the pandemic when kids were doing online schooling and parents working at home…and ever since. Affordable and creative ways to decorate our spirits along with our homes. Such a swift loss of income for dedicated North Country employees.
I went over yesterday to sympathize with the employees. The crowds were gone. They have no idea how long they will have jobs but, like us, they had only found out the previous night. One person said it's possible they will stay open until the store is empty. I DID read in a Newsweek story that the pandemic really hurt them because people did so much online shopping rather than in the actual stores and apparently, that factor has continued even after the pandemic. 800 stores closing....what chains/malls will go next was the final question in the article.
They paid Psaki a lot of money so you she would eventually be in prime time.
The best way to express it is to stop watching. They were Fox News for liberals, anyway. I don’t think they lied as blatantly as Fox, but definitely there was plenty of spin. Just because I mostly agree with their point of view doesn’t mean I need them to tell me what to think!
I can agree with you but at the same time, MSNBC is NOT my only source for what's happening and I certainly don't need the tons of repetition they are capable of...... but it's still an awful development.
What’s awful is really the possible implications of those moves. Does it seem like corporate is trying to thread the needle between keeping their liberal viewers and paying homage to the “king?” I don’t watch enough MSNBC to know!
YUP....that is exactly what I think may have happened, following Morning Joe's couple heading to Miami to do just that right after the election.
She will do exactly what Trump tells her to do. She is driven strictly by personal ambition as compared to most of the GOP senators who appear to be simply spineless.
So much this morning. Thanks!
It seems that there are at least four basic approaches to take toward history: 1. repress it; 2. ignore it; 3. try to rewrite it; or, 4. face it, accept it, and learn from it.
pos_tfnKKK IS the reason the Democrats should hold the special election when THEY want.
the republicans offered up fake outrage, yet look how they ignore pos_tfnKKK is gaming the system... collecting a pay check and not representing ny21
Thank you Ken, for your tireless historical research/retrospective articles re: our country’s disenfranchisement/abuse of American-born and immigrant men/women of color/diverse cultures, past and current, who honorably served in WW II…and within their individual communities…over the past century.
Another post from the Border Chronicle - the kind of info we normally do not see.
https://www.theborderchronicle.com/p/i-try-to-focus-on-whats-possible?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=b9ign&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
I found this article on my Google News page.
Both my parents were born in the USA. My mother was born in Arizona and my father in California. They were internees at the Gila River Internment Camp in Arizona and I was born in the internment Camp in 1943. I am 81 years old and so there are very few of us still alive. I give a presentation to local school students about the interment.
The Gila River Camp was on the Pima Indian Reservation. It was placed on the holiest place on the reservation that the Pima Indians used for their ceremonies because the Gila River at thiss location provided a barrier preventing escape. So the US Gov't desecrated the holiest place on the reservation.
These are atrocities that occured in the in some of the camps:
May 13, 1942 - A mentally ill man in his mid-forties, Ichiro Shimoda, was shot trying to escape in 1942. He’d attempted suicide twice since entering the camp, and the guards were well aware of his mental illness.
May 16, 1942 - Hikoji Takeuchi, a Nisei, is shot by a guard at Manzanar. The guard claims that he shouted at Takeuchi and that Takeuchi began to run away from him. Takeuchi claims he was collecting scrap lumber and didn't hear the guard shout. His wounds indicate that he was shot in the front.
That same year, two Californians were killed during an alleged escape attempt from the Lourdsburg, New Mexico camp. It was later revealed that Hirota Isomura and Toshiro Kobata were both extremely weak upon arrival – too weak to walk, much less escape.
April 11, 1943 - James Hatsuki Wakasa, a sixty-three-year-old chef, is shot to death by a sentry at Heart Mountain camp while allegedly trying to escape through a fence. It is later determined that Wakasa had been inside the fence and facing the sentry when shot. The sentry would stand a general court-martial on April 28 at Fort Douglas, Utah and be found "not guilty.”
May 13, 1942 - A mentally ill man in his mid-forties, Ichiro Shimoda, was shot trying to escape in 1942. He’d attempted suicide twice since entering the camp, and the guards were well aware of his mental illness.
May 16, 1942 - Hikoji Takeuchi, a Nisei, is shot by a guard at Manzanar. The guard claims that he shouted at Takeuchi and that Takeuchi began to run away from him. Takeuchi claims he was collecting scrap lumber and didn't hear the guard shout. His wounds indicate that he was shot in the front.
That same year, two Californians were killed during an alleged escape attempt from the Lourdsburg, New Mexico camp. It was later revealed that Hirota Isomura and Toshiro Kobata were both extremely weak upon arrival – too weak to walk, much less escape.
April 11, 1943 - James Hatsuki Wakasa, a sixty-three-year-old chef, is shot to death by a sentry at Heart Mountain camp while allegedly trying to escape through a fence. It is later determined that Wakasa had been inside the fence and facing the sentry when shot. The sentry would stand a general court-martial on April 28 at Fort Douglas, Utah and be found "not guilty.”
May 24, 1944 Shoichi James Okamoto is shot to death at Tule Lake by a guard after stopping a construction truck at the main gate for permission to pass. Private Bernard Goe, the guard, would be acquitted after being fined a dollar for "unauthorized use of government property" -- the bullet he used to kill James Okamoto.
Few realized that the Japanese Americans were members of the most highly decorated unit in the US Army during WWII. They fought in Europe. 442nd Infantry Regimental Combat Team - Everyone in the regiment (3500 men) was Japanese-American. It is the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in the history of American warfare. It was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, 8 Presidential Unit Citations (5 earned in one month), 52 distinguished Service Crosses (DSC is one step below a CMH). 21 Congressional Medals of Honor, a rate of greater than 1 for every 1000 members. Since Vietnam only 20 medals of honor have been awarded, 2 in Somalia, 14 in Afghanistan, and 4 in Iraq. 14,000 Japanese-American men served, suffered 9,486 casualties and awarded 18,143 individual medals. The unit lost so many men it’s members were replaced 2.5 times.
When you understand the history of the Asian experience in the USA, you can better understand the prejudice behind the incarceration of US citizens of Japanese descent. Here is the history of the Asian and Japanese experience in the late 19th to 20th centuries in the USA. This will be new information to all of you I am sure since this is not taught in US history courses.
Chinese exclusion Act 1882 excluded Chinese Immigration from 1882 -1943. USA & China became allies in 1943 which ended the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Between 1910 and 1924, “Protective leagues pressured legislature to restrict the economic power of Japanese Immigrants.
1913 – California passed the Alien Land Law: “aliens are ineligible for citizenship could not own agricultural property, could only lease lands for 3 years and could not bequeath land to other aliens ineligible for citizenship, could not hold more than 50% of the stock in any landowning corporation
To get around this, families put titles and leases into the names of their American-born children
1920 – law passed making it illegal to put titles/leases in American-born children’s names.
1922 – US Supreme Court decision in Takao Ozawa vs US
Asians immigrants could not become US Citizens – Japanese immigrants could NEVER become citizens. Justice Sutherland delivered the majority opinion of the Supreme Court.
The appellant is a person of the Japanese race born in Japan. He applied, on October 16, 1914, to the United States District Court for the Territory of Hawaii to be admitted as a citizen of the United States. His petition was opposed by the United States District Attorney for the District of Hawaii. Including the period of his residence in Hawaii appellant had continuously resided in the United States for 20 years. He was a graduate of the Berkeley, Cal., high school, had been nearly three years a student in the University of California, had educated his children in American schools, his family had attended American churches and he had maintained the use of the English language in his home. That he was well qualified by character and education for citizenship is conceded.
The District Court of Hawaii, however, held that, having been born in Japan and being of the Japanese race, [260 U.S. 178, 190] he was not eligible to naturalization under section 2169 of the Revised Statutes (Comp. St. 4358), and denied the petition.
In 1790 the first naturalization act provided that--'Any alien being a free white person ... may be admitted to become a citizen. ...' 1 Stat. 103, c. 3. This was subsequently enlarged to include aliens of African nativity and persons of African descent….. The appellant, in the case now under consideration, however, is clearly of a race which is not Caucasian and therefore belongs entirely outside the zone on the negative side.
This resulted in a Catch 22 for Japanese Immigrants
There is NO PATH TO AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP FOR JAPANESE IMMIGRANTS. If there is no path to US Citizenship, of course the majority of the internees were not US citizens.
1924 Johnson–Reed Act/Immigration Act of 1924 banned the immigration of ALL Asians
Part 2
Then on December 7th, 1941 Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
Local authorities and the F.B.I. begin to round up the Issei leadership of the Japanese American communities in Hawaii and on the mainland. By 6:30 a.m. the following morning 736 Issei are in custody; within 48 hours, the number would be 1,291Caught by surprise for the most part, these men are held under no formal charges and family members are forbidden from seeing them. Most would spend the war years in enemy alien internment camps run by the Justice Department.
December 11, 1941 The Western Defense Command is established with Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt as commander. The West Coast is declared a theater of war.
December 15, 1941 After a brief visit to Hawaii, Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox tells the press, "I think the most effective Fifth Column work of the entire war was done in Hawaii with the possible exception of Norway"--this despite the complete lack of evidence of such sabotage.
February 19, 1942 FDR signs Executive Order 9066 which will force 120.000 Japanese into Internment camps. 66% (80,000) were US Citizens (Nisei – Second Generation born in the USA) born in the USA Average Age about 20 yo. 33% (40,000) were immigrants (Issei – First Generation Immigrants to the USA) with no path to USA citizenship.
US Justification: “military necessity” unsupported allegations of disloyalty. Impossible to tell loyal from disloyal Japanese. FDR later admitted, in a slip of the tongue, that these were “concentration camps”; and the Japanese referred to the relocation centers as concentration camps. The Japanese in Hawaii, who numbered 250,000, 40% of the islands' population, were untouched by the internment program despite the presence of critical military instillations and Martial Law.
February 25, 1942 The Navy informs Japanese American residents of Terminal Island near Los Angeles Harbor that they must leave in 48 hours. They are the first group to be removed en masse and suffer especially heavy losses as a result.
February 27, 1942 Idaho Governor Chase Clark tells a congressional committee in Seattle that Japanese would be welcome in Idaho only if they were in "concentration camps under military guard." Some credit Clark with the conception of what was to become a true scenario.
March 2, 1942 John L. DeWitt issues Public Proclamation No. 1 which creates Military Areas Nos. 1 and 2. Military Area No. 1 included the western portion of California, Oregon and Washington, and part of Arizona while Military Area No. 2 included the rest of these states. The proclamation also intended that people might be excluded from Military Area No. 1.
March 18, 1942 The president signs Executive Order 9102 establishing the War Relocation Authority with Milton Eisenhower as director. It is allocated $5.5 million.
Executive Order 9066 is appealed to the US Supreme Court in Korematsu vs United States December 18, 1944
Korematsu: Resisted the army’s order for relocation. Arrested and convicted. Argued Executive Order #9066 violated Korematsu’s 5th and 14th Amendment right to equal protection under the law. COURT RULING: Order was justified for security reasons. [b]Ruled that an entire race could be labeled a “suspect classification” meaning that the government was permitted to deny the Japanese their Constitutional rights.[/b] Three judges disagreed. All 6 justices agreeing with the USA were appointed by FDR. Justice Hugo Black wrote the majority opinion. Hugo Black, once a member of the Ku Klux Klan later became a liberal reformer.
This decision is contrary to the 5th Amendment ““No person shall be held …….. without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” AND the 14th Amendment “All persons born or naturalized in the United States ….. are citizens of the United States …. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States ….. deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to any person …. the equal protection of the laws.”
Despite the Bill of Rights, this Supreme Court Decision HAS NEVER BEEN REVOKED and still stands as the law of the land.
Justice Frank Murphy in his dissenting Opinion wrote: the internment program “goes over ‘the very brink of constitutional power’ and falls into the ugly abyss of racism.” He added: “I dissent, therefore, from this legalization of racism. Racial discrimination in any form and in any degree has no justifiable part whatever in our democratic way of life. It is unattractive in any setting, but it is utterly revolting among a free people who have embraced the principles set forth in the Constitution of the United States.”
54 Years Later Fred Korematsu received the highest honor a UC citizen can receive, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, from President Bill Clinton in 1998
11,000 Japanese families had to sell their homes and businesses at an estimated loss of over $3,200,000,000.00 (2017 dollars). Evacuees were allowed to take only what they could carry. Even young children were given a package to take. What was not sold was left for the taking. Scavengers were waiting to take anything that was left behind.
After being placed in the “relocation centers.” Internees were given a “Loyalty Questionnaire (Oath)
“Question 27: Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered? Question 28: Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any and all attacks by foreign and domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or disobedience to the Japanese Emperor, or any other foreign government, power, or organization?”
If there was a way to measure the loyalty of Japanese-Americans with a loyalty questionnaire, why put 110,000 Japanese-Americans in camps?
Catch 22 - Remember that in 1922 the US Supreme Court decided that Japanese immigrants could never become US Citizens? If the Japanese immigrants had “forsworn any form of allegiance or disobedience to the Japanese Emperor, or any other foreign government, power, or organization,” they would have given up their Japanese Citizenship and legally would be without citizenship in any country.