Greg Freeman: In Previous War, America Showed Its Ugly Side - To Its Own Citizens. StL P-D 9/30/2001

Headline: IN PREVIOUS WAR, AMERICA SHOWED ITS UGLY SIDE - TO ITS OWN CITIZENS
Reporter: By Greg Freeman

Publication: ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
Last Printed: Sun., Sep. 30, 2001
Section: METRO, Page: C3, Edition: FIVE STAR LIFT

Learning from the past

For many Americans, Sept. 11, 2001, was like Dec. 7, 1941.
In both cases, the United States was unexpectedly attacked. In both cases, the president came forward and made a forceful speech about how this nation would do whatever necessary to defend itself. And in both cases, ethnic or religious minorities found themselves targeted, even when they were American citizens.

After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Japanese-Americans became the targets of racial slurs and threats. Eventually, many were sent to internment camps, losing their homes and businesses overnight.
Some Japanese-Americans were killed for the crime of having ancestors who came from Japan. Hollywood chimed in, with movies and cartoons that stereotyped the Japanese with squinty eyes and big teeth.
Today, many Japanese-Americans can sympathize with Americans who are now targets of suspicion because of their Middle Eastern looks or Islamic faith.

All of this is familiar to George Hasegawa, a longtime Missouri resident and retired executive vice president of a consultant engineering firm here.
   Now 82, Hasegawa and his family were ripped from their home in a rural area east of Fresno, Calif., and placed in an internment camp in Poston, Ariz.
   "Right after Pearl Harbor was bombed, the FBI and CIA picked up a lot of these people, " Hasegawa said. "I don't think anyone was charged although they were detained."
   The newspapers of the time didn't help, he said. They ran stories suggesting that many Japanese-American farmers were living near airfields as part of some plot to harm the United States. "Of course, most of the farmers had lived there before the airfields were built, " Hasegawa said.

Hasegawa had grown up on his family's farm. He had graduated from college and returned to the farm when Pearl Harbor was bombed.
   It was shortly afterward that President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered Japanese-Americans to internment camps.
   The camp at Poston was a desert, Hasegawa said. "It was hot, there was nothing there, and no one liked it. But we had no choice.
   "We were put in tar paper shacks, " Hasegawa said. "The rooms were 20-by-20. A whole family would be in one shack."

Japanese-American men in their 20s were initially not allowed to enlist in the armed services. "Most of us were targeted as enemy aliens by the draft board." They later were allowed to enlist.
After the war ended in 1945, the internment camps were closed, and people were told that they could go on with their lives.
But the camps left an indelible impression on those who were forced to live in them.

Looking back at those days, it's not difficult to conclude that what happened to Japanese-Americans was wrong, a tragic chapter in our nation's history.
In a rush to judgment, America showed an ugly side of itself, a willingness to scapegoat an entire group of Americans who were innocent of wrongdoing, people who had been law-abiding citizens.

There are some differences this time.
President George W. Bush has been very good about speaking out against hate crimes targeting Muslims, Sikhs and people of Arab backgrounds. He has reiterated that point several times since the terrorist attack.

Unfortunately, some Americans haven't listened.
   Reports of hate crimes against Muslims and southeast Asians have risen in the aftermath of the terrorist attack. The offenses have been all over the country, including people being shot, others being spat on and yet others being yelled at to "go back to your country."
   While the outpouring by the public of both money and manpower to help New York has demonstrated some of the best of what the United States has to offer, the physical and verbal violence against Muslims, Sikhs and others has been an unfortunate display of our nation's dark side.
   If it's true that we learn from our past, we should remember what this nation did to Japanese-Americans during World War II and vow never to let it happen again.

Daniel Schesch - Webweaver

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