Japanese Internment

I'm reading a book now on Americans of Japanese descent (I don't like hyphenating "-Americans.") and the relocation and internment during the Second World War.  I've read quite a bit about it and, in fact, did a very lengthy graduate paper (75 or more pages?  I wonder if the professor actually read the whole thing??????) on Korematsu v US many years ago.  Yet, this book is worth reading, for me and for others.

It's a reminder of what can go wrong when we take aim at others who are "different," at least "different" in some people's eyes.   It can provide a lesson for today.

Granted, the situations are not the same.  Today we have many illegal immigrants, some who might well have intentions of great harm.  And then there was the hysteria of World War 2 and the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.  These factors are worth considering in our scrutiny, but can help us learn our lesson(s).

Remember, too, the 442nd Infantry Regiment was the most highly decorated unit for its size and length of service in US military history.  The 442nd was composed of mostly Americans of Japanese descent, some of whom had been incarcerated in the internment camps and many/most of whom still had families locked away.

It is telling to me that F. Roosevelt, who initiated the relocation and internment by signing Executive Order 9066 about two months after Pearl, seems to get a free pass on this egregious infringement of Americans' rights.

I read that ISIS sent a young boy, a 12-year old?, into a wedding in Turkey with a suicide bomb.  More than 50 people were killed and nearly 80 more wounded.  Where is the outrage?  Where is the US President on this?  How about, at least, the Secretary of State?  the United Nations?  the Pope?  Now maybe some or even all of these have spoken up and condemned this, but none of it made my papers this AM.

12-year old boy?  What parent(s) would willingly (or even unwillingly!) send their son off to die like this?  They must be incredibly stupid.  Oh, they have bought into the fanaticism?  Bologna/Baloney!  I can't imagine, can any parent imagine, doing this with one of their children?  And, I guess, if this is so righteous, why don't the fathers or mothers volunteer?  How can anyone anywhere support ISIS?   Of course, the silence (or mostly silence) on beheadings, stonings, hangings, throws off of tall buildings, etc. has been deafening, hasn't it?

Why aren't the doo-gooders (and I do mean "doo") who rant and rave so ignorantly about "world peace" ("All we are saying, is 'Give peace a chance.'"  I'd sure like to, but tell it to ISIS or Hamas or Putin or, in the past, Hitler or Stalin or Mao......) protesting these actions of barbarity?  Why aren't they in the streets every day?  Why aren't they calling for boycotts?  Heck, why don't they demand the US do something with relations with countries that sponsor/finance these fanatics?  I think we know why, don't we?

BTW, I heard on the radio this AM that there were four more shootings in Detroit, resulting in three deaths, on Sunday.  I haven't read the newspaper beyond page three yet, so I haven't come across them. Why aren't we blasting the front pages with this every single day??????

A rhetorical (At least I think it was rhetorical?) question was posed to me this AM.  "How can any woman vote for Trump, after how he's treated women, how he's used them, how he's talked about them?"  I didn't respond, but thought, "Good question!  Now how about women who support Clinton after all she's done to denigrate women?"