To further support my claim, let me continue.
- In 1942, the Japanese-American internment camps here in the United States were set up. Not as an act of Congress, but with an Executive Order. Executive Order 9066, to be precise. Along with the War Relocation Authority, created with Executive Order 9102, the Federal Government incarcerated and herded private citizens that had been accused of no wrongdoing. This, Janeane Garofalo, was racism straight up.
Yes, there were Germans and Italians (even some German Jews) interned as well. But they were just a small fraction of those interned. Many of the Japanese were full American citizens. 62% were 2nd or 3rd generation American citizens. The rest were 1st generation immigrants.
There were about 133,000 people interned for the duration of the war, and some were held for several years beyond the end of the war.
The word is "intern" -- look up "inter" and you'll see the difference... and wince. While you're looking up things, definitely get some background knowledge on this topic you wrote about:
ReplyDeletehttp://home.comcast.net/~eo9066/Intro.html
You are most definitely right - the word is interned. That's a mistake I'll only make once.
ReplyDeleteI will get to your link - after finals. Until then, here's some heavy reading for you: http://www.archives.gov/research/japanese-americans/justice-denied/
I do understand the history behind the internment of Japanese-Americans here in the U.S. I take issue with the logic and the constitutionality of the Order. Even beyond that, if it was constitutional to trample the rights of citizens and it was deemed necessary, then it should have been done by an act of Congress. Not by the will and signature of one man.