Week Ten Blog Entry: Racism and the Internment of Japanese Americans

While learning about the internment of Japanese Americans during this week’s lesson, I was very surprised to find out how little I know about this subject. I remember learning about World War II in school and the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor, but I really cannot remember being taught much about the discrimination against those of Japanese descent in American. I’m sure that part of this is due to my horrible memory, but I also think that part of the blame can be put on the American school system and what they decide is going to be taught in the curriculum. They put so much emphasis on teaching us about the Civil Rights movement in America, but I don’t think that there was enough emphasis put on the Internment of Japanese Americans.  To me, this shows a certain level of embarrassment and unwillingness to admit that we made a mistake as a nation. As I learned with Rwanda, the US has a history of knowing what we did wrong but not actually being able to say the simple words “I’m sorry.”

It is so sad to think of what all these Japanese Americans had to go through at the time, solely based on their race. The part that amazes me the most is that 2/3 of those people who were put into the camps were American citizens. I am an immigrant from England, and I only received my American citizenship about 10 years ago. I can’t begin to imagine what it would feel like if the country that I am a citizen of suddenly decided that I deserved to be imprisoned because I am from a different country. Learning about this issue just gives me a whole new level of respect for those American citizens of Japanese descent who had to overcome prejudice and discrimination for years.