Actor, activist, and social media icon George Takei has written an article for Foreign Policy in which he compares the Trump administration’s family-separation policy to the notorious Japanese internment camps of the ‘40s. Takei, who was himself a victim of our shameful confinement of innocent Japanese citizens, nevertheless thinks what’s going on at the border today is in some ways much worse than what he experienced:
And yet, with hideous irony, I can still say, “At least during the internment …”
At least during the internment, when I was just 5 years old, I was not taken from my parents.
My family was sent to a racetrack for several weeks to live in a horse stall, but at least we had each other. At least during the internment, my parents were able to place themselves between the horror of what we were facing and my own childish understanding of our circumstances. They told us we were “going on a vacation to live with the horsies.” And when we got to Rohwer camp, they again put themselves between us and the horror, so that we would never fully appreciate the grim reality of the mosquito-infested swamp into which we had been thrown. At least during the internment, we remained a family, and I credit that alone for keeping the scars of our unjust imprisonment from deepening on my soul.
I cannot for a moment imagine what my childhood would have been like had I been thrown into a camp without my parents. That this is happening today fills me with both rage and grief: rage toward a failed political leadership who appear to have lost even their most basic humanity, and a profound grief for the families affected.
The entire piece is worth a read.
We thought we were way beyond the point where such heartless tactics could ever be employed again, but we were dead wrong. All it takes is enough fear and hate, a leader shameless enough to exploit those emotions, and a political class too craven to do anything about the atrocities happening right in front of their eyes.
Everything old is new again — which is why we have to continue to make our voices heard.
How do political leaders convince themselves of the virtues of such a policy? History shows it doesn’t take much. After Japan dropped its bombs, the political scapegoats were obvious. As America geared up for war, the administration needed some way to show that it was being tough on Japan, as it had little military success at the early going to trot out. Being tough on Japan easily translated into being tough on the Japanese here in America. No matter that most of us weren’t even Japanese nationals; nearly two-thirds of those imprisoned were U.S. citizens, after all. But as the Wartime Relocation Authority made clear, “a Jap is a Jap.” That was their own “zero-tolerance” policy.
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Aldous J. Pennyfarthing’s Dear F*cking Lunatic: 101 Obscenely Rude Letters to Donald Trump is now available at Amazon.