Far Fetched? A few month ago the idea that people would be prevented from traveling to the USA whilst holding the correct credentials would have sounded crazy. Or that people having travelled here legitimately would be detained for no reason and without legal representation. Or that Immigration snatch squads would wait outside schools or public meetings to apprehend people even though their immigration status is currently being processed by the USA government… Not so far fetched now?
– Plastic Jesus
During the campaign, then presidential candidate Donald J. Trump, when asked whether he would have supported the internment of Japanese citizens in 1942, said he didn’t know and refused to say if such actions violated the values of the country. Instead, he said he would have had to be there, ignoring the insight of history and hindsight, and that, in war, tough decisions have to be made. “It’s a tough thing. It’s tough,” he said. “But you know war is tough. And winning is tough. We don’t win anymore. We don’t win wars anymore. We don’t win wars anymore. We’re not a strong country anymore. We’re just so off.”
Apparently, America wins throughout the causal dismissal of the history of the internment of Japanese Americans and the gleeful calls for a ban on all Muslims entering the United States during the campaign. A ban that has twice be enacted during his presidency, under the guise of a security provision and a temporary travel restriction that attempts to legalize his campaign trail rhetoric.
It would be 42 years before the United States would officially apologize and offer reparations to the 110,000-120,000 Japanese Americans who were unjustifiable forced into concentration camps under order 9066. “The internment of the individuals of Japanese ancestry was caused by racial prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership,” from the Civil Liberties Act, U.S. Congress, 1980.
Prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership. All those ingredients are very familiar. Not so far fetched.
