Idaho WWII prison camp controversy flares

[brooklynite]

HUNT, Idaho - The National Park Service wants Congress to remove the word "internment" from the name of a national park commemorating a World War II prison camp for Japanese-Americans.


In a management plan for the Minidoka Internment National Monument finalized this week, the Park Service says the term legally means imprisonment of civilian enemy aliens during wartime and does not accurately reflect the government's forced relocation of thousands of U.S. citizens of Japanese descent.

The agency wants the name changed to Minidoka National Historic Site, which would match with the only similar prison camp under its protection, California's Manzanar National Historic Site.

Monument superintendent Neil King and the leader of a group of Minidoka internees and their descendants said former camp residents have been divided over the name.

Some felt "internment" did not accurately describe what happened there, while others wanted to emphasize the injustice by changing the name to "Minidoka Concentration Camp National Historic Site," King said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060623/ap_on_re_us/internment_camp_1