75th Anniversary of Japanese internment invokes memories, parallels

[Tanuki]

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/75th-Anniversary-of-Japanese-Internment-Invokes-Memories-Parallels-414111433.html

"...Yamaichi said the era’s racially charged climate reminds him of current times, specifically President Trump’s proposed controversial order attempt to block immigration from a list of Muslim countries.
“The climate right now is almost the same as when we were first exposed to all that,” said Jimi’s wife Eiko Yamaichi, whose family was shuttled between half a dozen internment camps during World War II. “It doesn’t matter the color of your skin, or religion or anything — you should never be put into a camp like that.”
Jimi Yamaichi remembered the summons for his family’s evacuation came from a notice nailed to a telephone pole near the family’s twenty acre farm in San Jose’s Blossom Hill neighborhood. The family was ordered to show up at the San Jose State University gymnasium for evacuation orders.
“That’s when we lost our identity as a person,” Yamaichi said, “our family number was the thing — like our family number was 32420.”
.......
“We lost our liberty, right?” Yamaichi said. “Lost citizenship and the right to vote, all our liberty was taken away and we were confined.”
When the war ended, internees returned to the fabric of the country to try and rebuild lives — many starting over from nothing.
“They give you $25 and a one-way ticket to whatever destination you’re going,” said Jimi Yamaichi."......

[MineralMan]

1. We must remember this. We must make sure it

never happens again.

[Tanuki]

2. It feels as if we are on the verge. I had lunch yesterday at a Thai restaurant.

I was sitting near the back and overheard a conversation among a group of 4 women on the staff, 3 of whom were bilingual. One, an older woman, spoke only Thai, and the conversation drifted back and forth fluidly between Thai and English. Even when they were speaking Thai, the talk was peppered with an occasional English word like "green card" and "passport." As I was paying my bill, I made a point of apologizing for what is happening and expressing my hope that we can get back to being a welcoming and harmonious people very soon. The waitress told me that even though she was born here, she has had to show her papers. She said she carries her social security card with her at all times and encourages everyone she knows who, as she put it, "looks...racial" to do the same. She knows she shouldn't have to do this and that her rights are being violated, but she just wants to avoid trouble at this point. She doesn't foresee things getting any better "as long as HE is there." I left the restaurant with a heavy heart. I will do what I can this coming week to do my part to "lift my lamp beside the Golden Door." I have so many areas of disagreement with Marsha Blackburn that I wasn't sure which one to focus on for my sign when I picket her Town Hall this Tuesday, but this may be the one.

[MineralMan]

3. Yes. However, this time it looks like it is Muslims and

Hispanics who will be targeted. It's the same racist and xenophobic tendency, though.

When I started college in 1963, I met someone who became a good friend. She was born at the Manzanar camp. Her parents lost everything when they were sent there. I learned a great deal from her about how ugly a nation can be at times.