S. Matthew JonesThe Immigration Experience INTL 2040April 7, 2016Signature Assignment #1 Topaz

Introduction

I strongly stand by my position that it is wrong to imprison or segregate people based on

their outward appearance. Why is there this reaction to label people who were born here and are

Americans, so that suddenly they can become not Americans? The Japanese were discriminated

against during WWII, but the war was not just against Japan. Why were other nationalities not

discriminated against? And here is a rhetorical question, “Why is Utah always in this picture?”

"Block 7" Topaz, by Setsu Nagata Kaneharahttp://www.topazmuseum.org/art

I have an unanswered question; how did the Church of Latter-Day Saints condone these

acts? How do they act now? Have they apologized? I can’t find where this Utah church has

addressed this. If the infraction is not addressed, the anger can be passed down through the

generations. If we just assume we have apologized and made restitution, then it goes

unredeemed.

I can argue that perhaps knowledge of our past transgressions as a people have helped us

make better decisions now. The LDS church is currently urging its members to welcome the

immigrants now amongst us.

However, the fact remains that we as a nation supported the internment of 110,000 to

120,000 Japanese Americans during World War II. Sixty-two percent were United States

citizens. The reason for the order is that Imperial Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

We have to acknowledge the unintended consequences of this response. This was made very clear

to me in the documentary Topaz, where a woman from the camp, Michi Kobi, in her interview

says, “Okay, I don’t exist anymore.”

The Japanese in the Internment camps reacted as humans always do, some wanted to

serve, some wanted to stay with their families, and some were ostracized because they served or

because they refused to serve (Densho Encyclopedia).

http://www.topazmuseum.org/sites/topazmuseum.org/files/Topaz-47.jpg

When the imprisoned Japanese were finally let out, they discovered they were victims of

vandalism of their personal property, loss of their land due to landownership being illegal.

Imagine finding if there was anything left, it would be your photos, because they are worthless to

others, you find them damaged and strewn on the floor. Family photos are precious because they

are our history and our memories.

And these discriminations continued for generations afterward. The famous local

mechanic Bob Kasabushi says there were always lice checks in school and since the Japanese

kids had dark hair, the salt crystals would stand out and they always were accused of being lice-

ridden and dirty. This was maybe 20 years after WWII but that perception still existed.

The children had to grow up in those dehumanizing conditions and their children also faced this.

A teacher in the camps got better food than the children but she still had a vitamin deficiency and

was concerned about their nutrition. How cruel.

From the other perspective, I can understand the paranoia and fear of wanting to keep

oneself safe, thinking everyone is a terrorist or a threat, because sometimes they are. Imperial

Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in World War II. So this fear is valid. Also, the camps were set up to

protect the Japanese from every ‘other American’.

It is the government’s job to keep all the citizens safe; I believe and hope that is the true

intent. And of course, the government must enact laws such as the National Origins Act of 1924,

which banned immigration for all Asians, pretty much. This is because the fear was that a

specific ethnic working group would disrupt the economics of the day. Of course, this type of

government response just made the situation worse, dividing opinions, leading human

trafficking, loss of expected tax revenues, etc. It is better not to impose reactionary laws. It is

better to think things through.

Could the same thing happen today? Are we still afraid of Others - the fear of people we

arbitrarily label as different from us? It helps so much when the privileged segment of the

population can easily identify through the physical attributes just who to blame. I imagine an old

white man, pointing a boney finger at the immigrants who are to blame for the – bombings, the

job shortages, the terrorism, the unfamiliar religion…

“Donald Trump called Monday for a ban on

Muslims entering the United States. Trump

defended his position on Tuesday, saying the

United States is at war with radical Islam and

citing World War II internment camps as a

precedent, the New York Times reported. He

acknowledged that the analogy is imperfect,

because he would not call for internment

camps such as those created for U.S. citizens

of Japanese, German and Italian descent by executive order of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt

in 1942. The United States formally apologized in 1988 and paid $20,000 to surviving victims of the

internment camps.” Deseret News

Segregating one part of the melting pot – taking

one ingredient out does not strengthen the

stew….

I would hope that in these modern times, we

would be aware of the consequences, the

aftermaths, where we will be required to

apologize – if you are naughty, you must say you

are

sorry….

Works Cited

Children of the Camps in class

Densho Encyclopedia, 2016 Webhttp://encyclopedia.densho.org/Japanese_American_Citizens_League/

Help the Refugees Among Us. https://www.lds.org/church/news/viewpoint-help-the-refugees-among-us?lang=eng Church News, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints

Japanese American Citizens League. http://www.topazmuseum.org/art

LDS Church releases statement on religious freedom as Donald Trump’s Muslim controversy http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865643265/LDS-Church-releases-statement-on-religious-freedom-as-Donald-Trumps-Muslim-controversy

The Purdue OWL. Purdue U Writing Lab, 2010. Web. 4/4/2016

Springville Museum. http://smofa.org/exhibitions/highlights.html?exhibition_id=66&name=The%20Art%20of%20Topaz:%20Beauty%20Inside%20Barbed%20Wire, 2016, WebAll of the art in this research paper was exhibited at Utah’s Springville Museum’s Beauty in Barbed Wire show. I was struck by how the works were made on paper or flimsy backings – whatever they had to draw on. But the artwork was so important to them, that they struggled to express themselves.

Topaz. Copyright 1987 KUED, SLC Utah