At 08:47 PM 1/18/2002 -0500, you wrote: >At 7:00 PM -0600 on 1/18/02, Internet Scout Project wrote: > > > > 6. War Relocation Authority Camps in Arizona, 1942-1946 > > http://www.letrs.indiana.edu/web/w/wright2/ > > > > In this era of renewed concern over the potential impact of racial > > profiling, the University of Arizona Library's exhibit on the internment of > > Japanese-Americans during World War II is a well-timed reminder of the > > inanity of such actions, to say nothing of their disruptiveness in the > lives > > of (otherwise) ordinary American citizens.
Though without a doubt this episode was one of the blackest recent events in the denial of constitutional rights and a great follow on to the unconstitutional expansion of fed authority under FDR, it was not without some unintended benefits. During the internment the parents, especially the fathers, had little to do and so spent much more time with their children, which prior received much less attention as was the custom. One of my good friends grew up in the camps and credited them with greatly improving his childhood. Prior to the war the U.S. Japanese community was pretty insular, due no in no small part to the rampant white racism. The internment accelerated their integration. With their property and family businesses forfeit many fell into poverty. However, many of their children found new post-war opportunities. My friend became a football star and went on to win scholarships eventually receiving a PhD in Engineering. He left little doubt this would not have happened without the internment. steve
