><http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/>News | ><http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_alt_category.html?category_id=95>Polls > >| ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_custom.html?custom_page_id=64>Association >| ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_custom.html?custom_page_id=263>Directory >| ><http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_custom.html?custom_page_id=93>Advertising > >Services | ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_alt_category.html?category_id=416>Events >| ><http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_custom.html?custom_page_id=278>Awards > ><http://www.newamericamedia.org/> >[] > > ><http://banner.dwalliance.com/banner/click.html?id=273e81232dba4bab714949d916e013c0> >News in a New America > > ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=de9dd9fbbbbd59388d802c3f4e0e1288#>Printable > >Version ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=de9dd9fbbbbd59388d802c3f4e0e1288#>Return > >to Normal Version | ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_custom.html?article_id=de9dd9fbbbbd59388d802c3f4e0e1288&send_message=yes>Send > >Page to Friend > >Will Bush's War on Terror Bring Back Detention Camps? > >New America Media, Commentary, Ronald Takaki, Feb 06, 2006 > >Editor's Note: Parallels between U.S. government actions following Pearl >Harbor and steps taken after 9/11 -- including a Halliburton contract for >U.S. detention centers -- are troubling, the writer says. > >BERKELEY, Calif.--On Jan. 24, the Halliburton subsidiary KBR announced >that it had been awarded by the Department of Homeland Security a $385 >million contract to build detention centers in the United States. The >purpose was to prepare for "an emergency influx of immigrants, or to >support the rapid development of new programs" in the event of >emergencies. What lessons can we learn from the history of detention >centers of an earlier war? >internment > >Like the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Centers, Japan's >military attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, was a shattering >experience for Americans. Parallels between these two "days of infamy" >have already been widely discussed by politicians and pundits as well as >by everyday people. However, most of us today do not know what actually >happened to Japanese Americans on the West Coast as well as in Hawaii in >the wake of the devastating bombing. > >Shortly after he inspected the still smoking ruins at Pearl Harbor, Navy >Secretary Frank Knox issued a statement to the press: "I think the most >effective fifth column work of the entire war was done in Hawaii, with the >possible exception of Norway." At a cabinet meeting, Knox recommended the >internment of all Japanese aliens in the islands. > >Meanwhile, in California, Attorney General Earl Warren pressed federal >authorities to remove Japanese from sensitive areas on the West Coast. The >Japanese, he declared, "may well be the Achilles heel of the entire >civilian defense effort. Unless something is done it may bring about a >repetition of Pearl Harbor." Congressman Leland Ford of Los Angeles wrote >to the Secretaries of War and the Navy and the FBI Director insisting that >"all Japanese, whether citizens or not, be placed in concentration camps." > >Leading the campaign to do exactly that was Lieutenant General John L. >DeWitt, head of the Western Defense Command. In February, DeWitt sent >Washington a recommendation for the mass evacuation of all Japanese: "In >the war in which we are now engaged racial affinities are not severed by >migration. The Japanese race is an enemy race and while many second- and >third-generation Japanese born on United States soil, possessed of United >States citizenship, have become 'Americanized,' the racial strains are >undiluted... It, therefore, follows that along the vital Pacific Coast >over 112,000 potential enemies, of Japanese extraction, are at large today." > >On Feb. 19, in Executive Order 9066, President Roosevelt granted General >De Witt authorization for the evacuation and internment of 120,000 >Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were citizens by birth. > >Unlike their counterparts in California, Hawaii's public officials urged >restraint and reason. Congressional delegate Sam King advised the military >that nothing should be done beyond apprehending known spies. Unlike >General DeWitt, General Delos Emmons as the military governor of Hawaii >opposed Washington's efforts to evacuate and intern Japanese Americans in >Hawaii. Emmons believed that the Constitution guaranteed the right of due >process of law to every person, and was determined to base his policies >and actions on this principle. > >In a radio address broadcast shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, >General Emmons assured Japanese Americans: "There is no intention or >desire on the part of the federal authorities to operate mass >concentration camps. No person, be he citizen or alien, need worry, >provided he is not connected with subversive elements.... While we have >been subjected to a serious attack by a ruthless and treacherous enemy, we >must remember that this is America and we must do things the American Way. >We must distinguish between loyalty and disloyalty among our people." > >Many years after the war, in 1982, the Commission on Wartime Relocation >and Internment of Civilians reported that "not a single documented act of >espionage, sabotage or fifth column activity was committed by an American >citizen of Japanese ancestry or by a resident Japanese alien on the West >Coast." Six years later, the U.S. Congress passed legislation giving an >apology and reparations of $20,000 to each of the survivors of the >internment camps. Signing the bill into law, President Ronald Reagan >admitted that the United States government had committed "a grave wrong." > >Will history repeat itself today as Americans find themselves swept into >the hurricane of post-9/11 fears? Engaging in racial/religious profiling, >will our government continue to detain and incarcerate Muslims in the U.S. >without due process of law? Will it unconstitutionally force them into >detention camps to be built by Halliburton? Will our government later >regret it had violated their constitutional rights and have to offer them >redress and reparations? Or, like General Emmons, will federal officials >remember that "this is America" and do things "the American Way"? > >PNS contributor Ronald Takaki, professor of Ethnic Studies at the >University of California, Berkeley, is the author of "Strangers From >Another Shore: A History of Asian Americans." > >User Comments > > >Jennifer Nguyen on Feb 12, 2006 at 10:15:12 said: > >I am absolutely enraged and disheartened to think that America has not >progressed as much as I have thought it to be. I want to know more, >because not a day can we rest as a minority. Everyday is another battle. > >Post Your Comments > >First/Last Name > >Your Email Address > >Your Comments > >Disclaimer: New America Media will put up as many of your comments as >possible but we cannot guarantee that all e-mails will be published. NAM >reserves the right to edit comments that are published. > > >Just Posted > > > > > ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=9914321ac8d58727b30ff558c4556c80>Church > >Blazes Put the Torch to History > > > >Feb 15, 2006 > > ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=b7054aa38dd81556207c50906119b773>Korean > >Americans Eye Cartoon Dispute Warily > > > >Feb 15, 2006 > > ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=96d3781a7d20797699edeb0f5d92c8ac>Writer > >Challenges New York Times Columnist David Brooks Concept of the âGood >Crusadeâ > > > >Feb 15, 2006 > > ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=189ffabab51149d212f69c1b8a1b9ffc>Muhammad > >Cartoons Are Media's Sept. 11 > > > >Feb 15, 2006 > > ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=dd180c4127d7d37d09bdb4d6193e8238>Health: > >More Asian Pacific Islanders Needed For Marrow Donations > > > >Feb 15, 2006 > > ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=a026fc5783143e1090d8c517500ebf1d>Guns > >and Youngstas -- Three Youth Perspectives > > > >Feb 14, 2006 > > > >NAM Coverage > > > > > ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_alt_category.html?category_id=14>Immigration > > > > > ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=a236c81468a81f1aa1f9695bb21ca84e>For > >Many Immigrants, Will Consumerism Eclipse Frugality? > > > >Feb 14, 2006 > > ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=96305fc42a955425692e584f18584ad4>Reaching > >the Promised Land > > > >Feb 13, 2006 > > ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=b5c35c5433702f007f51ed6d2811e325>UFW > >Criticisms No Surprise in Central Valley > > > >Feb 13, 2006 > > ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=276d83df01d39ad4aab005ece5989331>Humanitarian > >Aid for Undocumented in Jeopardy > > > >Feb 12, 2006 > > ><http://news.ncmonline.com/news/view_article.html?article_id=811b34b2c12e8ff0fdd0aae1de8e2ce9>Chinese > >Woman Miscarries During Deportation > > > >Feb 11, 2006
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