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A DIFFERING VIEW/Preservation efforts should cover all internment camps

Wednesday, October 31 at 12:01 AM

In its editorial about a new law providing for the restoration and preservation of relocation camps where Japanese-Americans were held during World War II, “A sorry chapter” (Oct. 18), the Rocky Mountain News said it well when it wrote: “Unlike some countries that would rather forget unpleasant aspects of their past, the United States shouldn’t flinch from its own historical reflection, blemishes and all. How else will we able to avoid the pitfalls that await any great nation?”
However, the Rocky did not ask why the title of the law is so specific: “Preservation of Japanese-American confinement sites.” If, as the Rocky suggests, “the United States shouldn’t flinch from its historical reflections, blemishes and all,” then the title should have read “Preservation of Japanese-American, German-American and Italian-American confinement sites.”
Perhaps the country would rather flinch when it comes to German-American and Italian-American internment during World War II. The president, the Congress, the courts and the press have flinched on more than one occasion on this matter.

Arthur D. Jacobs, a U.S.-born resident of Tempe, Ariz.,was interned at age 12.

READER COMMENTS

I agree that the internment camps should be rehabbed. I believe,however that the circumstances surrounding the original necessity for interning the Nisei,as well as the "German" and "Italian" Americans has been grossly mischaracterized and presented in a revisionist context worthy of our late Cold War adversaries.
We have learned from many race-based conflicts that one's racial self-identification trumps one's national self-identification,and we can assume that if left free,a small but definite subset of the Nisei would have mounted guerilla attacks within the USA .The result would have been a blood-bath of civilian reprisals against all of the Nisei,and consequent diversion of scarce US military resources to restore order.The surviving Nisei would then have been rounded up and interned anyway,to be treated much more harshly than was actually the case.We can also assume that none of the(hypothetical) inmates would ever have been allowed to enlist and thus would never have had the opportunity to show their loyalty and heroism.
In sum,the internments clearly assured the safety of legal Americans caught in an awkward and dangerous situation,and contributed substantially to their eventual restoration to an honored place as the best kind of Americans.
There is another reason for rebuilding the camps: If another Islamic terror attack takes place within the USA,or if there is a non-Pakistani Islamic nuclear strike anywhere in the world,American Muslims will need even more protection than did the Nisei.and we will need a place for them not only out of harm's way,but where those American Muslims who really are dangerous can properly be managed.

Posted by Jimminy on October 31, 2007 10:22 PM