The Argonaut on the Internment of the Japanese

The Internment of the Japanese-Americans during World War II, more dispassionately identified as "Executive Order 9066" by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was a sorry affair altogether in the History of the United States.

Despite the crude conditions and unjust, racist treatment which they endured, Japanese-Americans continued to demonstrate their loyalty to their country, going so far as to serve in the military of the nation which had interned their friends and family at home.

Many Japanese youth distinguished themselves in the service of their country. In my hometown of Torrance, CA, the city commemorated the service of Ted Tanouye outside of his alma mater, Torrance High School. He was a nationally recognized and decorated soldier during World War II, and the city went out of its way to celebrate his contribution to his country.

In Venice, where a remnant of former internees still live, Arnold Maeda championed the establishment of a monument commemorating the strive and struggle which forcibly relocated ethnic Japanese-Americans from their homes in 1942.

The elderly gentleman betrayed a hint of the pain which he still endures when visiting the corner where the monument will be erected.

It is unfortunate that such painful memories haunt Americans to this day. I do not believe, however, that establishing monuments alone will erase the pain of what happened in those early years of the war. The pain of the past is born, ultimately, from trying to make right what went so wrong. It is not our place to fix the past, but rather to receive the present and believe that the future holds better tidings for us, that we can believe with unshakable certainty that the trials of yesterday will inform a glorious restoration for today and tomorrow.

If there is one lesson that we can take from the Internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II, it is that we should honor our country, cherish our countrymen, but always question our leaders and never trust our government, especially when the state assumes broad and unconstitutional powers, and justifies such extensions of power as a move in the best interests of the citizen's safety and security.