Posted on 03/08/2011 3:08:04 PM PST by Free ThinkerNY
During the chaotic days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Basim Elkarra was passing by an Islamic school in Sacramento when he did a double-take: The windows were covered with thousands of origami paper cranes - peace symbols that had been folded and donated by Japanese Americans.
Amid the anger and suspicions being aimed at Muslims at that time, the show of support "was a powerful symbol that no one will ever forget," said Elkarra, a Muslim American community leader in California.
It was also the beginning of an unlikely bond between the two groups that has intensified as House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter T. King (R-N.Y.) prepares to launch a series of controversial hearings Thursday on radical Islam in the United States.
Spurred by memories of the World War II-era roundup and internment of 110,000 of their own people, Japanese Americans, especially on the West Coast, have been among the most vocal and passionate supporters of embattled Muslims. They've rallied public support against hate crimes at mosques, signed on to legal briefs opposing the indefinite detention of Muslims by the government, organized cross-cultural trips to the Manzanar internment camp memorial in California and held "Bridging Communities" workshops in Islamic schools and on college campuses.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I thought the hijackers in the second plane were surprised that the first hit was still up (though I’m not sure how anybody would know that). It would be a tough act to follow (they they have nothing but time to work on it).
I was a youth in Phoenix when one day I saw a couple of busses pullup -in front of the YMCA. I heard the people, all Japanese were going/being taken to a relocation camp. I had serious misgivings about what I saw. As the war progressed and I was drafted and my brother was killed on Okinawa and I had more insight, I thought about the people on the busses a bit differently. The USA was fighting for It’s very existance not some border conflict, no doubt about that. The Japs( war time soldiers language) had been in Hawaii, Alaska and had even brought the war to the mainland by bombs and submarines. In the dire days this Nation could not afford any fifth column Japanese. Like today with the Muslims when and if push came to shove who would stand with whom? As much as Roosevelt’s decision to intern Japanese,not all were citizens, seemed too gross as a defence against a possible calamity it took into account a possibility that would have been worse than at Nanking ,Shanghai and other occupied cities . After Wake Island when the USA did not have such fear of Jap sea power invading the USA or even Hawaii perhaps the internment camps could have/should have been closed. As with much of happenings in life the little words ‘if only’ could be asked . With this being said there should be many thanks to the Japanese who served this Nation to highest honors in spite of the bitter sweet experience of the internment camps. For me though the cost of my brother’s life along with so many other young men to make sure there would be no Jap invasion of our soil softens my memory of that day in Phoenix.
I was a youth in Phoenix when one day I saw a couple of busses pullup -in front of the YMCA. I heard the people, all Japanese were going/being taken to a relocation camp. I had serious misgivings about what I saw. As the war progressed and I was drafted and my brother was killed on Okinawa and I had more insight, I thought about the people on the busses a bit differently. The USA was fighting for It’s very existance not some border conflict, no doubt about that. The Japs( war time soldiers language) had been in Hawaii, Alaska and had even brought the war to the mainland by bombs and submarines. In the dire days this Nation could not afford any fifth column Japanese. Like today with the Muslims when and if push came to shove who would stand with whom? As much as Roosevelt’s decision to intern Japanese,not all were citizens, seemed too gross as a defence against a possible calamity it took into account a possibility that would have been worse than at Nanking ,Shanghai and other occupied cities . After Wake Island when the USA did not have such fear of Jap sea power invading the USA or even Hawaii perhaps the internment camps could have/should have been closed. As with much of happenings in life the little words ‘if only’ could be asked . With this being said there should be many thanks to the Japanese who served this Nation to highest honors in spite of the bitter sweet experience of the internment camps. For me though the cost of my brother’s life along with so many other young men to make sure there would be no Jap invasion of our soil softens my memory of that day in Phoenix.
As you said, God Bless the Japanese Americans who fought bravely for their Country while their families were in internment camps -- but I don't denigrate the men that set up the internment camps. It was a difficult time and difficult decisions had to be made with the focus on ensuring the security of the Nation.
You ought to get Mrs. Malkin's book - she brings up a lot of facts and adds additional color to this decision. Which beats the one-dimensional bilge we get today - which is basically: 'Americans bad, all others good'.
The latter.
日本＊ピング＊ (kono risuto ni hairitai ka detai wo shirasete kudasai : let me know if you want on or off this list)
Quite a few years ago there was a tape of Bin Laden talking about 9/11. He said that they never dreamed the Towers would collapse. It was posted on FR and there was a poster who spoke arabic. He vouched for the governments translation.
They weren't that smart.
But now they are....unfortunately.
I know some JAs in the San Fran area who are NOT mind-numbed, knee-jerk, robot-like Leftwingtards. I know others in Souvrn' California who are hard-core Republicans. Even know a fellow who used to be a raving maniac Democrat until he found out the Jimmy Carter campaign really didn't want any Asians around in the main campaign staff.
I think he gave up politics.
What you encounter with JAs is called "assimilation" ~ so they pretty much reflect the population at large.
One big exception ~ in Hawaii the Japanese ARE the Democrat party.
They'll "hit" something else next. And not all buildings were built like the Towers. They were "empty" tubes with an outer skeleton.
I think that certain people ought to shut up.
What the Nipponese did to America was pretty freaking bad.
So we nuked em.
So now we’re supposed to be the bad guys?
They’re watching too much Network News and history rewrites.
Most Japanese Americans are lib Dems, as are Asians in general.
Actually, even Tokyo Rose remained a loyal American. It turned out that she was actually sending out coded messages in what was supposed to be a propoganda show. A U.S. veteran’s group actually gave her an award late in her life for taking the risk. This is just one of many reasons that President Gerald Ford gave her a full pardon.
I’m sorry, I keep missing those stories where fundamentalist Christians or Jews kill a bunch of people.
Same here. But that won’t stop the lib idiots from drawing that false equivalency. They’ve done it before, and they’ll do it again.
I’d believe that; seems like a step down from the ‘96 attempt.
Those who actually suffered are more stoic and philosophical about their experience, and more likely to be conservative.
First I've heard of this. do you have a source I can check out?
They are suggesting we can’t protect ourselves not to mention what happened in WWII was the right thing to do too.
It entirely appropriate to condemn what happened in hindsight, but folks should know the facts.
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