My life intersected a few interesting topics, some recent, some old rehashes, others important but years in the past. I wanted to write on them with some relevance and urgency but not with more urgency, then would be prudent for creating a good understanding and presentation of the facts.
There are some people in our nation who see fit to make argument, that anything and everything we do as a country in our own defense is legal, moral, and ethically correct. Indeed it does depend I guess on the vantage point of the perspective that is being looked from. Nevertheless, our country has in the original historical documents, a declaration of Independence, a constitution, documents that survives to this day. Documents that have been copied and re-made over and over in other constitutions across the free nations on the globe because they resonate with free people and those who would wish to become free.
I listened to a "respected journalist" speak on the topic of Japanese American Internment. She defended the treatment of this group of people, who were 2/3 Japanese American Citizens of the United States, who were, both asked to assembly and forcibly removed from their homes and businesses. This group was "concentrated", "imprisoned", "detained"; whatever team you wish to apply, this is what they were.
Nobody debates the fact of this occurring, which would appear to Freedom loving people in my judgment, both painfully wrong and a significant blemish on a modern free country imprisoning their own citizens as though they were criminals. They were declared political enemies of the state, and though few if any were guilty of any crime. Certainly though the end result was not, the mass systematic extermination of the Japanese people, as in Nazi Germany at the same time, but they were guilty of being Japanese just as sure as Jews were guilty of that.
It is so very sad and tragic that this did occur in our nations history ethically of course because it is wrong to imprison anybody who has not committed a crime. It is certainly wrong to apply a judgment of criminality to an entire group of people for the acts of a foreign government. That laws of war state,
"People and property that do not contribute to the war effort should be protected against unnecessary destruction and hardship."1
Beyond that international law, Our own preamble to the Declaration of Independence reads...
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."2
Our constitution has been established to...
"We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."3
Our constitution states...
"Section 2 provides that the trial of crimes, except in cases of impeachment, must be by jury." [Section 2 Of Article 3]
History does not provide that any of that took place for the Japanese American Citizens Interned. These camps were indeed not for criminals or treasonous citizens, but...
"intended for non-citizens including Buddhist ministers, Japanese language instructors, newspaper workers, and other community leaders."
So if you like me, believe that these Japanese American Citizens were in fact illegally, unethically, and not exactly given fair treatment, certainly not due process, then I believe you would agree that this was in fact wrong, morally, ethically, and legally.
If you do not agree, and think that these people actually posed a threat to our nation during a time of war. Similarly to how some believe that Muslims, American Citizens inside our country who worship Islam, are a danger, please explain why they were not removed from the very place where the United States was attacked?
Hawaii
"The vast majority of Japanese Americans and their immigrant parents in Hawaii were not interned because the Government had already declared martial law in Hawaii and this allowed it to significantly reduce the risk of espionage and sabotage by residents of Japanese ancestry. Also, since these individuals comprised over 35% of the territory's population, it was not economically prudent to remove them."1
For those that still need more...
"In December 1944, the Supreme Court ruled the detainment of loyal citizens unconstitutional. In early 1945, the government began clearing individuals to return to the West Coast; on January 2, 1945, the exclusion order was rescinded entirely. The internees then began to leave the camps to rebuild their lives at home, although the relocation camps remained open for residents who were not ready to make the move back. The freed internees were given $25 and a train ticket to their former home and sent on their way. Some of the Japanese Americans immigrated back to Japan, however the majority returned to their former lives, to the very place where they had been openly ostracized.[1] The fact that this occurred long before the Japanese surrender, while the war was arguably at its most vicious, weighs against the claim that the relocation was an essential security measure."1
So we not only exposed here how perhaps our nation was both wrong to intern American Citizens without cause, but also hypocritical and unequal in our exercise of power, and then later made the right decision and found justice. All things considered, it was a devastating war to our enemies, and a turbulent period in history, certainly there have been few instances where ideologies of good and evil became so violently clashed against each other.
The point I wanted to make is this. Detaining people, who don't get a trial, who aren't convicted are just as innocent or not guilty as you or I. If there is evidence against a person committing acts of violence of war or crimes, against this country, let it stand in a court. Let a jury decide, if we truly believe that all men are created equal. We ought to punish those the same way we would punish ourselves brining justice to those who would do us harm in the way we feel is ethical as a people on paper.
I disagree with the defense of Japanese American Internment just like I disagree with interment of anyone in our "War on Terror" who has not been convicted of a crime or is not awaiting a trial. These people, some of them are criminals, terrorists, some are people caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time, rounded up and unable to face trial because we choose to intern them irregardless of evidence against them. That's wrong.
1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment
2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Declaration_of_Independence
3: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laws_of_war
4: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Constitution#Preamble