WHEN "PROGRESS" BECOMES AN EXCUSE TO SLANDER A PREVIOUS GENERATION

Remember the evening of 911? You weren't sure what was coming, but you knew Muslims had done this, so you got in line and paid whatever you had to pay to fill every vehicle you owned. We were scared and not quite sure what to do about it.

In the June 9, 1943 edition of the Los Angeles Times an article appeared entitled "Over 600 Nisei found Openly Disloyal". This refers to first generation Americans of Japanese ancestry, the children of Japanese immigrants. In Poston, Arizona there was an interment camp for Japanese Americans. Many, possibly almost all, Japanese Americans were loyal citizens of the US at the begining of World War II. For the loyal this was an unspeakable injustice and many of today's cultural elite would have us believe the World War II generation did this simply out of bigotry, for no real reason at all.

But look at the numbers as reported by the Los Angeles Times. At Poston there were about 3,600 interred Japanese Americans. When asked the question, "Will you swear allegiance to the United States and foreswear allegiance to the Emperor of Japan or to any other foreign power?" 630 were found "openly disloyal" in the words of the Los Angeles Times. Of these, 450 answered "No." Another 180 answered something like, "I'm neutral," according to the Times. These included 606 men and 24 women.

Given these historical facts, why do so many want to paint the World War II generation as racists and bigots? Answer that for yourself. I don't care why. I only hate a lie. Yes, there were bigots then as now. No excuses. What was done to blacks was especially heinous. And, yes, minorites are safer and more accepted now than then. And many of us are still bigots. Have you ever called anyone a redneck?

Is it really plausible that the average American was convinced anyone with Japanese features was evil? Or is it more plausible that our parents and grandparents, with feet of clay like ours, were simply as scared as we were on the evening of September 11, 2001 and not quite sure what to do about it?

Just thinking,
Phil Perkins.