Idaho State Museum Recalls Japanese-American Internment Camps
80 years ago, President Franklin Roosevelt and his Attorney General moved forward with a plot to remove Americans from their West Coast homes. Americans of Japanese ancestry were herded aboard trains and shipped into deserts and high deserts after they were labeled a security threat. This arrived weeks after the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Many Were Behind Fences in Idaho
Some of the internees came to Idaho. Their story has been told many times. The Idaho State Museum plans to commemorate an act many believe to be among the most shameful in American history. The evacuees had homes and property along the coast seized by neighbors glad to take advantage of the situation.
Many of the sons left the internment camps and put on a uniform. Their acts of heroism on the battlefields of Europe are legendary. They weren’t sent to the Pacific Theater for the same reason they were removed from their homes. It was feared they weren’t sufficiently American.
Liberals Rarely Condemn Franklin Roosevelt
Roosevelt is revered by the American left. They tend to bury his dreadful decision on establishing concentration camps.
Many of us would never be able to recover from the economic shock of losing homes and businesses and, yet. The Americans of Japanese ancestry generally did very well after the war.
There’s a fascinating book I bought last year. It’s about internees in Neighboring Wyoming. The teenage boys in one camp formed a football team. It became a sports powerhouse. Then after graduating, they went to recruiting offices and took up military service. America today is filled with self-described victims. Americans of Japanese ancestry were given lemons and made lemonade.