Today’s front page of the day comes from the Arizona Republic, which led Sunday with a look back at Japanese-American internment camps during World War II. Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Dan Nowicki spoke with Marian Tadano Shee about her memories of living in a camp with her family and how GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump’s calls to ban Muslims from entering the country sound dangerously familiar.
“The people who do not believe the rhetoric of Donald Trump should speak up,” Tadano Shee, 75, told The Arizona Republic. “What happened to the Japanese is that no one spoke up for them, so people need to speak if they feel this is not right.
“In the United States of America today, you would not think it would be happening, when it happened in the 1940s. You would think that people in the United States would have learned to appreciate each other, to respect each other – we’re a land of freedom … and consequently, no one has the right to negate you simply because of your characteristics.”
Via Newseum:
Since Trump’s statement, many news organizations have covered people who lived in the camps speaking out against Trump’s idea. On Friday, Jackie Calmes wrote for The New York Times about California Congresswoman Doris Matsui, who was born in an internment camp.
“If people forget about history, it could happen again,” Ms. Matsui said.
The circumstances are different — Roosevelt rounded up citizens; Mr. Trump wants to bar Muslim visitors — but the motivation is the same, she said: “It is fear of the unknown that would drive people to fear-mongering and then outright bigotry.”
