What the Mayor of Roanoke got wrong about Japanese American incarceration

By Kelly Honda

When I saw Roanoke, Virginia Mayor David A. Bowers’ statement using the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II as justification for restricting assistance to Syrian refugees, my blood began to boil.

My great-grandparents and my grandparents were all forcibly removed from their homes in California and forced to live in internment camps without due process. My family could barely speak about their experiences in these “camps.” They lived in horse stalls and hastily made barracks. Armed guards were there, not to protect them, but with their guns pointing inside the barbed wire.

Their lives were turned upside down. My grandfather was a student at the University of California — he wasn’t able to graduate. My great grandfather, a business owner — lost his noodle shop. My grandparents, so ashamed to be Japanese, stopped speaking the language that allowed them to communicate with their parents. Our family valuables, homes, businesses, opportunity, language, and pride were all stripped by war hysteria and fear.

To suggest that there was any justification for the incarceration of Japanese Americans is embarrassing. To suggest that we should not provide aid to those fleeing war, violence, and terror because we are too afraid, just allows the hysteria and fear of terrorism to win.

The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was the formal apology of the U.S. government to those of Japanese descent who were illegally detained. This bill was signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, which discouraged future injustices and violations of civil liberties. We were reminded of this again after the attacks on September 11, when confusion and hysteria led some to profile and target Muslim and Arab Americans.

All American students should learn about the incarceration of Japanese Americans, so that these mistakes are not repeated.

Learn more: The Korematsu Institute provides free teacher training materials for students of all ages.

Kelly Honda is a yonsei- fourth generation- Japanese American and the Policy & Membership Manager at the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans.