Donna Lower Nord discussed George Takei’s book, “They Called Us Enemy,” a firsthand account of life in an internment camp during World War II.
Nord’s presentation at Monday’s Iola Unity Club, also included information she gleaned when touring an old internment camp near Granada, Colo., recently.
During World War II, roughly 120,000 Japanese-Americans were forced to live in internment camps in the western United States during the war.
The internment is considered to have resulted more from simple racism than concerns of security risks among the Japanese-Americans, Nord said.
The camps were ordered by President Franklin Roosevelt on Feb. 19, 1942. The last one closed on Aug. 14, 1945. There were 10 such camps in the United States.
The U.S. Census Bureau played a role in the camps as well, Nord said, by spying and providing confidential neighborhood information on the Japanese living in the U.S. The Census Bureau denied its role for decades, despite scholarly evidence to the contrary, Nord said.
In 1980, President Carter launched an investigation, dubbed “Personal Justice Denied.” The probe found little evidence of Japanese disloyalty at the time and concluded the incarcerations were a product of racism; not security.
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Civil Liberties Act, which formally apologized for the internment camps on behalf of the U.S. government and authorized a $20,000 payment to each camp survivor.
The legislation was admission, Nord said, the government actions were “based on race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership.”
Kit McGuffin hosted Monday’s meeting.
Glenda Helton will host the March 23 meeting. Ellie Walburn will give the program.
