Sunday May 27, 2012

JAPAN NEWS AND DISCUSSION

Japanese-American who fought WWII internment camps dies

National Jan. 05, 2012 - 04:56AM JST ( 9 )

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

Order by Time Order by Popularity

9 Comments

0

NewsmanJan. 05, 2012 - 07:16AM JST

However belated it may be, justice only comes when brave individuals defy the accepted order of things ...
0

plasticmonkeyJan. 05, 2012 - 08:32AM JST

A brave man to stand up to the US government's wrongful policy. I sincerely salute him for it.

However, since he was a US citizen, I wonder why this story is under national news. Is it because JT believes race and ethnicity trump nationality? If so, this reasoning is as faulty as the US government's decision to separate its own nationals on the basis of race and ethnic background.

Or is it another chapter in the 'woe-are-we-Japanese' saga? Let's see how long it is before we hear a story about a Japanese national who fought the imperial government's policy of abduction and forced labor in this country.
0

surge79uwfJan. 05, 2012 - 10:16AM JST

et's see how long it is before we hear a story about a Japanese national who fought the imperial government's policy of abduction and forced labor in this country.

That's as rare as a Southern U.S. white man who fought against slavery and Jim Crow laws. Usually the blacks were the ones who did. Similarly, if there was a Korean who fought the said policies of the Japanese government, he should be as celebrated as Hirabayashi is.
-1

peanut666Jan. 05, 2012 - 11:02AM JST

Yes, I agree that if there was a Korean who fought the policies of the Japanese government he or she should be as celebrated as Hirabayashi is. But then there aren't any. Also, we are talking about America, not Japan.
-3

unreconstructedJan. 05, 2012 - 06:48PM JST

Great article. Imperial presidents like Roosevelt (and Obama) need to be held to account by more historians.
1

FadamorJan. 05, 2012 - 10:53PM JST

I have to agree this should be catagorized under "International" news, not "National". Gordon Hirabayashi was born in Seattle Washington. His only tie to Japan is that some of his ancestors came from Japan.

Interesting quote from him after the courts overturned his conviction:

"There was a time when I felt that the Constitution failed me," he explains. "But with the reversal in the courts and in public statements from the government, I feel that our country has proven that the Constitution is worth upholding. The U.S. government admitted it made a mistake. A country that can do that is a strong country. I have more faith and allegiance to the Constitution than I ever had before."

[A&S Perspectives, Winter 2000, University of Washington]
0

JannettoJan. 05, 2012 - 11:24PM JST

Thanks for that Fadamor. RIP brave man.
0

Wanda-kunJan. 06, 2012 - 08:35AM JST

Tagging on Fadamor, what is the point of showing a photograph of an internment camp in Canada when Hirabayashi's family was sent to Minadoka in Idaho? Hirabayashi eventually settled in and became a Canadian citizen, but that was some twenty years after WWII, and neither he nor any Japanese-Americans living in the Seattle were interned in Canada.

http://www.najc.ca/thenandnow/renewal3a.php

I love this idiotic part of his story.

Hitchhiking to Incarceration

When Hirabayashi was sentenced for violating the exclusion orders, he was told to find his own ride from the Pacific Northwest to the federal labor camp near Tucson, Ariz.

"As he asked to be incarcerated in a road camp, and the government refused to pay for his transportation to a camp outside the excluded zone, he was forced to hitchhike to the Catalina honor camp near Tucson, Ariz., where he was confined," wrote historian Greg Robinson, author of "Tragedy of Democracy: Japanese Confinement in North America," in his Nichi Bei Weekly column “The Great Unknown and the Unknown Great."

The U.S. military obviously thought he was a real danger since they allowed him to take his own sweet time getting from Washington to Arizona. Such a disgraceful chapter of American history.
0

wasabizukiJan. 06, 2012 - 08:37AM JST

I have to disagree that this belongs in international instead of national.

@Fadamar- you say his only tie to Japan is that his ancestors came from there. If you live in the US, that makes no difference. You're judged by the color of your skin and genetic make up - not nationality. This man was American, and interned because he was treated as a JAPANESE national or even worse yet, an American Traitor.. His story is only one of thousands - most japanese americans had very profitable crops and land that was irrigated by japanese techniques and work ethic, only to have them all stripped and taken away and NOT returned after the war.

This very much belongs in national. For those who are both japanese and american, by both nationality and ethnicity. Even today, japanese americans have to endure the shame and stigma in the US that the motherland Nation brought upon them. Your comment is insensitive to japanese americans and the strife they endured.