A HORRIBLE DAY in AMERICAN HISTORY

Roosevelt orders Japanese-Americans to be confined in internment camps

February 19, 1942 is the day that should live in infamy. This is the date when the horrible, horrible Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 (yes, I see the numbers) which illegally authorized the military to remove Japanese and Japanese-Americans from their homes and to send them to what basically were concentration camps. Approximately 125,000 men, women and children were illegally detained for nearly three years.

Watch my video below where I share background on how this happened, along with a summary of a personal story from someone who was born into one of these camps.

Isn’t it amazing that all the attention in WWII was focused on Germany imprisoning Jews — but very very little was/is ever mentioned about the despicable treatment of Japanese-Americans in America?

And in light of all the of “new visitors” being escorted from their countries into the United States with brand-new clothes, back-packs, cell-phones, tennis shoes, cash, gift cards, housing, transportation, medical and job placements, let’s remember not so long ago on this very day, February 19, 1942 when then-president Franklin Roosevelt, with one stroke of his pen, condemned over 125,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps. Concentration camps, really.

Yes, this happened under one of the absolute worst presidents ever, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Oh, you mean Roosevelt was a hero? A fan favorite of the left? Didn’t you know about all his, uh, accomplishments?? (I’ll cover his horrible policies in my live broadcast later today, 4 pm pacific on my youtube channel here.)

It’s no wonder that this FDR was behind the stripping of rights of these Japanese-Americans.

A Short History of Japanese Immigration

The US has a history of Japanese discrimination, as evidenced by these immigration policies.

1869: First Japanese arrive in the US mainland, near Sacramento, CA

1870 - 1911: US forbids Asians from becoming naturalized citizens

1913: Japanese aliens prohibited from owning land in CA

1924: All immigration from Japan is prevented

1941: Pearl Harbor incident

Feb 19, 1942: FDR issues EO 9066 to remove Japanese/Americans to assembly centers and internment camps

Dec 1944: US Supreme Court rules loyal citizens cannot be held in detention camps against their will

November 1945 Internment camps being to close

June 1952: US grants rights to Japanese to become naturalized citizens

The following photos linked here show what happened following EO 9066.

This part of history has been relatively obscured. Many people have told me that they don’t remember being taught much about how Japanese-Americans were treated in WWII.

Personally, I’ve decided to start reading some of the survivors memoirs (and history books) to increase my knowledge of this horrible time in US history.

Here are some of the books I’m reading:

Farewell to Manzanar

Korematsu v. United States

Enemy Child

The Tragic History of Japanese-American Internment Camps

I’ll be covering more on this part of history in upcoming videos.

In my recent video here, I shared an email from a Healthy American with an insider’s view into Japanese culture and insights into this part of history. I also share a story of an elderly Japanese-American I recently met who was born into one of the Arkansas detention camps and what happened in the subsequent years.

Let me know if you have a personal connection to this atrocity in our history, and/or if you think what the US government did was fair and just.