Originally published on Salon.com December 24, 2004
Copyright 2004 Salon.com, Inc.
Forgotten history lessons
By Stanley I. Kutler
Indefinite
internment of prisoners of war is an invitation to abuse and
humiliation. Why are we repeating our horrendous mistake of the past?
Will
our history be a usable past, or are we destined to fall victim to
George Santayana's famous admonition that those who forget the past are
condemned to relive it?
A recent Cornell
University poll found that 44 percent of Americans believe the
government should restrict the civil liberties of Muslims. Only a
slighter higher percentage of 48 percent believe there should be no
such restrictions. And nearly 30 percent responded favorably to the
ideas of requiring Muslims to register with the federal government,
having undercover agents infiltrate Muslim organizations, and
permitting the government to engage in racial profiling.
The
poll numbers reflected more substantial support for such measures by
Republicans and those who call themselves "highly religious."
Republican voters supported restriction and surveillance efforts 2-to-1
over Democrats. The highly religious respondents viewed Islamic
countries as violent (64 percent), fanatical (61 percent) and dangerous
(64 percent). Less religious folk scored a bit lower, with 49 percent
describing Islamic countries as violent, 46 percent as fanatical and 44
percent as dangerous. Small comfort.
Thomas
Jefferson's faith in knowledge and education took quite a blow, for the
poll revealed that those who more avidly followed television news
showed a higher percentage of support for restricting the rights of
Muslim-Americans. That might surprise some -- maybe. The day the poll
was released (Dec. 17) also brought news of the death of 97-year-old
Harry Ueno. Ueno knew firsthand about restricting the rights of ethnic
minorities: He was one of more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans forcibly
removed to internment camps during World War II. Most had been born in
the United States, were thus citizens and, in their eagerness to "fit
in," had become Christians.
Ueno and his
wife and three sons were shipped to Manzanar, near California's Mount
Whitney, along with 10,000 other men, women and children. Ueno worked
in the mess hall and discovered that camp employees ran a black market,
selling sugar intended for the internees but in all likelihood wanted
for the operation of alcohol stills. Ueno confronted them and was
promptly arrested and jailed. An uprising followed, and two
Japanese-Americans were killed by guards. Ueno spent three years moving
to different jails, including a year in solitary confinement. He was
never charged with a crime or given a hearing. Ueno's story puts a
human face on what apparently is a mere abstraction for most Americans.
Democracy and freedom always hang by the slenderest of threads.
"Internment
camps" was a lame euphemism for "concentration camps." The latter term
arose from the Boer War at the turn of the 20th century, but for us
today it raises images of Nazi Germany and horrifying memories of death
camps, the Gestapo and the S.S. True, no ovens for humans operated in
Manzanar and other internment camps, but the camps' occupants had few
rights or freedoms. (Well, they could join the Boy Scouts.)
Internment
is an invitation to abuse, degradation and humiliation. We only have to
note the latest horrifying reports regarding the treatment and fate of
uncharged prisoners at Guantanamo and at Abu Ghraib and other U.S.
prisons in Iraq. Unfortunately, a few low-level convictions have served
to obscure the larger meaning and issues of the treatment of prisoners
of war.
Former FBI director J. Edgar
Hoover, not one to hold an abiding respect for civil rights and
liberties, initially opposed the military's evacuation of the
Japanese-Americans from their homes. Typically, his position was rooted
in jealousy for his bureaucratic authority. He believed -- quite
rightly -- that he had excellent knowledge of Japanese elements (mostly
aliens) with a potential for sabotage. In the days following Pearl
Harbor, the FBI rounded up several hundred suspects from lists it and
the military had compiled. All were Japanese nationals, most were far
above military age, and among them were Buddhist and Shinto priests. No
Japanese-American (citizen or resident alien) committed an act of
sabotage during the war.
The Civil Liberties Act of 1988 granted $20,000 in reparations
for those Japanese-Americans who survived their forcible evacuation.
The amount was a pittance for their loss of nearly four years of
productive life, their freedom and their dignity. The law reinforced
Americans' overwhelming sense for half a century that a wrong had been
committed. An exception is the recent publication of a wholly
undocumented, unfair and unbalanced defense of the policy by Michelle
Malkin, a Fox News commentator -- a work clearly intended to justify
future internment in our current war against terror. Or is it actually
against Muslims?
If our Muslim fellow
Americans -- whether first, second or third generation -- ponder this
poll, and remember the consequences of internment for Japanese citizens
and noncitizens alike, then this America cannot be the land for their
dreams but, rather, their nightmares. The rest of should take our cue
from this horrendous mistake of the past. The bigots, the uninformed
and the fearful among us are the antithesis of such dreams and
aspirations, having forgotten their own foreign roots and their
elementary lessons in civics. Just what is it they think we are
fighting to preserve?