Japanese Internment Camps: A Surprising Perspective

Michelle Malkin’s book on In Defense of Internment: The Case for "Racial Profiling" in World War II and the War on Terror reminded me of my 40th High School reunion. We were in Santa Fe and, being a compulsive newspaper reader, I picked up a copy of the Santa Fe New Mexican for September 26, 1999. It contained a guest column by internee Tatsuo Manabe.

I remember that camp. My father took me to see it after it closed. I don’t remember what he said – but it was along the lines of “This must never happen again”.

Manabe's column surprised me.

In 1999, there was a controversy over a proposed historical marker commemorating the camp. Many of the area WWII veterans fought in the Pacific and opposed the marker. Manabe wrote that the internees were treated in accordance with the Geneva convention. He concludes:

“From the moment we were placed in the custody of the United States government until the day we got off the repatriation ship, we didn’t miss a single meal. While soldiers of man countries were killing and being killed and civilians were working to the point of exhaustion, and in many countries being killed, we internees of war in the United Sates were living a most easy life.”

This doesn’t justify the existence of internment camps. It does add some perspective.

If you want to read the whole column you can purchase it here.