10.26.2019

Densho : Ugly history: Japanese American incarceration camps


Densho·TED-Ed
Ugly History: Japanese-American internment camps
Summary
I, probably other Japanese people also, didn't know about the story.
Densho is a nonprofit organization based in Seattle, Washington, which collects video, oral histories, and documents regarding the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It’s the Japanese American Legacy Project, and Densho is the Japanese words which means to pass on to future generations.
The first sentence of the story: On December 7, 1941, 16 years old Aki Kurose shared in the horror of millions of Americans when Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor. Shared must mean that she was an American who used English but probably still couldn’t use Japanese and she, of course, didn't know about the plan. However, her name was Japanese, her appearance was  Asian, and her family was Japanese. Those reasons let her and Japanese American alienate, why?
Her family, of course, didn't know about the Japanese planes completely, though, why do people separate people by appearances? Is it a race and who teaches them that?
After the war, they returned where they lived before, though, postwar prejudice made finding work difficult. There was discrimination. Many ex-incarcerees, particularly members of older generations, were unable to rebuild their lives after the war.
In those, Aki Kurose who worked with the first interracial labor unions and joined the Congress of Racial Equality. She and young incarcerees began a movement calling for the United States to atone for this historic injustice. In 1988, the US government officially apologized for wartime incarceration-admitting that’s the catastrophic result of racism, hysteria, and failed political leadership. Three years after this, Aki Kurose was awarded the Human Rights Award from the Seattle Chapter of the United Nations. It tells peace and respect for people of all backgrounds. Additionally, she who as a teacher impacted thousands of students. She continued telling that multicultural and socially conscious education are important.

However, people still judge all by its appearances in the World. When are ugly Histories over and how can people understand peace and respect for people of all backgrounds? What does it mean that asking whether you are Japanese, or Chinese or Korean?

Words in this story
interment /noun/ burial, act of burying
atone /verb/ compensate

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