A History Lesson

Bainbridge Island is one of the most beautiful locations on earth. Across Puget Sound from Seattle, this lush green landscape saw a memorial wall dedicated early this month marking one of the ugliest moments in our history. In the spring of 1942 US Army troops came to Bainbridge Island, bayonets fixed, to roundup residents of Japanese descent.

They were given less than a week to get together what they could carry and be ready to go they knew not where. Some of the 277 were third generation Americans, their forebearers came to Bainbridge in the 1800s. They were the first of roughly 120,000 to be sent off to Internment Camps based solely on their Japanese ancestry. Sixty percent –over 70,000– were American citizens.

An irrational fear that they might help Japan attack the West Coast was at the root of this massive injustice. Apparently fueled by the racist paranoia of the military commander tasked with guarding the Coast, the internment (AKA imprisonment) was endorsed by his superiors –including President Roosevelt.

Oddly, in Hawaii where there were a lot more Japanese, the military commander steadfastly refused to consider any such measure. When he was ordered to remove those of Japanese descent from one sensitive region, he simply refused. After the war we learned that Japan had considered invading Hawaii following their successful 1941 attack but abandoned that plan. Japan had no plan to invade the West Coast.  

Meanwhile our treatment of those related to Nazi Germany was very different. Our Ambassador to Great Britain, Joseph Kennedy, repeatedly attempted to set up a meeting with Adolph Hitler, whom he admired. When his public remarks became overly outrageous he was recalled. Henry Ford and Charles Lindberg among other prominent Americans were also seen as Nazi sympathizers.

The German American Bund –one of several Nazi leaning groups made up of Americans of German descent– openly displayed their support for the Fatherland. Bund parades in full Nazi uniforms carrying Swastika emblazed banners were seen on the streets all across America. 

In February of 1939 a huge Bund rally was held in Madison Square Garden; in October the Bund paraded on 86^th Street in New York. Most Americans of German heritage were appalled by those who supported the Bund, however, no one suggested setting up interment camps even for those with a picture of the Führer on their mantelpiece. These movements died out soon after Germany declared war on the United States.

The errors we made in the 1940s, should give us pause. Muslim Americans were as horrified by the 9/11 attack as any of us. Here was a fringe group committing mass murder in the name of their faith. The blanket opposition to Muslim Americans today is as mindless as the internment Camps of WW2. As we mark the 10^th year since the attack on the twin towers let us remember Bainbridge Island and rededicate ourselves to the rights of all Americans.