The article discusses the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, highlighting James Wakasa, a 63-year-old chef forcibly relocated to the Topaz Relocation Center in Utah. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the mass removal of Japanese Americans, citing national security. Despite their status as citizens or legal immigrants, thousands were detained in remote camps, which a later commission condemned as prejudicial and hysterical actions. The narrative juxtaposes Wakasa's experience with an American soldier’s perspective, underscoring the human cost of such wartime policies.
Violence had brought the old man here, and violence would take him away.
President Franklin Roosevelt responded by ordering the mass removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast.
A congressional commission would later call it an act of 'race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership.'
The camp was called the Topaz Relocation Center.
#japanese-american-internment #world-war-ii #racial-prejudice #topaz-relocation-center #historical-injustice
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