Thread by @angiekayhong

On this day in 1942, Japanese Americans were mass incarcerated and corralled into race track stables via FDR's #ExecutiveOrder9066.

The reasoning? They thought all Japanese Americans (living in America) were responsible for Japan's actions during WWII. 1/

#Executiveorder9066 was suspended almost 3 years later, at the end of 1944. The order wasn't officially terminated until 1976. People lost property, jobs, and businesses. They returned to only a fraction of what they had before. 2/

A commission to study the executive order found that there was no justification to this horrible act.

And in 1989, Bush issued bill payments, redress and apologies to the formerly mass incarcerated. That's right, REPARATIONS. 3/

I look on this horrific history with mixed feelings.

I can't believe that this is not taught in most history classes. It is undeniably American history.

And, the Japanese got an apology and some reparations, unlike many other ethnic and racial minority groups in the US. 4/

This tells me...

The government is very capable of admitting their wrongdoings.

They are capable of issuing apologies for mass incarceration and racial prejudice.

They are capable of making reparations. They just don't want to. 5/

The government is capable of shutting down any history that doesn't present themselves as heroes.

They are capable of blocking books and education.

They are capable of double stamping racial prejudice and incarcerating/killing people unjustly. 6/

I'm sure that there was a mix of Orientalism & model minority myth in their redress of Japanese internment.

President Ford said that Japanese Americans were wrongly incarcerated bc they've proved to be "loyal Americans."

Does this mean other racial groups are not loyal?/end