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November 07, 2006
The New York Times has opened its pages to free access for one week. This article by Dinitia Smith on photographs taken by Dorothea Lange of the internment of Japanese citizens by the US state.
In the winter of 1942 the United States government ordered tens of thousands of people of Japanese ancestry, two-thirds of them American citizens, to report to assembly centers throughout the West for transfer to permanent internment camps.
Dorothea Lange, People of Japanese ancestry arriving at Tanforan Assembly Center, 1942
Smith's article is a review of the Linda Gordon and Gary Y. Okihiro (ed) This internment involved about 110,000 people were moved with their families, sometimes at gunpoint, into horse stalls and tar-paper shacks where they endured brutal heat and bitter cold, filth, dust and open sewers.
The conditions in the camps were much worse than was shown by the photographs taken by Ansel Adams:
Ansel Adams, Mrs. Naguchi and two children, Manzanar War Relocation Center in California, 1943.
Adam's photos bordered on publicity and deception.
There are disturbing parallels between the treatment of Japanese Americans in 1942 and that of Muslims and other American citizens since the attacks of 9/11.
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Seems to be a standard thing to do when war is declared....The conditions were most likely bad and lots would of met by foul play if left in the community...given the level of information and propaganda around at the time....and of course the rednecks too.....might of been the safest place to be.