WILL AMERICA PUT MUSLIMS IN MILITARY CAMPS?

Leo, John (2004) “The internment taboo” US. NEWS&WORLD REPORT, 9/27, p. 74.

Social critic John Leo reviews Michelle Malkin’s new book IN DEFENSE OF INTERNMENT. Malkin indicates that internment was necessary and that Japanese in and among the population had spies and insurgents in both Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans. Thousands of Japanese were put in internment camps. They were thought to be the senders or recipients of “magic messages” from the enemy.

As Leo notes, camp conditions were harsh. Most Japanese were freed after World War II. Many historians view this action as a low point in the Roosevelt administration. It is usually defined as a time of moral panic in America.

Leo’s response to this book is that “the evacuation was a reasonable step taken under extreme wartime pressure.”

Having taught minority relations or culture of diversity classes, the internment is thought to be a response that was both panic oriented and racist. German immigrants and German-Americans did not face this problem.

The new groups that may find themselves in the same positions are Arab Americans of which most are Muslims.

Malkin’s position and Leo’s is that survival of America may mean incarcerating Arabs.

I do know that I worked for a professional who spent the early days of his marriage in a horse stall with other Japanese. His treatment was a long lasting scar in his life.