READING: WAR & REVOLUTION IN CHINA-3

[Anonymous]

The article on "How to tell your Friends from the Japs" is very telling about the US fears after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. It also shows how quickly racism and discrimination spreads. The article thou laughable now was taken very serious at the time it was printed. It is interesting to read that the author of this peace thinks that you can distinguish the different ethnistcy by the types of glasses they wear. However, noon of the men depicted are wearing glasses. What was the public suppose to do when they read this article go out and measure the height of their asian neighbors. This type of propaganda probably lead to more confusion and miss trust of all asians in the U S. It probably also help law makers accept the plans for the internment of the Japanese Americans and the discrimination of those in Hawaii as well.

[Anonymous]

This reminds me of a documentary about the Japanese internment I've used in my class. In it, one of the students is shown wearing a tag that reads: "I'm Chinese." The student said that his parents made him wear it so that he wouldn't be confused for a Japanese-American. This also brings up the issue of unity and divide and conquer. With the Japanese Americans as the identified enemy, many of the non-Japanese American Asians did what they could to distance themselves. This cycle is repeated throughout history.

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

3

[Anonymous]

This use of tags was also used by Hitler and the Nazi Party. If you recall, the Jews where forced to were a yellow arm band with the star of David on it. Just like the Japanese Americans, the Jews where singled out and others tried to distance themselves from them. So the question is, was the U S Government any better than the Nazi Party at the time, when both groups where being sent to concentration camps?

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