Today is the Day of Remembrance of the anniversary of Executive Order 9066 in 1942, which led to nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans (two-thirds of them U.S. citizens) being forced into camps.
We remember not just what happened, but what it teaches us today.
#TodayInHistory #Histodons @histodons
In the camps, internees turned to the natural world – gardens, landscapes, and outdoor work — as sources of meaning, resilience and dignity amid injustice.
Even in confinement, connection to nature became a lifeline 🌱🌳🌸
Japanese Americans from Hawaii (many of them community leaders and U.S. citizens) were also swept up in wartime suspicion and exclusion, a chapter often overlooked in national memory.
@TheConversationUS Overlooked is an understatement. This was not taught in middle or high school. I only learned about it in middle school thru a book I happened to be reading.
Americans are taught a *very* censored version of US History in school.
@someguy @TheConversationUS It’s not only American students who receive a limited teaching of history: Japanese students are not taught about the attack on Pearl Harbor.
My parents visited the Intrepid Museum (it's a retired aircraft carrier docked off Manhattan) many years ago and there happened to be a group of Japanese students visiting at the same time. The students were shocked by the exhibit about Japan attack on December 7, 1942. They had not learned about it in school.
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@someguy @TheConversationUS A few students didn't believe it at first. Some believed, but were shocked--and embarrassed to be in the US as tourists. "Don't you hate us?" one young man asked my Dad. "No, your parents weren't even born yet," Dad, a Navy veteran, replied.
A few students, mostly the young women, cried. One girl wept on my Mom's shoulder, apologizing and saying they'd never learned about it in school.
#History #Japan #PearlHarbor #Internment
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The Conversation U.S.
Some Guy
Karen E. Lund 💙💛