ddr-densho-275-67

Jan 17

Dear Miss Haglund,

RE: Your letter of Jan 6th – must we open that can of worms again? Who would have thought that changes in laws and attitudes, such as they exist now, could ever happen?

Leave it thus:
Discrimination, racism, etc as practiced by individuals one can avoid or ignore, but when one's own government and its elected officials take advantage of a crisis to twist the laws – it does lead to despair and frustration.

I could understand my father's internment. He automatically became an enemy alien – our laws prohibited him from citizenship or from owning land. But the evacuation was for ALL people of J. ancestry, citizens included. Our rights were suspended. What made the J.A.'s potentially more dangerous than German- or Italian-American citizens?

You remember in Idaho when the Army finally called for volunteers? You saw the results – all that was asked was for a chance to prove one's loyalty – and this from within a concentration camp. How one wished that such a call came before evacuation!

Enough?

Try this for size –
We have 100 senators representing over 200 million citizens. I note with pride that three of them are of J. ancestry. And of all place one is from California! Wouldn't you say as a minority group we are over represented? Either that, or we sure multiplied.

Another one –
As for E.W. (Earl Warren) He never could come right out and

and say he erred. However, could you related his decisions on racial integration, etc was a over-reaction to his role in the evacuation?

My dear Miss H. the years have been good to me. Believe it or not, I'm thinking of retirement. The consulting engineering company which I helped to form in 1949 and in which I'm the corporate treasurer and chief designer has grown to 59 employees. We have done projects in England, Belgium, France and Poland as well as all over the US and Puerto Rico I'm happy but pooped!

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