Letters from Japanese 1942 internment camps found in Denver - Polidicks

[quote]DENVER - Old documents uncovered in Denver this week could answer some historians' unanswered questions about what life was like in Japanese internment camps. There were ten camps in the United States in 1942. The camps were created in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor to hold Japanese-American citizens. Two years ago, Alissa Williams and her husband Mitch purchased an old building at the corner of 27th Avenue and Larimer Street in Denver. While renovating the downstairs portion of the building this week, they discovered a box full of old documents from 1942 and 1943. The documents included letters and post cards from Japanese-Americans who lived in the internment camps. They were sent to the building because it used to house an old pharmacy, operated by a Japanese-American man. "A lot of [the letters] are 'thank goodness we found you'. 'I was so happy to get your address from my friend'. Just overly polite and nice letters," Williams said. Most of the letters are written in Japanese, so they're difficult for Williams to read since she doesn't understand the language. The ones that are written in English tell stories of starving, sick people. "I can't imagine being in [their] shoes and being shipped off to the desert and not knowing where I'm going to end up," Williams said. Some people asked the pharmacy for medical goods and random items. "A lot of hair dye, sake, condoms," Williams said. The condoms are significant, Williams explained, because Historians are still trying to figure out how people living in the camps dealt with birth control. "Apparently the fact that they were ordering condoms is closing a gap in history already, which is amazing," she said. Williams and her husband plan on meeting with a historian next week to figure out what they're going to do with the documents.[/quote] Source: [url]http://www.9news.com/news/article/300652/188/Letters-from-Japanese-internment-camps-found-in-Denver?hpt=us_bn10[/url]

We really fucked up

Damn that was another dark part of our history.

trail of tears japanese internment camps red scare I'd post events like these from other countries too, but my history is not strong enough for that. Could someone finish this list?

Not really the brightest part of America's history, but I can understand why it was done. Could have been done in a more humane way.

[QUOTE=Bletotum;38595305]trail of tears japanese internment camps red scare I'd post events like these from other countries too, but my history is not strong enough for that. Could someone finish this list?[/QUOTE] All the bombing campaigns targeting civilians.

[QUOTE=-Get_A_Life-;38595307]Not really the brightest part of America's history, but I can understand why it was done. Could have been done in a more humane way.[/QUOTE] The more humane way would have been to not have done it at all.

[QUOTE=-Get_A_Life-;38595307]I can understand why it was done.[/QUOTE] Yeah if you went full retard. Imprisoning people for belonging to an ethnic group or having a distant nationality is [B]never[/B] justified.

Well no shit we fucked up, America has fucked up since its inception against most minorities.

[QUOTE=Brunchies;38595339]Well no shit we fucked up, America has fucked up since its inception against most minorities.[/QUOTE] Minorities have a tough time in most countries.

I'm proud to have both sides of my family live in camps during the war. My dads side in Internment camps, my Moms in concentration camps. Ironic thing was, my grandfather was white and serving in the navy, while his wife was locked up.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;38595325]The more humane way would have been to not have done it at all.[/QUOTE] Keeping an eye on citizens coming from the country you're in war with is justified. Putting them in camps with no proper treatment is not.

[QUOTE=-Get_A_Life-;38595367]Keeping an eye on citizens coming from the country you're in war with is justified. Putting them in camps with no proper treatment is not.[/QUOTE] It wasn't keeping an eye on immigration. It was rounding up people already living there for no real reason other than fear.

There was this mindset brought on by the EXTREME RACISM that was encouraged at the time. The japanese were seen barbaric warriors and were vilified in extreme ways.

[QUOTE=NoDachi;38595337]Yeah if you went full retard. Imprisoning people for belonging to an ethnic group or having a distant nationality is [B]never[/B] justified.[/QUOTE] I'm not saying it's an ok thing to do, just saying I can understand what the government was afraid of back in the days. I mean, they bombed to bits Tokyo and dropped two atomic bombs, Japanese immigrants most likely still had family there.

[QUOTE=Bletotum;38595305]trail of tears japanese internment camps red scare I'd post events like these from other countries too, but my history is not strong enough for that. Could someone finish this list?[/QUOTE] The conquest of Hawaii was a seriously black spot too.

[QUOTE=usaokay;38595416]Shame the US apologized to the Japanese 50 years later or so.[/QUOTE] At least we apologized. I don't believe Japan has apologized for anything in that war.

[QUOTE=NoDachi;38595380]It wasn't keeping an eye on immigration. It was rounding up people already living there for no real reason other than fear.[/QUOTE] you could kind of argue that the government did it to protect the japanese americans

[QUOTE=usaokay;38595416]Shame the US apologized to the Japanese 50 years later or so.[/QUOTE] Well. Was 40 years late. Reagan gave the families compensation.

[QUOTE=Chronische;38595425]The conquest of Hawaii was a seriously black spot too.[/QUOTE] I don't know the details of that, but didn't we just sort of annex it from the English and Hawaiians?

[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;38595396]There was this mindset brought on by the EXTREME RACISM that was encouraged at the time. The japanese were seen barbaric warriors and were vilified in extreme ways.[/QUOTE] Uh.. they demonstrated that they were (the soldiers) quite barbaric in the rape of Nanking. That is, of course, beside the point. We saw them that way because they were a) not white and B) our enemy.

[QUOTE=NomadicNinja;38595435]you could kind of argue that the government did it to protect the japanese americans[/QUOTE] In a way, yeah I can see this. But I doubt that it was the reason why they were locking them up. I mean, sure, it could have been a side effect, but whatever. It's hypocritical though. Why not take the next step and lock up all the italian immigrants, or the german immigrants? [editline]25th November 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Chronische;38595451]Uh.. they demonstrated that they were (the soldiers) quite barbaric in the rape of Nanking. That is, of course, beside the point. We saw them that way because they were a) not white and B) our enemy.[/QUOTE] Yep. I recommend everyone look up some WW2 propaganda. The racism is hilarious.

[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;38595461]In a way, yeah I can see this. But I doubt that it was the reason why they were locking them up. I mean, sure, it could have been a side effect, but whatever. It's hypocritical though. Why not take the next step and lock up all the italian immigrants, or the german immigrants?[/QUOTE] A huge chunk of the American population was German back then, I don't think they could have if they wanted to, to be honest.

People tend to ignore [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_American_internment]German Persecution[/url] during both World Wars. Which I find terrible.

[QUOTE=Emperor Scorpious II;38595440]I don't know the details of that, but didn't we just sort of annex it from the English and Hawaiians?[/QUOTE] There was more to it than that. There was no direct warfare, but there was a lot of underhanded bullshit that essentially disenfranchised the natives giving them no say as to the future of their country. Not exactly government controlled, really pushed by the US fruit and sugar companies actually, but we certainly wanted it as a military asset.

[QUOTE=Bletotum;38595305]trail of tears japanese internment camps red scare I'd post events like these from other countries too, but my history is not strong enough for that. Could someone finish this list?[/QUOTE] The Civil Rights era had some fucked up shit going on.

[QUOTE=mastermaul;38595479]People tend to ignore [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_American_internment]German Persecution[/url] during both World Wars. Which I find terrible.[/QUOTE] Has to be a sad irony with those 81 Jewish Germans who were interned.

[QUOTE=Paul McCartney;38595461]In a way, yeah I can see this. But I doubt that it was the reason why they were locking them up. I mean, sure, it could have been a side effect, but whatever. It's hypocritical though. Why not take the next step and lock up all the italian immigrants, or the german immigrants?[/QUOTE] Because they didn't declare war on the US and the Italian / German immigrants did not support nazi germany? Also as sad as it might be, it's easier to figure out who's a Japanese immigrant than an Italian / German.

[QUOTE=Chronische;38595505]There was more to it than that. There was no direct warfare, but there was a lot of underhanded bullshit that essentially disenfranchised the natives giving them no say as to the future of their country. Not exactly government controlled, really pushed by the US fruit and sugar companies actually, but we certainly wanted it as a military asset.[/QUOTE] So, just like how we treated every other Amerindian group?

[QUOTE=mastermaul;38595479]People tend to ignore [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_American_internment]German Persecution[/url] during both World Wars. Which I find terrible.[/QUOTE] Wasn't aware it was that big of a thing, reading time!