On this day 82 years ago, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, in the height of insanity of racism after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, signed Executive Order 9066.
It ordered all Japanese Americans on the West Coast to be summarily rounded up and imprisoned within 10 barbed wire prison camps, with no charges, no trial, no due process.
One day, a few months later, we saw two soldiers marching up our driveway, carrying rifles with shiny bayonets on them. They stopped up the porch right in front of our window and banged on the front door. My father answered, and one of the soldiers pointed the rifle at him, right in front of us, and ordered us out of our home. I had just turned five in April; it was May when they came to take us away.
My father gave my brother Henry and me two heavy suitcases. And we brought them out onto the driveway and waited for our mother to come out. When she did, she had our baby sister in one arm, a huge duffel bag in the other, and tears were streaming down her cheeks.
That is one morning that is seared into my memory. I will never be able to forget all the innocent people, my family included, who had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor, most of who were law abiding U.S. citizens, who were suddenly categorized as ‘enemy aliens.’
Today, I hear terrifying words from political leaders today that once more raise the specter of what happened before, right here in America.
Donald Trump and his allies are talking about rounding up 11 million people and putting them into mass detention camps before deporting them.
There won’t be time for due process, to sort out who is documented and who is not. Homes will be lost. Businesses, too. Families will be torn apart. Lives will be ruined, over fear and ignorance, all to serve the ambitions and agendas of politicians.
I know, because I lived through it.
I say, never again. Not while I have one ounce of fight still left in me.
Join me. Fight this madness. Help keep America from repeating the mistakes of its past.
82 years ago, Executive Order 9066 was signed—authorizing the unjust internment of over 120,000 Japanese Americans.
It was a grave, horrific mistake.
To ensure this national travesty never happens again, we must pass my Korematsu-Takai Civil Liberties Protection Act.
This is a serious moment in America's history.
We're seeing an all-out assault on civil rights, voting rights, LGBT rights, and women's rights -- all the progress we have made in the last half-century is being rolled back in state after state. 03
So. It’s absolutely true that Pierre Poilievre doesn’t have security clearance. From the Prime Minister’s mouth.👇 So what’s stopping him? His involvement with Russia? His Venezuelan wife and her connections? His own family ties to the Brethren Church? More? Or all of the above?
@caslernoel I have been saying this since we found out about those documents. Subpoena Trump's cell phone records to see who he's been calling...then we'll know the recipients of that top secret information. Why did Putin invade when he did🧐. What other information was he given?
Pierre Poilievre qualified for his Gold plated government pension plan when he turned 31. He’s set for life. And guess what else? It’s paid for through “your tax dollars”. And it will continue to be long after he steals your CPP and EI contributions. He’s a hypocrite and a liar.
Ulysses S. Grant nailed it: “The dividing line will not be Masons and Dixons, but between patriotism and intelligence on the one side and superstition, ambition and ignorance on the other.”
I trained as a gymnast under Larry Nassar. I know what a pedophile and a groomer are. It’s not a teacher with an “All Are Welcome” sign. It’s not a librarian who has award winning books on their shelves. Love your kids. Thank a teacher. Donate to a library. Cut the shit.