Thread:Note from Tom - 26Oct09 (1)

The work is coming along well!

One suggestion I have is for students to try and tackle the question of the Constitutionality of the imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II. If they do some research on the Internet I am sure they will find quite a bit of information. Here are some examples, but there must be a lot more:

http://www.jacl.org/edu/education.htm (see pdf of "Summary of Constitutional Rights Violations")

http://www.pbs.org/itvs/conscience/the_story/index.html (related to a film made out the Japanese American "draft resisters" during World War II who refused to be drafted into the armed forces out of the internment camps unless their Constitutional rights that felt had been taken away were reinstated)

Also, how about looking into comparing the World War II internment of Japanese Americans as a violation of the Constitutional rights with other incidents, both past and recent. For example, some have made comparisons with the forced "repatriation" of Mexican Americans during the 1930s Great Depression period. To start with you can look at:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3935/is_200601/ai_n17184253/

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=862905

Also, some have used the Japanese American internment as a point of comparison to bring out the injustices and questionable constitutionality of the "War on Terror" and the violation of the rights of detainees held at Guantanamo:

http://ccrjustice.org/about-ccr

http://ccrjustice.org/search/node/korematsu+case

Another lesson to explore related to the Constitution and defending civil liberties in general is the use of "scapgoating" during times of national crisis and how the Japanese American experience can provide lessons about how far this can lead an entire nation.

Anyway, some ideas to explore!

> Hi Tom > > Please have a look at the Day of remembrance page. From my > perspective, it is coming along well. > > A couple of the contributors have been a bit shy about editing the > page, so there is more information to be added. > http://www.wikieducator.org/California_History_Center/Day_of_Remembrance > > If there are specific topics that could be extended, please let us know. > > ..Valerie

Hello Mr. Izu and Ms. Taylor,

Do you think I can add the link below to our page as one of those above mentioned areas? If so under what heading we can add it? http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Redress_for_Japanese_Americans/_Court_cases Thank you Champika --

Tom Izu Executive Director California History Center De Anza College