National Disgrace -- Plaque at Manzanar National Historic Landmark, California

by Darin Volpe

Title

National Disgrace -- Plaque at Manzanar National Historic Landmark, California

Artist

Darin Volpe

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

Not all National Historic Landmarks commemorate achievements and victories. Manzanar National Historic Landmark stands as a reminder of what prejudice and hysteria can lead to. In this case, over 120,000 innocent United States citizens uprooted from their homes at gunpoint with only what they could carry, and moved to camps complete with barbed wire fences and guard towers manned by soldiers with machine guns. After World War II ended, they were graciously released with a one-way ticket to anywhere in the United States they wanted to go, plus $20 (equivalent to a whopping $285 in 2019.)

Europeans like my father were lucky. He came to the United States from Italy and as such didn't look different from the average American. But if Italians, Italy being allied with Nazi Germany, had distinguishing physical characteristics they too could have easily been rounded up as were the Japanese - even if they came to America as a child in 1924.

Uploaded

August 4th, 2019

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