To those who choose to ignore history, I invite you to come out west and visit the great State of Wyoming.
Specifically, I invite those of you who think it can never happen "here", wherever your "here" may be, to come to an otherwise barren stretch of land between Ralston and Cody, Wyoming, just north of Highway 14. It is a really beautiful stretch of land, with fabulous views of the McCullough Peaks to the south and Heart Mountain, an iconic symbol of the Big Horn Basin, to the north. The views would otherwise be a fairy tale if it were not for the history of the location.
In this otherwise idyllic stretch of land, you can find the remains of Heart Mountain Relocation Center. It is now the Heart Mountain Educational Center and is a fascinating museum and testament to the evil we are capable of inflicting upon our fellow citizens in the name of so called patriotism. It is not too difficult to find. The smoke stack from the camp is still there and is visible well before you get to the site from either direction on Highway 14.
This is where thousands of loyal Japanese-Americans -- I emphasize Americans, as in citizens of this country, not Japan -- were sent to after being torn from their homes, stripped of their belongings, other than what they could carry with them, and sent to what was basically a prison on the middle of a scenic nowhere, all for the "crime" of being of Japanese descent. To make sure they could not leave, the residents of the camps were surrounded by barbed wire fences manned by armed military guards. While they called the residents "internees", perhaps to soothe the feelings of those who forced them into this existence, make no mistake about it -- the Japanese-Americans forced to live in this camp were prisoners sent there without representation, without a trial, without due process of any kind were nothing more than prisoners.
Think it can't happen here again?
Think again.
When the legality of the internment camps were challenged, the case went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. There, by a 6-3 majority, the Court ruled that systematically singling out Japanese Americans, who had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor or the Japanese war effort, due to an unfounded fear of Japanese-American espionage, was perfectly legal and perfectly constitutional. For those who can follow legal citations, look at Korematsu v. United States, 343 US 214 (1944). For those who may argue that it was only conservatives who signed on to this absolutely abhorrent decision, please note that one of the justices always held up as a lion of liberalism, William O. Douglass, signed on to the majority decision, as did another who is generally considered one of the great justices of the twentieth century, Felix Frankfurter. While there is some debate as to whether or not the Court finally got around to overturning this decision via a 2018 case, Trump v. Hawaii, 138 S. Ct. 2392 (2018), it is noted that Justice Roberts, called the Korematsu decision "objectively unlawful", "outside of the scope of presidential authority" and "morally repugnant", he did not outright say the case was overturned; therefore, it can be argued that Korematsu, a case that legalized racism against Japanese people in this country, is still the law of this land.
Years later, we visited Heart Mountain before the camp was actually given a National Parks designation and before the museum opened. Our oldest was fascinated by the site, took photos and wrote a paper on it for his eighth grade social studies class.
The paper was returned by his to remain nameless teacher with a failing grade and a note admonishing him not to make things up.
Flash forward to this past year. Just about a year ago today, while returning from a run picking up masks to be distributed to need based organizations, I thought I would stop at a popular local bagel shop, one of the few local businesses that remained open, at least at the time. While filling my modest order, the owner who thought he was engaging in friendly banter, told me he was planning on finding a lawyer to represent him and other small business owners. He wanted to sue China for creating the coronavirus and sending it here to the United States, causing him and his small minded -- oops, I mean small business -- owners to lose business. He was not kidding. I did not volunteer that I am an attorney.
As the pandemic continued, we stopped to pick up some donated masks from a friend who lives in one of the nearby towns. Our friend is of Asian descent. Across the street from her, a neighbor was flying any number of American flags on his house, his lawn, on the telephone pole on the property, etc. On the telephone pole was a sign, pointed directly at our friend's home, advising everyone in this country to speak English and to boycott all Chinese restaurants. Our friend and her family speak perfect English, and why not? They are Americans, born and raised here. To our knowledge, they do not own a restaurant of any kind. We do not know much about her neighbor across the street, other than the obvious fact that they are jerks.
Throughout this time, the then president, not only said nothing about the overt racism against Asians, specifically Chinese, thereby giving license to the jerks like the bagel shop guy and our friend's neighbor, but encouraged this ignorance by calling the virus the China Virus, or Kung Flu, as if to emphasize to the world, that he too is a royal asshole.
So emboldened by all of this, the jerks, the racists, the idiots everywhere are coming out of the woodwork. Unprovoked attacks against Asian Americans are proliferating. While the present president is coming out and saying all the appropriate things, the cat is out of the bag. What simmered below the surface for years has emerged, and it is ugly.
And a significant enough number of the population thinks it is okay.
Think it can't happen again? It already is happening.
Blacks are being attacked, often times by those charged by society with protecting us. Nazis are on the rise. So is antisemitism. To my fellow Jews, if Heart Mountain can happen, so can Auschwitz.
Stay vigilant and remember, evil thrives when good people stay silent.
