16 House Republicans vote against bill to promote education on internment camps

The Hill ^ | Mar 16, 2022 | Cristina Marcos

[where's_the_Outrage?]

More than a dozen House Republicans on Wednesday voted against legislation to promote public education about the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.

The bipartisan bill was authored by Republican Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) and passed handily by a vote of 406-16. All of the no votes came from Republicans, including several members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus......

The bill would specifically create a Japanese American World War II history network administered by the National Park Service to connect historical sites associated with the mass internment of Japanese Americans after the attack on Pearl Harbor launched by Japan's military.

No one spoke in opposition to the legislation during the brief House floor debate. Rep. Bruce Westerman (Ark.), the top Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, said that the program "will be an important tool to ensure that this history, no matter how painful it may be, is always remembered, and the important stories of interned Japanese Americans are told with honor and respect."

The House also passed a separate bill by voice vote on Tuesday that would permanently authorize another program dedicated to preserving the confinement sites and establish a grant program to promote education about the internment of Japanese Americans.

[where's_the_Outrage?]

This is not about Japanese Internment, it's about GVT spending. We don't need Federalized Parks about the Internment, just more big GVT and operating outside the Constitution.

That being said, I believe the internment is a low point in our history. Recommend reading "Command Decisions" has an excellent chapter on how it happened.

Not trying to do clickbait, but you can checkout this link for information from the book:

https://history.army.mil/books/70-7_05.htm

[escapefromboston]

I learned about those camps in school don’t see why we would need to spend any more time or money on it.

[snoringbear]

It would be ok if they presented their history in the context of the times. I will say that FDR (Democrat btw) made a bad decision, it was wrong. Internment of a whole demographic was racist for sure. However, that doesn’t mean there were no subversive elements within the Japanese-American population. The correct strategy would have been to ferret out those who were actively working in behalf of the Japanese and prosecute them. Btw, ethnic Germans and Italians were interned as well. However, their numbers were very small and were only those who were actively subversive.

[odawg]

“I learned about those camps in school don’t see why we would need to spend any more time or money on it.”

Bills of that type require a positive application — a requirement that the topic be singled out and promoted. The object is to tarnish America and American history in the eyes of the young, to teach them to be embarrassed to be American, and to reject their heritage.

[SmokingJoe]

Everybody knows about the Japanese internment camps. Its taught in normal high school history.
Why on earth do we need some bill in congress and further waste of money we keep borrowing to teach Japanese internment camps again?
What a load of nonsense!

[BobL]

The mood of the country towards the Japanese after Pearl Harbor likely made Hitler blush. If they weren’t interred, they’d likely been beaten to death on the streets. Rightly or wrongly, the United States was in no mood to play nice with them after that.

[Redmen4ever]

Remember, the worst thing in the world is when white people over-react to attacks by people of color. So, DON’T teach children about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Teach them about internment camps. DON’T teach children about 9-11. Teach them about Islamophobia. Remembering that yellow is the new white, DON’T teach children about black on yellow crime. Teach them how Korean shopkeepers enclose their display cases in plexiglass. It’s not about good people versus bad people regardless of skin color. It’s not even about skin color. It’s about VIRTUE SIGNALLING.

[Jim Noble]

I learned about those camps in school don’t see why we would need to spend any more time or money on it

But when you (and I) learned about this in school, it was not a small part of a comprehensive curriculum designed to teach self-hatred and guilt among small white children.

Now, with the support of 198 House Republicans (Can't wait until "we" take back the House), a huge funding boost and a permanent monument to anti-white hatred is being born.

[throwthebumsout]

Teachers could use this as an opportunity to also discuss the COVID internment camps setup by Australia.

[Perseverando]

Snip:

The Republicans who registered their opposition were Reps. Lauren Boebert (Colo.), Mo Brooks (Ala.), Michael Cloud (Texas), Louie Gohmert (Texas), Bob Good (Va.), Marjorie Taylor Greene (Ga.), Andy Harris (Md.), Clay Higgins (La.), Trey Hollingsworth (Ind.), Doug LaMalfa (Calif.), Thomas Massie (Ky.), Mary Miller (Ill.), Ralph Norman (S.C.), Matt Rosendale (Mont.), Chip Roy (Texas) and Van Taylor (Texas).

Proud to see my Congressman listed among those voting No.

He is in good company!

[nathanbedford]

There is a difference between indoctrination and education. It is the function of the government, both federal and local, to educate. But the reverse of education is indoctrination and in that government has no legitimate role.

In this the government setting out not to deliver history lessons but to indoctrinate our citizens, especially our youth that America is unworthy of respect because it interned Japanese during the depths of World War II after the Japanese nation attacked Pearl Harbor and committed atrocities wherever its army set foot.

I would bet that there is absolutely no intention of describing the rape of Nanking by Japanese nor to educate our youth about the immense slaughter of innocent Chinese by the Japanese in World War II. My bet is that there will be little said about the Bataan and death March. I suspect the underlying message will be to equate the Japanese internment camps (which also included Italians and Germans) with Nazi concentration camps. Will reference will be made to the concentration camps in China of the Uighurs? Will the indoctrination note that the word "concentration" camps was first used to describe the British internment of Boers?

Suppose the federal government decided to spend huge sums of money to educate American citizens about the crimes committed above their statistical share of the population of America by African-American citizens? The outcry would be thunderous-and rightly so.

Indoctrination is not sanctified because it is the flavor of the age.

[Redmen4ever]

I agree with you.

The camps were #1 mostly for non-citizen Japanese, many of whom subscribed to “patriotic” magazines and other appeals for support; and, #2 also for citizens of Japanese origin, and to protect them for us as well as to protect us from them.

The system was abused, as was probably inevitable, since the internees’ property, businesses and livelihood were impacted. Looking back, the #2 part should have been handled differently.

Regarding the #1 part, the following is from the Wikipedia entry on the “Niihau incident” (in which Native Hawaiians detained two Japanese pilots, but were betrayed by a Japanese resident brought in by the Native Hawaiians to interpret):

Historian Gordon Prange notes that “the rapidity with which the three resident Japanese went over to the pilot’s cause” troubled the Hawaiians and added: “The more pessimistic among them cited the Niʻihau incident as proof that no one could trust any Japanese, even if an American citizen, not to go over to Japan if it appeared expedient.”

Notice the animosity of Native Hawiians and Japanese, two different “people of color” in that territory. To Critical Race Theorists, the issue of race is simple. White versus People of Color, or as it’s now vogue to say, BIPOCs. But, in reality, the issue of race (or, color) is complex. In Hawaii at mid century, the hard-working and entrepreneurial Japanese were viewed with suspicion by the Native Hawaiians.

[The Louiswu]

Spot on

[Empire_of_Liberty]

Yeah! So, there are 16 Americans in our House of Representatives. That seems to be the only take-away.

[Jewbacca]

And any project will inevitably gloss over the fact that FDR and the Democrats were deeply racist and FDR pushed the camps personally.

[Spok]

It will be nothing but woke propaganda like CRT, and will accomplish nothing but promote hate.

[al_c]

I do t know what they’re teaching in schools today, but we learned about the internment camps in U.S. History class back in my school days.

[BobL]

Thanks, and really interesting as I did read the Wikipedia article. I think there were also incidents of Japanese spying in Hawaii and when I visited there, I noticed the wording was very careful in trying to make Americans feel guilty, as it said there was never a case of Japanese sabotage (such as blowing up fuel storage tanks). Even taking them at their word, it still didn’t mention this incident, or the spying incidents (which could be worse than sabotage).

War is war, and you do what you think is needed to win. I know in one case, after the war, our government felt guilty about the internment of one family and gave away crappy land to that family as compensation, including one piece of swamp that now makes up a good portion of the southern part of Huntington Beach. So, for that, I would have volunteered to spin my wheels for a few years at one of those camps!

[Shady]

What about a “grant” to educate Americans about the internment of the Patriots in DC Concentration Camps right now?

[BobL]

Wow, 4 Texans on that list, not bad! And no surprise that Eyepatch McCain was on the other side.