Post for the video. Feb. 28th

For February 28th, we were asked to watch a video on the internet regarding the immigration of Japanese and Chinese and their struggle to escape stereotype during World War II. Many of these individuals were sent to camps in various locations to be monitored by the United States government. Many were thought to be spies, and had to live in barracks with many other people and their own families. It presented many challenges for these immigrants that were very reminiscent of the African American slavery 100 year before. However, it was more interesting on how the film presented this injustice.
The film showed happy citizens of these camps, people who spent long hours in fields and machining. It showed families that were content with building partitions in barracks to separate themselves from other families and have a makeshift home. These people were ripped from their homes, many of them being 2nd generation, and put into a confined area. The film tried to justify this treatment as a service to these people, and showed that thanks to these camps these people picked up traits that they normally wouldn't have.
A question that I would present is why incarcerate all Chinese/ Japanese citizens while other dangerous groups roam free? We did not put any German citizens into camps, neither the Italians and they were both against us in World War II. It presents certain questions about ethics because both of those groups are from the European continent while the Asian culture is very little understood and were thought savage. It makes little sense to only hold those people incarcerated while some of the high risk groups are walking free.
I felt that this video was blatantly racist, but showed how the government wanted to absolve themselves because they knew it was wrong to do. The government tried to show that there was benefit to put these people into the camps and many learned new trades and dispersed out of the California region. It really presents a question of ethics, whether it is right to concentrate on one group of people while letting others go free.