The government interpreted whatever they saw of the Japanese Americans, in terms of their framework, which allowed them to put us into camp and taking away our civil rights. And, I find certain echoes of this in the current situation in the Middle East, which makes me very uncomfortable.
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum.
Interviewee Bio
James Hirabayashi, son of hardworking immigrant farmers in the Pacific Northwest, was a high school senior in 1942 when he was detained in the Pinedale Assembly Center before being transferred to the Tule Lake Concentration Camp in Northern California.
After World War II, he earned his Bachelor of Arts and Masters in Anthropology from the University of Washington, and eventually his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Dr. Hirabayashi is Professor Emeritus at San Francisco State University where he was Dean of the nation’s first school of ethnic studies. He also held research and teaching positions at the University of Tokyo, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and Ahmadu Bellow Univerity, Zaria, Nigeria.