Feb 13, 2002
Congressman Howard Coble Must Go
Congressman Howard Coble’s justification last week of the Japanese American internment in 1942 is a stark reminder of the kind of fear and hysteria so pervasive during times of war — fear and hysteria, that, when left unchecked, can undo the sober lessons of history and stain our nobility today.
Last Tuesday, the Congressman from North Carolina made his remarks during a radio call-in program when a listener suggested that, in light of our national security concerns, Arab Americans should also be interned.
To his credit, the Congressman charitably disagreed with the idea of excluding, removing and detaining Americans against their will, but added that he did agree with the decision to intern 120,000 Japanese Americans during WWII.
Japanese Americans were “an endangered species,” according to Coble. It was for their own protection.
As if to punctuate the Congressman’s ignorance towards history, his staff has since been scrambling to spin his comments. On Thursday, chief of staff Missy Branson said the Congressman was merely “trying to make the point that the internments were as much for the Japanese-Americans’ own safety as for national security.”
For your own protection.
To keep you safe.
Familiar assurances to the ears of Japanese Americans 60 years ago, as they were carted off like cattle, severed from their homes, livelihood and promise for the American Dream.
Familiar assurances to the survivors of the internment today: as a child, Congressman Mike Honda (San Jose) was interned in Colorado, and said, “If we were incarcerated for our safety, why were we inside the barbed wire fences, and why were the gun towers facing us?”
Even more damning were the Congressman’s ridiculously speculative comments about the threat posed by Japanese Americans: “…probably were intent on doing harm to us…just as some of these Arab-Americans are probably intent on doing harm to us.”
Just as it was then, today our nation is confronted by the nascent specter of what the 1983 Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians condemned as “”race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership”" towards its own people.
Congressman Coble has recently been named Chair of the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, and his refusal to recognize the racist basis of the Japanese internment encourages and perpetuates backwards thought to direct current policy towards Arab-Americans and other minority groups.
At a time when security and safety must be tempered by sober judgment and a clear understanding of history, our political leaders must lead, not condemn. During times of crisis, they must remind us to search for what Abraham Lincoln called, “the better angels of our nature.”
