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Nick Reilly

Mr. Nace

AP History II

29 May 2011

Allies in Disguise

My fellow Americans, we cannot stand idly by and watch our country commit outlandish

atrocities. For years, Nazi Germany has wreaked havoc on the European world. Now, America is quietly

mimicking their horrific acts. The only difference is Americas target: the Japanese.

Its not easy to accept, but we must face the fact that America was attacked in December 1941.

While I do support the troops, American citizens certainly did not handle the tragedy at Pearl Harbor in

the correct manner. We have let fear and paranoia corrupt our daily lives and perhaps more

importantly, our perception of innocent people. The relocation and internment of thousands of

Japanese people is only slightly different than the Nazi ideals of superiority. How can we put ourselves in

any category with Hitlers Nazi regime?

The United States is supposed to be the land of the free. How can we claim that title if we

imprison innocent citizens based solely on race? The government has ordered the internment of

Japanese-Americans based on security and precaution, when in reality, they are afraid and racist.

The Japanese-Americans are in no way evil, and are for the most part, loyal American citizens. The

government merely wants a scapegoat for the Pearl Harbor bombing, and they depend on ill-informed

citizens to be caught up in the accusations and follow like puppets.

In this writers opinion, we need to realize what the American government has done and take a

stand to change it. The Japanese are innocent. They had families, careers, and educations like any

ordinary citizens. Heritage is no reason to brand someone as evil. We have no reason to fear the

Japanese-Americans just because a country their ancestors lived in attacked American soil. It does not

make them enemies any more than rooting for America makes you an enemy in Canada during the

Olympics. Our paranoia of successive attacks caused us as a population to ruin the lives of thousands of

people simply because of their ancestry, name and appearance. Fear of more attacks has led Americans

to condone this treatment, and it is nothing if not completely misguided.

Instead of condemning the Japanese, we should be uniting with them to defeat the true enemy:

the Japanese empire. Our fear of spies infiltrating the Unites States is unnecessary, and we should

replace it with an attempt to subdue Japan, where the root of the Pearl Harbor tragedy originated. Since

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the attack, Support the Troops rallies have been prevalent, so its about time we listened. Our brave

soldiers are fighting to take down the Japanese empire, while we sit at home and discriminate against

people who happen to be from the same country. We need to accept that Japanese-Americans are not

to blame. Who is the real threat: the ones with the capabilities to attack America again, or the ones who

shared our shock and grief?