I happened to study this in college.

The first generation immigrants from Japan were legally prevented from becoming U.S. citizens. In the interment camps, the U.S. government wanted them to renounce loyalty to Japan, but was still preventing them from becoming citizens. Many refused, because they would become "country-less".

They were given the legal right to become citizens in the early fifties. Kristi Yamaguchi's grandfather was one of the first generation Japanese who was in the camps, and actually become a U.S. citizen.

It is their children who were citizens of the U.S. by birth. Their ages ranged from infants to late teens / early twenties. It is these kids who were drafted or volunteered to serve in WWII, most of whom, but not all, were in the famous 442nd Regimental Combat Team. This unit became the most highly decorated regiment in the history of the United States Armed Forces, including 21 Medal of Honor recipients.

It is hard to imagine how they must have felt fighting for a country they loved, yet knowing that their loved ones (mother, fathers, siblings, wives, even children) were behind barbed wires in desolate communities.

yes, the 442nd. only allowed to serve in the european theatre (just in case? i guess) took heavy casualties too. some of them enjoyed the hospitality of the horse stalls at santa anita, i believe, on their way to manzanar et al. (even arkansas, i think?)

If you took that entire episode in US history, and rewrote it to obscure the countries involved, would everyone decry it as the actions of a "Fascist Regime"?

FDR was not far from that. In fact Hitler ADMIRED him in the early 1930's!

Not for nothing, What happened to the Japanese immigrants was terrible but was about nationality not race.

What happened to the 'Zoot Suiters' in LA was the same thing.

We have trouble separating racism from other discrimination like antisemitism.

As I said before -I want the whole RACE-ETHNICITY thing dropped from the census and from people's attitudes. WE ARE ALL THE SAME

I don't care at all about your exterior appearance,
I care about the HUMAN inside. I might not agree with you I might not like you, but I will not prejudge you.

Now it's about money. The census questions are asked so that the feds can determine who is where and those who will get more money. They have to leave it on the census until the leaders of the folks that get the money will accept not getting the money. The race issue is no longer about skin color or bigotry- it's about "wealth redistribution". It's turned into a money grab.

Exactly!

Not to be flip but I want to be rich and pretty. What does what I want or what you want matter. Racism and hatred based on appearance, social status, financial status, sexual orientation, just too nae a few exists.

Saying that you want it gone does not help the situation, how do you plan to get from point A to this point B where you want the world to be?

Well I could keep saying my opinion and maybe get others to agree and act the same...

or

I could do what Rich wants and open up concentration camps for everybody who disagrees with me...

What do you suggest I do?

No idea what you should do or want to do. While talking to others is a nice start but it is not very effective in my opinion.

My first idea is that schools need to be overhauled in the inner cities as well as curriculum in all schools.

I would like to be able to walk in to a science lab or computer lab in any school in the US and not be able to tell if I am in Beverly Hills or South Central LA. Teachers should not have tenure and should under go regular testing and education to maintain standards. I think education is where it all starts. Both in terms of pride, vocation, incentive and self worth. I think the separation between the haves and have nots in terms of education needs to be reduced.

I would also like to see history classes taught about other cultures, races and people. When I was in college I took a native American history class, religious history, womens history, black history, south American history and a few others.

I would also like to see college costs reduced or even eliminated. Participation should be based on ability. If you can maintain a certain GPA, then you can go. College is not for everyone. For those who cannot cut it or have no interest then vocational schools should be an option. I think it is far cheaper for society in the long run to make sure every individual has the opportunity to achieve their maximum potential.

I think school is where it starts. When I went to school busing was still in effect. It was a bit of a PIA as it cut into my sleep but I think it was a good thing. I do not believe my education suffered because of it. I met people I otherwise would not have. I do not see that anything bad happened because of it.

I think when everyone get the chance to get the same education then one can make an argument that AA is not needed to even the playing field since then the kids coming out of school will have the same opportunities.

If somehow all of this happened and was stable for some time and one group then fell in terms of GPA, fell out of favor with other groups, and seemed destine to fall behind economically what then would be the response?

How about we over haul the schools first and see what happens? Everything has a risk of failure and every action taken can have unforeseen results. Some positive and some negative.

What happens if we go ahead and develop these motorized transportation contraptions and people get killed in them? No thanks. I'll stick with my horse.

Personally I do not believe any human is not capable of learning anything that any other human is capable of learning. I would suspect that if a segment of society falls behind, there are other factors at play that from a societal stand point need to be addressed.

I am a firm believer that society is only as strong as it's weakest link. Until all the links are treated the same (given the same options and opportunities) from cradle to grave, society is at a disadvantage.

Somewhat disagree, there was a group here from inner city Chicago that wanted the State to pay as much per student as they do for the uppity north shore neighborhood.
Well the state bascially does, but the inner city area is MUCH more dense, and the majority or the school funding was property taxes.
I'm not even in that uppity neighborhood, and I pay a HUGE BIGGER property taxes than the inner city area.


Agree, particularly about the tenure.
But you need to get the PARENTS much more involved in their children, not just school related.
This would help the teachers immensly, ALL schools.

Agree about "College is not for everyone", but our system pushes everyone that way.
Agree about bringing down costs, supply and demand will resolve much of that.
More kids go to trade / vocational, and stop the government grants based on anything, only based on GPA and/or ACT scores etc.

Education is key. Education's key is family. Families' key is two stable parents, and that needs enough income to be stable. In addition, education needs to be a priority with the parents. Without this, no amount of money or great schools will bring underperforming students back to "average" levels. Different cultures have different levels of parental involvement in their child's education, and differing views on the subject matter and school administration. Even if all schools are made "even", those parents that have a higher involvement will see higher performance in both school and life after school for their children. The "cultures" that do this will rise to the top, and no amount of money will change that. It's purely human to wish that society is only as strong as it's weakest link. Every other part of the universe and natural law contradicts this. It's not my view that this is good, but it certainly cannot be ignored as a contender for what is true.

interesting, most of the population in Paris is white. unless one has lived in small town, USA, they may not understand the politics involved. ANY issue can be magnified due to the fact that everyone knows everyone else's business. in light of the foregoing, the following places may not be a good place to live if one is non-white:

Paris, Texas
Lubbock, Texas

Lodi, California used to be the same way......

it might be best to move to the big city of Dallas instead. of course, there are some who will say "it isn't right, black's should be able to live where they want to live". I couldn't agree with them more, however that's just the way it is in "some" small towns.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_xjy6EuMPGA

literacy & education, combined with opportunity for the talented who want to suceed, is the key to sucess in this country. it can happen.