Michelle Malkin will be in town this week to promote her new book, In Defense of Internment: The Case for "Racial Profiling" in World War II and the War on Terror. To call a defense of Japanese internment controversial is an understatement. Everything I've learned about the internment tells me that it was regrettable stain on our history. But l've always respected Michelle for her willingness to challenge otherwise unchallenged assumptions with frankness, facts and reason. I haven't seen the book, but Glenn Reynolds sounds reasonable when he says:
Malkin's right to say that reaction to the wrongs (well, I think they were wrongs) of the Japanese internment of World War Two is limiting our ability to do the rather mild things that we need to do now.Michelle will be speaking at the Cedar Park Church in Bothell Friday, Aug. 6, at 7pm. Some of her commentary about her new book and the discussion it's spawned is here. Details and directions to the Bothell talk are here. Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 04, 2004 11:43 AM
CRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I just signed up for an all-day seminarrrrghh!!
1. I really would have enjoyed that.
2. I live up the road from there.
3. I attended Cedar Park first time last Friday.
4. I very recently emailed Malkin to find out if she was coming to Seattle, said yes, but not when.
5. She'll probably be on the Medved show that day.
I had heard about this on one of the talk stations earlier this week. Alas, living in a one-car family with a wife working late means I have to forego what is sure to be a great talk this Friday. So, BHC, I can sympathize!
Posted by: chunkstyle on August 4, 2004 07:53 PMI too agree with Glenn Reynold's observations. And if Michelle Malkin does as well, she is the biggest moron on the face of the earth. Sorry to be so harsh, but honestly, if you really believe that the legacy of the internment camps is preventing an honest discussion of doing "the mild things we need to do now" to stop the predominately Arab supporters of the various terrorist networks we are at war with, I cannot think of a worse argument than saying that the internment camps were really justified.
As far as I'm concerned (and I say this as a supporter of the WOT, the Iraq war, any future action against Iran and Bush in '04) this book is Ms. Malkin's "The Death of the West". And anyone who treats Ms. Malkin with kid gloves now just because she is the same side of the political fence is going to regret it later.
Posted by: Sean P on August 4, 2004 10:06 PMI have a feeling she would have chosen a different title. I will wait until I read it, but on her blog she makes it clear that she does not think the camps were a good thing: only that, in light of the information the govt. had, it was understandable/ forgivable. She acknowledges the injustice buts wants the other side to acknowledge the very real intelligence that may have caused the action-- it wasn't purely racial, though racism was a factor.
Also, didn't the internment happen only on the West Coast?
Posted by: Bleeding heart conservative on August 5, 2004 10:28 AMLet's not forget nearly 50% of the internees nationwide were not Japanese, but Germans, Italians, etc...none of whom ever got a nickle in reparations and none of whom get more than a vague mention in the history books even today.
Racism plays so much better than reality.
Let's not forget nearly 50% of the internees nationwide were not Japanese, but Germans, Italians, etc..none of whom ever got a nickle in reparationsExcept that they were Germans and Italians, not Americans. They were properly interned as enemy aliens, and there is no reason in the world why they deserve any sort of compensation. The point about the Japanese-American internment is that they were Americans, legally the equals of any American, and were interned because of their Japanese ethnicity. German-Americans and Italian-Americans were not interned (though occasionally the American relatives of interned enemy aliens would go with them, either from choice, or from lack of anywhere else to go). Posted by: Zev Sero on August 5, 2004 06:14 PM
Are we actually debating if it's ok to consider someone a suspect based on their ethnicity? Scary.
Posted by: Rabii LNMB on August 13, 2004 06:14 AMVIETNAM! Genghis Khan and his Brother Don were there according to some. Atrocities, free fire zones, who did what to whom???
Carl Melcher Goes to Vietnam, my book, was championed by Willie Morris just before he died. But it was Colonel Hackworth "Hack" that found me an agent. And now the book is available. American boys behaving badly? Ron, Mike, Chico and Glock? You be the judge!
The Firebase was slightly higher than the surrounding peaks. Its trees and foliage had been scraped off, giving it the appearance of a reddish brown island in a sea of green. About twenty-five 105 howitzer artillery pieces were arranged around the perimeter, and I saw men carrying boxes full of rounds from a big pile over to one of them. Then the ground was rushing up at us as we came down, and the people down there turned away and covered their eyes as our chopper's blades whipped up a storm of dust. I hopped off with the others and ran behind a sandbag wall. The next bird landed before the wind from ours had died down and then they were both gone, the "thock-eh-ta" sound echoing off the hills as the dust cloud slowly drifted away.
Carl Melcher Goes to Vietnam
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55344-2004Aug10.html
Posted by: Paul Clayton on August 23, 2004 08:09 PM