The Shameful Stories of Environmental Injustices at Japanese American Incarceration Camps During WWII

1 min read
Share
The Shameful Stories of Environmental Injustices at Japanese American Incarceration Camps During WWII
Copy

When Japanese fighter pilots bombed the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, Thomas S. Takemura was raising vegetables and raspberries on his family’s 14 ½-acre farm in Tacoma, Washington.

It wasn’t long after the United States declared war on Japan that Takemura and other people of Japanese ancestry were stripped of their rights and shipped off to incarceration camps scattered in small remote towns like Hunt, Idaho, and Delta, Utah. Scorching heat and dust storms added to the day-to-day misery.

Takemura’s incarceration began on May 12, 1942, just a week before he could harvest his lettuce.

“What a shame,” he later said. “What a shame.”

Read the full article on The Conversation.

From Brown’s student journalism on administrative bloat to RISD’s removal of anti-Zionist art, Rhode Island universities are grappling with the tensions between free expression and political sensitivity
Book lovers strengthen community through in-person events and activities
Frustration mounts as massive upgrade to software payroll, finance system runs over initial time and budget
States lost more than $11 billion under abrupt funding cuts
We highlight a few of the many events happening in April across the Community Libraries of Providence – from book sales to a group for artists to get feedback on their work. Plus: what they’re reading at one of the libraries’ several book clubs