• Internment camps reflect poorly on America • Action before accidents • People should work for their food Internment camps reflect poorly on America I read with great interest the story in The Garden Island newspaper regarding Susan Matsumoto and her and thousands
• Internment camps reflect poorly on America • Action before accidents • People should work for their food
Internment camps reflect poorly on America
I read with great interest the story in The Garden Island newspaper regarding Susan Matsumoto and her and thousands of others unjust imprisonment in the Japanese internment camps. This was a sad time in America’s history. There can be no just reason for rounding up thousands of American citizens and imprisoning them in those filthy camps.
I suppose that some might make the argument that Americans of Japanese ancestry needed to be moved to internment camps for their own safety. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, their lives would be in danger. And actually, that was probably true. I am sure they would have been subjected to violent attacks if they were not in the camps. And that in itself is a sad indictment on American society.
Even if you accept the argument that Americans of Japanese ancestry really needed to be interned for their own protection, there is no justification for the treatment they received in these camps. These so called “camps” were prisons. They were filthy and barely livable. The people forced into these camps lost their homes and their property.
These were American citizens. If they were truly being moved into camps for their own protection, they should have been given the choice to go or not to go. The camps and housing should have been clean and comfortable. The detainees should have been treated with the respect afforded any American citizen. When they left, all their property should have been returned to them or else they should have been fully compensated. All of this is still true even if you say they were placed in the camps because they were a possible security threat. They were still American citizens and were guilty of no crimes.
Susan Matsumotto “harbors no resentment.” I must commend her. She is a remarkable, strong woman. Much stronger than I.
Loyd Clayton, Hanapepe
Action before accidents
Leaving Koloa on Route 520 and through the Tunnel of Trees back to Kaumualii Highway 50 is one of the most dangerous roads at night on the island.
Obviously the Tree Tunnel is dark to start off with, but the few “cats eyes” on the road do little to help with safety. The road needs a solid yellow line in the middle, and white lines on each side on the road edge.
Denis Orme, Kapaa
People should work for their food
I am deeply concerned about the loosely distributed EBT cards handed out to young men and women who are able to work but
have no desire to. These young adults (mostly mainlanders) come to the islands and within three days have an EBT card. Majority of
these individuals are so filthy, that no one would ever hire them and for that reason, they get free food.
If these group of people want to be hippies, let them be so on their own dime. How can we get our state to require a one-year Hawaii
residency and a drug test (which the applicant pays for) before applying for assistance?
Wailanakin Nash, Kapaa
