Springtime 1942— never forget

Just days after Christians in 1942 across the country, including South County, celebrated the resurrection of their savior and a reaffirmation of their faith on Easter Sunday, the exodus started.
Written in a two-column format in the local paper was the headline: “Japanese Here Were Evacuated Last Tuesday.”
Beneath that the subhead elaborated.
“Most All Had Made Preparations For Exodus When Time Was At Hand; Orderly Carried Out.”
By now every middle school aged-person and older should know of the forced internment of Japanese-Americans that followed the beginning of World War II. If they don’t, shame on us.
One of the great benefits of history is the lessons we learn and the opportunity to not repeat the same ugly, ignorant and harmful mistakes of the past. Why would we deny each other a chance to be better than we were?
The months leading up to internment were filled with anti-Japanese rhetoric and a steady campaign of bigotry, racism and malfeasance because of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
According to the San Diego Historical Society, the National City Defense Council claimed that local Japanese hampered defense of the region and that they posed an active threat to the area. The defense council advocated their removal to 100 miles inland. The mayor, Frederick J. Thatcher, urged other municipalities in the county to adopt similar resolutions.
In April 1942 an estimated 450 people were taken from Chula Vista and shipped to Santa Anita for the foreseeable future.
To be clear it was not only Japanese that were the focus of public and private ire and displacement. Throughout the country German- and Italian-Americans were also relieved of their property and civil rights and delivered to internment camps.
The woefully willful denialists will argue that this anomaly took pleace nearly 100 years ago and could not—would not—ever be repeated. Recent history suggests otherwise.
But in giving those naysayers the benefit of the doubt we must not deny the value in remembering the error of our ways so that we stop repeating them.