Latest news with #Manzanar
South China Morning Post
13 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Japanese American museum blasts Trump order as threat to ‘truth and democracy'
A prominent museum preserving the legacy of Japanese American incarceration during World War II has condemned US President Donald Trump 's new directive requiring national park sites to flag content deemed critical of the country's history, calling it a dangerous attempt to whitewash past injustices and dismantle democratic values. Advertisement The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) said the policy – which it traced to a May executive order titled 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History' – would suppress uncomfortable truths and erase the legacy of marginalised communities, including the more than 10,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned during World War II at sites such as Manzanar and Minidoka. 'JANM is deeply disturbed by this new directive, especially at historical sites like Manzanar and Minidoka where Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated during World War II,' said Ann Burroughs, the museum's president and CEO, in a statement posted to social media on Thursday. 'The widespread dismantling of federal agencies that support our work and the attempts at the wholesale erasure of history will not help us achieve a more just America.' Burroughs warned the initiative formed part of a broader campaign to 'suppress historical narratives that challenge [the administration's] preferred version of events' and to 'erase the contributions of people of colour, women, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and other marginalised communities from the American story'.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump bans 'negative' signage at national parks, asks visitors to snitch on unpatriotic text
In his ongoing war on "woke,' President Trump has instructed the National Park Service to scrub any language he would deem negative, unpatriotic or smacking of 'improper partisan ideology' from signs and presentations visitors encounter at national parks and historic sites. Instead, his administration has ordered the national parks and hundreds of other monuments and museums supervised by the Department of the Interior to ensure that all of their signage reminds Americans of our 'extraordinary heritage, consistent progress toward becoming a more perfect Union, and unmatched record of advancing liberty, prosperity and human flourishing.' Those marching orders, which went into effect late last week, have left Trump opponents and free speech advocates gasping in disbelief, wondering how park employees are supposed to put a sunny spin on monuments acknowledging slavery and Jim Crow laws. And how they'll square the story of Japanese Americans shipped off to incarceration camps during World War II with an 'unmatched record of advancing liberty.' At Manzanar National Historic Site, a dusty encampment in the high desert of eastern California, one of 10 camps where more than 120,000 Japanese American civilians were imprisoned during the early 1940s, employees put up a required notice describing the changes last week. Like all such notices across the country, it includes a QR code visitors can use to report any signs they see that are 'negative about either past or living Americans or that fail to emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes." An identical sign is up at the Cesar E. Chavez National Monument in Kern County, a tribute to the struggle to ensure better wages and safer working conditions for immigrant farm laborers. Such signs are going up across the sprawling system, which includes Fort Sumter National Monument, where Confederates fired the first shots of the Civil War; Ford's Theater National Historic Site in Washington, D.C., where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated; and the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historic Park. So, nothing negative about John Wilkes Booth or James Earl Ray? In response to an email requesting comment, a National Park Service spokesperson did not address questions about specific parks or monuments, saying only that changes would be made "where appropriate." The whole thing is "flabbergasting,' said Dennis Arguelles, Southern California director for the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Assn. 'These stories may not be flattering to American heritage, but they're an integral part of our history. 'If we lose these stories, then we're in danger of repeating some of these mistakes,' Arguelles said. Trump titled his March 27 executive order requiring federal sign writers to look on the bright side 'Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.' He specifically instructed the Interior Department to scrutinize any signs put up since January 2020 — the beginning of the Biden administration — for language that perpetuates 'a false reconstruction' of American history. Trump called out signs that 'undermine the remarkable achievements of the United States by casting its founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.' He specifically cited the National Historical Park in Philadelphia and the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C., as bowing to what he described as the previous administration's zeal to cast 'our Nation's unparalleled legacy of advancing liberty, individual rights, and human happiness' as 'inherently racist, sexist, oppressive, or otherwise irredeemably flawed.' His solution? Order federal employees and historians to rewrite the "revisionist" history with language that exudes "patriotism." 'It all seems pretty Orwellian,' said Kimbrough Moore, a rock climber and Yosemite National Park guide book author. After news of the impending changes began circulating in park circles, he posted on Instagram a sign he saw in the toilet at the Porcupine Flat campground in the middle of the park. Across from the ubiquitous sign in all park bathrooms that says, 'Please DO NOT put trash in toilets, it is extremely difficult to remove,' someone added a placard that reads, 'Please DO NOT put trash in the White House. It is extremely difficult to remove.' Predictably, the post went viral, proving what would-be censors have known for centuries: Policing language is a messy business and can be hard to control in a free society. 'Even the pooper can be a venue for resistance,' Moore wrote. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
My 95-year-old grandmother's silence shows why Arizona needs Asian American history
A monument honoring the dead stands in the cemetery at Manzanar National Historic Site on December 9, 2015 near Independence, California. Manzanar War Relocation Center was one of 10 internment camps where Japanese American citizens and resident Japanese aliens were incarcerated from 1942 to 1945 during World War II. Photo by Justin Sullivan | Getty Images Every week, I sit beside my 95-year-old grandmother in her retirement community in Mesa. She's a Japanese American and the last living member of her generation in our family. I bring one of those 'About My Life' journals, and together we fill it out — sometimes with laughter, sometimes with long silences. I marvel at her graceful cursive. But more than that, I marvel at her stories — stories she kept buried for most of her life. Only recently has she begun to speak about her time at the Tule Lake Internment Camp during World War II. Like so many Japanese Americans, her childhood was interrupted by our country, which viewed her ancestry as a threat during war-time. Until recently, I had never heard her speak about the camps. It was a subject locked away in silence — like so much of Asian American history in this country. That silence continues in Arizona classrooms. Right now, our state's K–12 social studies standards mention 'Asian American' just once. But there is currently one bill in the Arizona House of Representatives that would change that: Senate Bill 1301. It's a chance for Arizona to ensure that all students receive a more complete education — one that reflects the full sweep of American history and the diverse communities who helped shape it. This isn't about rewriting history. It's about telling the whole story. Filipino immigrants introduced shrimping to the American South. Chinese laborers built the railroads that connected our country. Japanese Americans revolutionized agriculture on the West Coast. And during a dark chapter of discrimination, many still chose to serve this country. My great-uncle fought in the 442nd Infantry Regiment — an all-Japanese American unit that became the most decorated in U.S. military history — even as their families remained behind barbed wire. Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) communities have been part of the American story from the beginning. But our kids rarely hear about them. At a time of rising tensions with China — from tariffs to cybersecurity and intellectual property disputes — teaching a more complete and honest history is not just symbolic; it is essential. What we teach our children shapes not just how they see themselves and others, but the depth and accuracy of their understanding of the world. And when stories like my grandmother's are left out, we deny children a fuller truth — and, with it, the opportunity to realize their full potential. Some may argue this bill is unnecessary, or that there are more urgent needs. But this opportunity won't last forever. The remaining survivors of Japanese American internment are now in their nineties. Soon, there will be no firsthand voices left. But we can preserve their stories — not just in family journals, but in textbooks, classrooms and the collective memory of the next generation. I want my children — and yours — to grow up knowing that American history is rich, complex, and shared. I want them to know my grandmother's story not because it's rare, but because it's American. We owe them that truth. Arizona can lead. Let's do it with courage, compassion, and clarity. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
