I’ve read and studied about prejudice and prejudice-based hate all over the world, mostly in class, but a few times on my own. I’ve learned about slavery and the resulting racism in the U.S., persecution based on religion, and the false belief that women are naturally mentally inferior. But, while I heard about the Japanese camps in America, it wasn’t touched upon very much, and I didn’t know too much about the situation…

They Called Us Enemy brought to mind that America, too, has had a history of xenophobia. This is shown by the fact that 120,000 Japanese Americans were forced into concentration camps during WW2. Most of them were born in the U.S. or were American citizens. They were only forced into the camps based on nothing but ethnic descent. Their property was taken by the government. At the camps, they weren’t treated very well. This is also quite ironic because they were fighting in WW2 and liberating the Jewish concentration camps of Germany. During the time of Nazi Germany, the Jewish people were viewed with extreme suspicion and were used as a scapegoat. The U.S. fought against this while doing a similar thing back home, but to the Japanese Americans instead.

The AAPI resources I found, “The Long History of Racism against Asian Americans in the U.S.” and “Responding to Anti-Asian Violence and Georgia Shootings,” brought to mind that racism-based hate, like that against Asian Americans, and other forms of prejudice are not a thing of the past. Despite all the mistakes that were made, there is still prejudice going on based on nothing besides race and other irrelevant factors. However, with more and more awareness of the situation, the amount of prejudice has been decreasing, which shows that being aware of the situation helps to prevent the same mistake from happening again.

Understanding the prejudice and prejudice-based hate of the past is important to ensure it doesn’t occur again. Furthermore, understanding the prejudice and prejudice-based hate of the present is also essential so that those current problems eventually subside to build a future where they are replaced with understanding and compassion, to the greatest extent possible.