Black History Month & the 70th Anniversary of Executive Order 9066 -- why both matter, together

It is Black History month, a time when we (as a nation) remember the significant contributions to American history, culture, and society of people of African heritage to the United States. At Southern University there has been additional programming highlighting various aspects of African American history, culture, and people/communities. While there are some who criticize the idea of "heritage months" because there is no "white history" month (to which I say, isn't everyday white history month?) and there are those who say why single out single month when we should be acknowledging African American contributions to U.S. society everyday (to which I say, well of course, but a month of programming and remembering is still a good and worthy thing), February is none-the-less the month in which those of us who care about issues of race, racism, white privilege, white surpremacy, and most important anti-racist practices, recognize the importance of honoring and celebrating African Americans.

And 70 years ago today, February 19, 1942, Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which nullified the constitutional rights of every single person living on the West Coast of the United States. It allowed for the military to interpret and restrict who could remain on the West Coast--and the military, under the auspices of EO9066, targeted one and only one ethnic group: people of Japanese ancestry. There was no mention of race in EO9066--which is significant because it gave great power to the military to interpret who was a threat and who needed to be evacuated from the West Coast due to "military necessity."

By now, many people have debunked the idea of "military necessity" surrounding the Japanese American internment/incarceration, and I have written about this issue many times before, especially in this post. So I won't rehearse all of the standard reasons why it is important to remember the 70th anniversary of this infamous date (although I would encourage people to go to this link to an article in Colorlines Magazine).

But I do want to note a connection between EO9066 and Black History Month. Because I think there are more things that unite Asian Americans and African Americans than divide them, despite ridiculous recent comments by Floyd Mayweather and Jenny Hyun. The Afro-Asian connections and points of solidarity are ones that Dr. Sarah Jackson has tweeted about (click here). Asian American activism (of which the Japanese American Internment redress movement was part of) owes a debt to the modern civil rights movement for African American enfranchisement. Asian Americans and African Americans can and should join together to confront issues of white supremacy and white privilege -- and should join with all others who want to be anti-racist allies.

Social justice issues should give us all an opportunity to recognize the intersections of oppression and the possibilities for solidarity across racial lines. We should celebrate Black history month and recognize the injustice of Executive Order 9066 and the unconstitutional incarceration of Japanaese Americans during WWII--and we should continue to see why we are stronger thinking of both together rather than separately.

Some links to look at

I'll be in blog-silence for a week since I'm leaving for Jamaica tomorrow (read the above post--I'm doing a two-fer today) and I thought I'd leave you with a few links to look at--things I would have, essentially, blogged about/commented about if I were around.

And since I won't be around, this also means that if you do leave a comment between the 15th and 21st of February, it will sit, unmoderated, for a week, but I do promise to publish it and respond when I return!

OK, here they are (click on the name of the blogsite/website to get to the link):

*For all you political junkies, a great post by What Tami Said about the respective post-Potomac speeches by Barack Obama and John McCain (with video links to their speeches). Great analysis by Tami about the messages embedded in their words.

*Part I of a Rachel's Tavern post on "Myths About Intra-racial dating"--I like the way she turns the perspective on its head--it's something I always try to do myself when thinking about a problem or controversial issue.

*A call on C.N. Le's site for white fathers of mixed-race children to participate in a podcast on "Mixed Chicks Chat"--it's the first time I've heard of this site, so I can't vouch for it, but it looks interesting, and they did an event at the Japanese American National Museum, which is a site I really like.

*Speaking of the Japanese American National Museum, I'm sure that they are preparing for events and exhibitions to commemorate Executive Order 9066, which FDR signed on February 19, 1942, the order that allowed the military to enforce the removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans to internment camps on the West Coast. There is SO MUCH to say about this topic...I can't even find the right adjectives to express my sorrow, dismay, anger, disgust, horror, and shame that this happened and that TOO FEW of us know the details about the internment. For instance, there is no mention of race in the language of Executive Order 9066--it was up to the military to interpret WHO they deemed to be a military threat, but the order effectually suspended the constitutional rights of every person, citizen and non, living on the West Coast of the U.S. after February 19, 1942. The fact that the military chose only to target people of Japanese ancestry for mass forced removal/incarceration is, of course, what led to HR442 in 1987--a federal recognition and apology for the illegal internment and reparations (in terms of money but more importantly education) for the suspension of constitutional rights of Japanese Americans and the awful precedent that this has set.

Anyway, for more on the Japanese American Internment, go to the DENSHO site--they actually prefer the phrase "Japanese American Incarceration" and I respect them for that, but I have my own reasons for preferring "internment," imperfect as it is.

*In celebration of Black History Month, I thought I'd include this link to a history of African Americans in golf on the site Golf For Everyone. Especially note the "Caucasian Clause" which was in effect from 1946-1961. This timeline puts into perspective just why a figure like Tiger Woods is so important to the world of golf and the world of sports.

*Finally, a hilarious look on Racialicious on what NOT to do to celebrate Black History Month. I think too many of us know what it's like to be Caroline in this short video piece. Kudos to the filmmakers for this great send-up that uses humor to make an important social commentary and to also tackle white privilege.

See you next Friday!