A Japanese American congressperson and the JACL today both separately condemned a Trump official’s comparison of the prosecution of January 6 rioters to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII.
Interim U.S. Attorney Ed Martin called the criminalization of the rioters “the greatest failure of legal judgment since FDR and his Attorney General put American citizens of Japanese descent in prison camps,” Newsmax reported.
The Japanese American Citizens League today called equating the two “disrespectful to the history of what Japanese Americans endured.”
“At a time where the legacy of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team has been removed and then rearranged on the website for the U.S. Army, and the Alien Enemies Act has been invoked for the first time since WWII when it was used against members of our own community, it is especially offensive to see the comparison,” the JACL said.
Rep Mark Takano agreed and described himself as “appalled.”
“To compare violent insurrectionists to innocent families imprisoned without due process because of their ancestry is offensive and detached from reality,” he said in a statement.
Takano is both the son and grandson of innocent family members incarcerated during WWII.
Just weeks before the election, Trump made the same comparison, AsAmNews reported in October.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
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