My dearest ART263 peers,
I apologize for not being to present my Intervention piece on March 1st; however, I contracted COVID-19 three times during one month. Furthermore, my family recalled me back home to partake in discussion regarding our mother’s medical care going forward due to her rapidly declining health as it relates to Alzheimer’s disease.
The medium for my Intervention piece is a poster board where I am attempting to convey the inhumanity, violation of human rights, the minimization of others who are “different” than us, and the abominable discrimination based on one’s racial identity that took place following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, as well as during the Trump Administration.
It was Executive Order 9066 was issued by President Harry Truman in response to the bombing of Pearl Harbor due to the distrust that was felt by Japanese Americans. This order was enforced from 1942-1945. It is estimated that approximately 110,000-120,000 Japanese Americans were 70% were born in the United States. These war relocation centers were in such states as California, Arizona, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and Arkansas. They were rounded up and forced to live in despicable conditions such as living in horse stables as witnessed by the Manzanar War Relocation Center in California. It has been estimated that approximately 1,600 Japanese Americans died during their internment.
My father’s side of the family was interned in a camp located in Colorado, whereas my mother’s side of the family was interned in Canada.
On August 10, 1988, legislation was signed by President Ronald Reagan that each survivor would be compensated $20,000 as restitution for being wrongly interned during World War II, in addition to an apology.
The Trump Administration began detaining migrant families, with adults being separated into criminal detention and the children treated as unaccompanied alien minors. On May 05, 2019, the Trump Administration took a stance of “zero policy” towards illegal immigration by stating that it would seek to detain and prosecute every illegal immigrant. Then, on June 20, 2019, Trump issued an executive order that families should be detained together, where these families should have only been detained for a maximum of twenty days. Back in 2020, it has been estimated that approximately 545 children separated at the border still have not been reunited with their parents.
Immigrants come to America for numerous and personal reasons such as poor standard of living in their mother country, lack of opportunity, political instability, violence and persecution, conflict, education, lack of adequate health care, lack of work opportunities, freedom, drugs and gang related concerns, and safety to name a few reasons.
The middle portion of the poster board contains pictures for both the Manzanar War Relocation Center and the detained migrants during the Trump Administration. I have also included some actual photos of my mother and myself when we went to the Manzanar War Relocation Center dating back to early 1990’s. The left flap contains additional pictures of both Manzanar, and migrants being detained. The right flap contains some poignant factoids as it relates to both Manzanar and the detained migrants.
No comments:
Post a Comment