14th Amendment
Section 1
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.
If you're in Cody, Wyoming, be sure to visit the Buffalo Bill Cody Museum. There are actually eleven museums in one large building.
A lesser-known museum is located outside Cody but is well worth the visit. It’s the Heart Mountain Internment Center. Each room in the museum contains displays portraying the concentration camp and a box of tissues. Many of the visitors cried as they read of their ancestors’ detention.
This is the Heart Mountain Japanese Internment Center, (think Concentration Camp). It’s where twenty-two thousand American Citizens of Japanese descent were held captive for over three years, (It was one of ten such centers built in remote areas of the United States. It was the third largest city in Wyoming)
Their crime was that they or there parents were from Japan, and we were at war. Never mind that Americans of German, or Italian citizens were not arrested or detained. The Japanese Citizens had a different skin color…..
These Issei and Nissie, (an Issei is the first Generation who had arrived here from Japan and and Nissie were their children who had been born here in the United States).
They had been torn from their rightful homes, farms and business The people detained here were from Southern California homes and moved to the Japanese Detention Center, Concentration Camp, in Northern Wyoming, they were never given back their homes, businesses, or stolen possessions).
They were guarded by armed Army Guards who sat in watchtowers, and their barracks were surrounded by barbed wire and machine guns. They were only allowed to bring one suitcase with their clothing which was insufficient for the harsh Wyoming Winter. It was the coldest winter in a long time and their only source of heat was Wyoming coal.
Eventually the young men were allowed to prove their loyalty by enlisting or being drafted into the Army and sent to Europe to fight. (they fought in the newly formed the 442nd Regiment, which was the most decorated unit in Untied States Military history).
A small group, thirty-one individuals, refused to be drafted until their parents had been released from the Concentration Camp. They were convicted and sent to federal prison.
Clear skies
This has been the most difficult blog I have ever written. One of my reasons for going to the Museum was to show Renita one of the barracks I lived in while I attended Iowa State Universities summer field camp in Shell Wyoming.
Iowa State donated the last one of the barracks to the Museum and it was moved from Shell, Wyoming and is being renovated to its original condition. It is the only original barracks left from the Heart Mountain Interment Center, (Concentration Camp).
How many of you have ever read the United States Constitution. I wonder how many of my readers see the parallels to what is happened today……
Very powerful post. Sadly 80+ years later we are doing the same thing. Here in Florida we have the Gator Gulags built to disappear brown skinned people. There are over 500,000 Caucasians who are here illegally and none of them have been rounded up. Stay safe and healthy.
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