Features

Editors, Daily Planet: 

In 1942, my Japanese grandparents and their five children were forced by the U.S. government to move from their home in California to an internment camp in Arkansas. This family history instilled in me a profound appreciation for the personal freedoms guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the responsibilities of the justice system. I recognize that our most fundamental Constitutional liberties are often most seriously challenged in times of crisis. It is in times like these that we are most obligated to remain true to our basic values of liberty and equality for all before the law. 

As a student at UC Berkeley School of Law (Boalt Hall), I am deeply disappointed and offended that Michelle Malkin was invited to the UC Berkeley campus last night to distort the truth about the historical facts of the internment and to justify the decision to imprison Japanese Americans. As the Japanese American Citizens League has stated, “The facts speak for themselves, and President Ronald Reagan concurred when he signed a law in 1988 acknowledging the injustice of the internment.” 

I join the members of the Coalition for Diversity and the Asian Pacific American Law Students Association, in denouncing Michelle Malkin’s effort to justify the denial of civil liberties due to racism in time of war. The history of the Japanese internment teaches us that, particularly in wartime, the threat posed by national, racial, ethnic, and religious minorities may be exaggerated and distorted by the media, the government, and the public. Furthermore, the lessons of the internment teach us that all citizens have a responsibility to speak out against intolerance, racism, and bigotry. We concerned students will continue to be outspoken toward any policy that targets or profiles Arab and Muslim Americans or undermines the civil liberties of any American. 

Ms. Malkin’s book, In Defense of Internment, presents a distorted version of history that is contradicted by several decades of scholarly research, including works by the official historian of the United States Army and an official U.S. government commission. 

It is irresponsible for the student group sponsoring Ms. Malkin’s talk to permit her biased presentation of events to go unchallenged as a factual historical presentation. We urge the Berkeley College Republicans to invite a reputable historian or legal scholar to present a more even-handed and honest view of the evidence. 

Katie Oyama 

Second-Year Law Student 

Boalt Hall School of Law 

University of California, Berkeley 

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A NEO-NAZI IN BERKELEY 

Editors, Daily Planet: 

It is rare to see a true neo-nazi in Berkeley, but that is just what 250 people did yesterday. The term that I use is strong, but I believe it to be accurate in describing someone who supports the internment of racial minorities. On Sept. 8, Michelle Malkin, a right-wing commentator who advocates creation of internment camps for people of races and religions that she believes are a “danger to national security” spoke at UC Berkeley’s Dwinelle Hall. The event was entitled “In Defense of Internment and Racial Profiling.” Ms. Malkin was invited by the College Republicans to lead a rally for those in favor of racial profiling and internment of minorities. The event was protested by pro-democracy groups. 

More disturbing than this rally was the Daily Californian’s part in the matter. The Daily Californian has taken it upon itself to act as a cheerleader for the racist politics of internment profiling. The day before the event, the Daily Cal. ran an editorial by Ethan Lutske praising Ms. Malkin and racial profiling and, the day after, ran a front-page article that read more like an advertisement for Ms. Malkin’s event than like a journalistic piece. While the paper does have the right to air controversial opinions, the fact that it runs only pro-racism editorials with no counter-arguments shows that the paper’s intent was to promote Ms. Malkin’s views, not to promote an open discussion.  

Tom Smithh