|
AAI Action Alert Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC) Must Apologize For Inflammatory Praise of the History of Internment Camps On a radio call-in show, Tuesday, February 5th, Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC), responding to a caller's suggestion that Arabs in the United States should be rounded up and interned, stated that the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was not wrong because "Some [Japanese Americans] probably were intent on doing harm to us, just as some of these Arab Americans are probably intent on doing harm to us." Contact Rep. Coble to tell him that he must apologize for his comments. Coble insisted that he disagreed with the caller's support for Arab American internment and stated that most Arab Americans, like Japanese Americans during WWII, were not America's enemies. However, he then went on to praise President Franklin D. Roosevelt for establishing internment camps in the interests of National Security. He even went so far as to claim that the internments during WWII were meant to protect Japanese Americans because "it wasn't safe for them to be on the street." The internment of Japanese Americans is one of the darkest hours in our nation's history. It should never be recalled fondly or praised for its 'consideration' of our nation's security. We, as Americans, must ensure that the mistakes of the past remain in the past. The "War on Terror" must not turn into a "War on Arabs and Arab Americans." Rhetoric that recalls the Japanese American internment in this way sets our nation on a dangerous path. As a result, comments like Rep. Coble's must be condemned and marginalized. To contact Rep. Coble to demand an apology for his comments please visit http://capwiz.com/arab/home/ on AAI's website http://www.aaiusa.org
|