Boy War Not Only Causes One Country

¶ … Boy War not only causes one country or group of people to attempt the destruction of another, but can even lead a nation or population of individuals to fear, degrade and hate their own friends, family members and other countrymen. The Civil War was a prime example of this bizarre turn of events. Those who were or would have been hospitable and friendly toward someone else yesterday, now saw that same person as the enemy who had to be attacked on the battlefield.

It did not matter if these individuals had actually been part of the same country and pledged their allegiance to the same government for decades, the war had made them scorn anyone who lived across their border or wore a different color uniform. The book No-No Boy epitomizes this change that occurred among people over night. The Japanese-Americans, who had pledged support of the United States and become respected citizens, were suddenly seen as the enemy.

Anglo-Americans recognized them as the dreaded "Japs" and put them into internment camps "for their own protection." Further, family members such as Ichiro's mother and brothers were on different sides of the issue. Ichiro was placed in a "damned if you do and damned if you don't" position. If he fought for the United States, he would be a hypocrite -- how could he support a country that did not support his own people? If he did not fight, he was scorned by those same people he supported.

Although in 1947 President Truman pardoned the approximately 300 Japanese-Americans who refused to fight in World War II on constitutional grounds, it was not until 1990 that the first Japanese-American received redress from internment. Further, it was not until 2001 that the Japanese-American Citizens League apologized to these resisters. "What we're saying is we shouldn't be condemning or trashing people who took a stand for our community's civil rights," said Andy Noguchi, co-chair of the Recognition and Reconciliation Ceremony where these individuals received long-awaited support.

"These were a group of 300 young men who stood up for the community's civil rights." The scars from wars take very long to heal. Unfortunately, if history demonstrates anything, it is that humans do not always totally learn from their mistakes. After the September 11 tragedy, where Americans should have been even more supportive of one another, bigotry and fear arose again against the Arab-Americans and Muslims. On the negative side, innocent people were put in jail, Mosques were defaced.

Arab-owned businesses were shot, Arab-Americans faced verbal and physical abuse in the streets and Internet message boards burst with anti-Arab and anti-Muslim slogans and threats. On the positive side, however, this situation was different from those in the past. The United States has become much more integrated since the 1940s. Arab-Americans live in all parts.