Japanese-Americans and the Constitution

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Recommended: Discrimination and persecution of the Japanese internment camps

Japanese-Americans and the Constitution

A Review of the Smithsonian's "A More Perfect Union" Website

Brief Description and Museum's Purpose

"A More Perfect Union: ..." is organized as a chronology of events centering around one basic theme: the confinement of Japanese-Americans to "concentration camps" during WWII. I believe the message being conveyed to the public is one of a major apology to these Japanese-Americans and their descendants for the great injustices forced upon them. In addition, the museum attempts to warn the overall public that since such a violation of the constitution has proven possible in the past, we cannot blindly rely on the fabric of our constitution to prevent such injustices from occurring again. We must proceed with caution in matters of civil liberties and work towards achieving a "more perfect union".

Organization

As indicated above, the exhibit is theme-based, centered around a historical period of time. Because of this, there is a large proportion of text, revealing background history, in relation to the actual artifacts. In my second, more thorough run-through, I certainly found myself reading more than looking at "things". In fact, it seems as though the exhibit only tells the true chronological history to those patient enough to read all of the text. A less thorough visit to the exhibit will undoubtedly result in a skewed view of the past. I will address this issue later in the Critical Assessment section.

The exhibit has an obvious beginning (with a mural of the Constitution and an introduction video) and then leads the visitor through a somewhat delineated path towards the exit. There is some freedom to back-track, skip around, and even to go through the entire exhibit backwards if you wish. However, during my time in the exhibit, I observed nearly everyone following the predescribed path.

Along this delineated path, the exhibit seems to be broken down into five main "subthemes": the Japanese migration to the U.S., the incarceration process, life inside the detention camps, U.S. military involvement by the Japanese-Americans, and repairing the Constitution. By traveling through the exhibit in this order, the visitor gets a feel for the basic chronology of the events and perhaps how one event led into the other.

Critical Assessment

Effectiveness and Biases: I believe the exhibition team did an excellent job of conveying their intended message although I am not in total agreement with it. Again, this message is to apologize for the Americans who acted out of hysteria in imprisoning a multitude of fellow citizens who were completely innocent.

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