Seventy Years Ago: May 21, San Francisco

Here's an extract from the May 21 1942 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle:

"The San Francisco Chronicle:

"Last Japanese Leave San Francisco - 1942: For the first time in 81 years, not a single Japanese is walking the streets of San Francisco. The last group, 274 of them, were moved yesterday to the Tanforan assembly center. Only a scant half dozen are left, all seriously ill in San Francisco hospitals.

"Last night Japanese town was empty. Its stores were vacant, its windows plastered with "To Lease" signs. There were no guests in its hotels, no diners nibbling on sukiyaki or tempura. And last night, too, there were no Japanese with their ever present cameras and sketch books, no Japanese with their newly acquired furtive, frightened looks."

There was not a hint in the article that many of those being rounded up and transferred to concentration camps were American citizens. There was no mention of the fact that we were also at war with Germany and Italy. No mention of the fact that baseball star Joe Dimaggio's father had been a vocal supporter of Mussolini. There was no mention of any relocation of Italian Americans or German Americans.

This was a disgraceful episode in our history.

Can anyone tell me with a straight face that this was not racism at work?

Another Trail of Tears.