What Japanese American Imprisonment Was... and This Podcast Is

Heart Mountain Relocation Center, Heart Mountain, Wyoming, 1943. A boy scout carries the flag at a parade. Kodachrome slide shot by Bill Manbo, a prisoner.  (c) Takao Bill Manbo

Seventy-five years ago, in the late summer of 1942, the US government opened ten camps to imprison some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast. 

In 1988, Congress concluded that this government program resulted from racism, wartime hysteria, and a failure of political leadership.

This introductory episode of Scapegoat Cities gives you a brief overview of what led to this injustice and tells you what you'll be hearing in the podcast's episodes.

If you haven’t already, please review us on iTunes! It’s an important way to help new listeners discover the show:  iTunes.com/ScapegoatCities

For a limited time, all iTunes reviewers are eligible for a chance to win a copy of Colors of Confinement: Rare Kodachrome Photographs of Japanese American Incarceration in World War II edited by Eric L. Muller with photographs by Bill Manbo. Just send an emailto scapegoatcities@gmail.com with the text of your posted iTunes review for a chance to win one of 6 copies that will be selected at random from all entries. One winner will be selected monthly through January 31, 2018.

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Music in this episode: "Frame of Mind" by Erik Haddad, Shiro (Kirkoid Mix), Jazzhar, "No-End Avenue,  "Don't Fence Me In" performed by Roy Rogers. 

Photo courtesy of Bill Manbo.  (c) Takao Bill Manbo.