February 5, 2017 | SuzyQ
In World War II, more than 110,000 Japanese-Americans were forced into relocation camps across the US. This film traces the lives of the 16,000 people who were sent to two camps in southeast Arkansas, one of the poorest and most racially segregated places in America. It explores the reactions of the native Arkansans who watched in bewilderment as their tiny towns were overwhelmed by this huge influx of outsiders. Through interviews with the internees and local citizens, the program explores how it affected the local communities, and the impact this history had on the issues of civil rights and social justice in America then and now.
The personal stories of three Japanese-American resistors--Gorden Hirabayashi, Fred Korematsu, and Minoru Yasui--who defied the government order of the WWII Wartime Relocation Act, resulting in their conviction and imprisonment.
A troubling picture of the U.S. during a time beset by anti-Semitism and a government that, due to complex social and political factors, delayed action and suppressed information and blocked efforts that could have saved hundreds of thousands of people.
