Dear Denver Post: Stop Exploiting the Internment of My Late Father and Japanese Americans to Push Your Narrative

That’s how I felt when I submitted my immediate response to their editorial, so it was not a one-way street. So here I am, posting it on my blog months later, a blog that has been struck by Google’s HCU, which squashed thousands of voices on the once-open internet.

With reduced reach, the Denver Post has more power to exploit the internment by relating it to the current border crisis, which is ridiculous. This is part of why legacy media continues to hemorrhage readers due to their lack of integrity. (It’s mind-boggling that they outlasted the Rocky Mountain News, only to succumb to their own ineptitude.)

My response to their editorial was originally Published: on November 13, 2024, at 6:00 AM MST (the original post via the Wayback machine). UPDATED: November 13, 2024 at 9:45 AM MST:

Editorial: No, Mr. President-Elect, you can’t call your mass deportation scheme “Operation Aurora”

Here are the individuals who thought to exploit the internment of Japanese Americans with current politics:

Members of The Denver Post’s editorial board are Megan Schrader, editor of the editorial pages; Lee Ann Colacioppo, editor; Justin Mock, CFO; Bill Reynolds, vice president of circulation and production; Bob Kinney, vice president of information technology; and TJ Hutchinson, systems editor.

Yeah, that picture is of my dad (far left) who was interned at Rohwer (individual number 26285F).

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Dear Denver Post people or DPP,

I am writing to express how eff’n offensive and off-base your recent editorial piece was, “No, Trump, you can’t call mass deportation scheme ‘Operation Aurora'” published on November 13, 2024. As a third to fourth-generation Japanese American from Cowarado, this article struck a personal chord, not just because of its political discourse but due to the sensitive historical and, frankly, douchey comparisons it makes.

My late father, along with his family, was among those forcibly removed from their home in Stockton, CA, during World War II. They were interned in Rohwer, Arkansas, sharing the same camp as the actor George Takei, Star Trek’s ‘Sulu,’ a place where they lost their freedom, their property, and nearly their identity as Americans. This internment was an eff ‘d-up and a dark chapter in American history, not to be lightly invoked by some anonymous dude/dudette for comparisons with current issues, especially not in a manner that seems to trivialize the unique racial and systemic injustices of that era.

On my mother’s side, my grandfather and great-grandfather were farmers in Weld County, Colorado. For approximately 80 years, their farm not only sustained our family with legit tomatoes but also provided for many Coloradans (yeah, my mom, and her six other brothers and sisters doing farm-to-table before it was cool). Their legacy is one of resilience and contribution, which I feel is disregarded when the internment is douchily (is that a word? If not, I Greg, decree it is) used as a political prop, as seems to be the case in your editorial.

I highly doubt that the author of this piece shares the heritage, my youthful looks, or the personal impact of the internment because there are very few Japanese/Japanese Americans left in Colorado; if they did, they might have been more cautious in drawing such parallels. Using the internment as an analogy for Trump’s deportation plans is not only historically inaccurate but also deeply offensive. It dilutes the severity of the racial prejudice (people in 2024 like to hype racism, well, here is a prime example of that) that led to the internment of citizens into what seems like a political narrative for current events.

Furthermore, as a family that has subscribed to The Denver Post for decades, later using said paper for numerous paper mache projects, and as a current digital subscriber myself because I got it at a discount, I am disappointed—especially, if I had paid full price, it would’ve been even more so. This editorial appears more as a gesture to voice the paper’s political bias, further illustrating what I see as a decline in the objectivity and quality of journalism. The Denver Post had a rich history of informing and engaging its community with balanced perspectives. Yet, this piece seems to leverage a sensitive historical event in a way that feels more about political commentary than about fostering a nuanced discussion on immigration policies.

The comparison between the internment of Japanese Americans, an act without legal justification based on racial discrimination, and the current, legally framed issue of immigration enforcement, while meant to caution against potential rights abuses, oversimplifies complex issues and risks offending those with a direct connection to the history it invokes, like me, or judge Ito from the OJ Simpson trial (the dude had both his parents interned).

In closing, I urge The Denver Post to step up its eff’n game on how it engages with such sensitive historical parallels in future editorials by anonymous dudes/dudettes with a bias, especially when they touch upon personal and communal histories as profound as the internment. We owe it to history, to journalism to make it great again, like Walter Cronkite great (remember him?), and to the Colorado communities affected, to not suck and give it the care they deserve.

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My issue with the article:

1. Flawed Comparison:
   By drawing parallels between deportation policies and Japanese American internment, the editorial conflates distinct issues. This misrepresentation undermines the editorial’s credibility as a serious piece of journalism.
2. Lack of Nuance:
   As a media outlet, The Denver Post is expected to handle historical analogies with care. Oversimplifying such complex topics suggests either a lack of research or an intent to provoke rather than inform.
3. Implied Bias:
   The editorial’s apparent political agenda detracts from its objectivity. Readers may interpret the use of the internment analogy as an emotional appeal rather than a substantive argument.

Yes, my written response is slightly crass, but I can’t help it. However, I do have valid points.

FYI: I have also contacted Densho.org on 1/1/25, and we will see if current events are important, or if only focusing on the past is their focus.

Resources:

• National Archives: Japanese American Internment