Tools of Fascism: February 19, 1942, EXECUTIVE ORDER 9066

By Momii Palapaz

On February 19th I thought of my mom who was just 18 years old, ready, but not allowed to attend graduation and get her diploma. It was 1942 in Redwood City, California and the Takagi family was ordered to report to a designated site. No other details were given. 

Mom said “Somebody told dad to go east”.  In the midst of round ups by the FBI and WRA (War Relocation Authority), Japanese Americans and their families were deemed a threat and laws were instituted to make imprisonment “legal”.  Being farmers, Jichan (grampa} hauled mom, aunts, uncles, grandpas, and her 4 siblings from Redwood City onto the truck destined to ‘go east’. They were one family of about 1,000 people who tried to get away from the concentration camp. They only made it to Marysville, CA.  Not far east enough.

Racist rallies and meeting notices called for the removal of Japanese Americans from homes

I thought of dad also. At 21 years old, he watched his father taken away by the FBI on December 24, 1941. Dad never talked about that day. I found out through records from the FBI documents my parents applied for and received in Washington, D.C.   

His mom, now alone, handled the four sons, youngest 15, then responded to the order of the Executive 9066 on February 19, 1942.  After months of living in a horse stall at the Tanforan racetrack, called an assembly center, they were shuttled on a 24 hour railroad ride, shades drawn, to Topaz, UT.  There, they met thousands of Japanese Americans from throughout the West Coast. Bachan Matsu Momii died in the concentration camp in 1943, leaving her youngest son to fend for himself.

This is a haunting date.  What happened 84 years ago, was publicly denounced in the 1980s, and called a “mistake” by the US government.  Japanese Americans and their families got $20,000.00 per person incarcerated.  We were then labeled “model minority” and applauded for something.  It was actually a bait and switch, a sucker deal that divided families, communities, races and classes in the never ending plot to erase all responsibility by the fascist system.  Look at the creation of tragedy, fomenting violence and racist relations amongst all of us.  This doesn’t go away. Fascist ideals consciously evolve and fester with fakery and snooty attitudes. 

Japanese Americans are no better than any other migrating ancestors and their descendants, but the US government needed a cop out and a diversion to protect themselves as the source of what history exposes today.

ICE OUT OF EVERYWHERE. SOLIDARITY WITH REFUGEES FROM IMPERIALISM.  ALL POWER TO THE PEOPLE