Dorothea Lange's Censored Photographs of FDR's Japanese Concentration Camps

[ehrnst]

In many ways, there were better conditions for children even in these camps than the child detention centers under this administration.

The military seized her photographs, quietly depositing them in the National Archives, where they remained mostly unseen and unpublished until 2006

“A photographic record could protect against false allegations of mistreatment and violations of international law, but it carried the risk, of course, of documenting actual mistreatment.”
— Linda Gordon, Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment

“Good manners eroded as meals were always hurried, reducing the ritual and elegance of Japanese cooking and serving to mere feeding the body. Maintaining personal cleanliness was difficult due to chronic shortage of soap and hot water. Lack of insulation and ventilation made the cubbyholes in which they lived freezing in winter and sweltering in summer. No decent provision for washing diapers. Dust. Mud. Ugliness. Terrible food—definitely not Japanese—doled onto plates from large garbage cans. Nothing to do. Lines for breakfast, lines for lunch, lines for supper, lines for mail, lines for the canteen, lines for laundry tubs, lines for toilets. The most common activity is waiting.”
— Linda Gordon, Impounded: Dorothea Lange and the Censored Images of Japanese American Internment

“Go ahead and do anything you think necessary… if it involves citizens, we will take care of them too. He [the President] says there will probably be some repercussions, but it has got to be dictated by military necessity, but as he puts it, ‘Be as reasonable as you can.’”
— Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, summarizing instructions from President Franklin D. Roosevelt given February 11, 1942

[Bayard]

1. I'm looking at the little girl in the short-sleeved white dress

While all the other kids are wearing coats or sweaters.

Ghastly and cruel. The U.S. does not have good history on concentration camps. Another example was the roundup of Native Americans (the ones left alive).

Dems should call the border imprisonment, Concentration Camps, at every opportunity. I heard a few rethugs last week saying those who did, didn't know what they were talking about. We need photos like this from the border, but I'm sure no cameras are allowed. Pictures speak 1,000 words. The country would then be outraged. Go undercover, kind of like what PETA does.

[Duppers]

2. YES! We need PHOTOS on broadcast news!

Every evening.

Someone suggested that, if necessary, we even pay for them. Whatever it takes.

A few days ago I sent out this entire thread: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1139192167501484033.html?utm_source=ext
Only to have a so-called democratic friend ask me if I had fact-ck'd it. People like that need photos and clips.

The evening news has just become "Entertainment Tonight" where entertainers gets higher billing than hungry kids crowded into cages.

Broadcast news is all about showing photos and film clips. Too many Americans will only believe their eyes.

So, thanks for your post, Bayard.