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Tendai Chisowa Ms.Laurencot Nonfiction Book Essay __ Denied, Detained, Deported :Stories from the Dark Side of American Immigration __ Thousands of foreigners, immigrants, and refugees from countries other than America have experienced racism, hate, and prejudice because of their race, gender, or ethnicity from the people of the United States of America. These people have come from other countries to America, to try to get a better life for themselves and their families or to escape from turmoil that plagues their home lands. Stories of such people who have experienced such discriminations are told in the book. The true stories relate to society, history, they teach the reader about the world around him, and the stories offer something to the reader. The book was packed with stories that related to society. In today's society, the acts of prejudice and racism are prevalent toward people that are not fully American. In the year 1942, prejudice and racism were also prevalent in society. A year before 1942, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, causing strained feelings in American society towards people who looked Japanese or were Japanese. Because the Japanese were considered to be a threat, they were ordered by the President, who was pressured by the American society, to report to wartime detention camps. These camps had very bad conditions for the people who were living there. The camps had no running water, little or no electricity, toilet stalls with no doors, small 20 by 20 living spaces, and all this inside an area surrounded by barbed wire and intimidating guard towers.(page 68) The Japanese who were sent to these camps were spat upon and cursed at by angry Americans.(page 67) The spitting upon the Japanese Americans relates to today's society because Mexican immigrants are treated almost the same by Americans, who curse and discriminate against them. Even though most of the Japanese Americans had done nothing wrong, they still experienced hate from many people in American society. Today, many people in present society still target foreigners as victims of their hate. From discrimination towards people with a middle eastern background, to lower salaries for minority groups and hate crimes from hateful Americans targeted towards foreigners, the society in present day America is much like that of the society in 1942 towards the Japanese. Relations to past historic events that happened, are found in the book. There is a story in the book that talks of the hundreds of Jews who traveled by ship to America in hopes of gaining freedom from Hitler and his followers, who were turned away from entering America even though they were trying to escape from Hitler and his army. Though most of the people who were on the particular ship had quota numbers for eventual admission into the United States, they were still turned away by the President who was only concerned about getting reelected for the following term and in turn listening to the American people who were against letting the Jews in to America.(page 62) A good example of prejudice towards foreigners. If only President Roosevelt had allowed the Jews to come into the United States, hundreds of lives would have been saved from further persecution therefore changing the histories of those families. There were historical accounts of events in the book that happened in real history. Such examples are the persecution of the Jews by Hitler, and the torment that Jews experienced from Germans and other people jumping onto the band wagon started by Hitler of hating Jews. One of the stories featured in the book spoke of a family of nine Jews that were sent to a concentration camp and only four people came out alive from that family after the war. That story relates to history because in the time of Hitler's rule, millions of Jews were killed or died as a result of being sent to concentration camps where they were starved and tortured. Another story that related to history was that of the Matsuda family. Because they were Japanese and seen as the enemy after the horror of Pearl Harbor, they were sent to camps where they lived in harsh conditions. The story of the Matsuda family relates to history because in 1942, more than 120,000 Japanese Americans were sent to live in wartime detention camps that were highly guarded and not suitable for comfortable living. The book states, "President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in response to mounting calls for action and discouraging battlefront reports, signed Executive Order 9066." (page 63) This statement from the book was relevant to history because President Roosevelt's decision to sign the order caused many Japanese Americans to have to go to camps and give up their homes and jobs just because of one man's decision which was centered on racism and discrimination against a particular race of people. The histories and lives of thousands of Japanese Americans were changed as a result of their ethnicities paired with racism from others who were Americans. The stories in the book are successful in showing the reader something. The true accounts of the Japanese Americans show the reader the types of discriminations that were inflicted upon them. Statements in the stories, such as that by Mary Matsuda when she states, "My deep fear was that someday when I least expected it, the soldiers would come and kill us all,"(page69) show the reader that for her to have such fearful thoughts, Americans were very racist towards the Japanese Americans. Her reflection also shows the reader that the American soldiers were not nice towards the Japanese Americans. There is a sentence in the book that reads, "Smaller camps held about 7,500 people; the largest held more than 18,000."(page 68) The sentence shows the reader that Americans were neglectful towards the Japanese and their needs. Americans did not make the effort to build comfortable living spaces for the Japanese Americans. According to the book, Americans were prejudice to the Jewish peoples. Hundreds were turned away from living in America because "Many Americans felt the United States had sheltered enough refugees."(page 51) Due to this harsh public opinion towards refugees, including Jews, hundreds of Jews were forced to return to dangerous European countries, and suffer persecution. That shows the reader that Americans were unmerciful towards desperate foreign immigrants. The book __Denied, Detained, Deported :Stories from the Dark Side of American Immigration__ teaches the reader about the surrounding world. The stories in the book delved into the harsh details of the lives of foreigners in America and their mistreatment. For a person who has grown up sheltered and comfortable, the stories in the book are shocking and informative as well when it comes to learning about the world. There is a story in the book that talks about the dirty and frugal means of living that were forced upon the Japanese Americans when they were forced to go to camps after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Such examples of these living conditions were little electricity in the camps, crowded living conditions, unsanitary bathrooms, and detention camps enclosed by barbed wire.(page 68) A person with little knowledge of how far discrimination of Japanese Americans went would definitely learn something from reading the book. There was a story in the book that talked of how Jews were being persecuted because of their ethnicity by Hitler and the Germans. In relation to this, one of the stories in the book states, "They vandalized and looted hundreds of Jewish owned shops and homes, arrested thousands of Jews for confinement in concentration camps, and set fire to some 200 Jewish Synagogues. Scores of Jews lost their lives."(page 44) Someone who reads this statement would learn about some of the plethora of tortures and abuse that were inflicted upon the Jews that they would not typically learn about in their daily life. The statement also teaches readers that Jews were treated unfairly by others for many years of their lives. Another fact that would be gathered by the reader of this statement is that many Jews lost their lives, just for being Jewish. By reading the stories in this book, the reader would learn that the world is very harsh and cold towards foreigners. If the world was not harsh and cold, desperate people fleeing from death would not be turned away from countries that have the ability and resources to offer them shelter, such as the Jews were. Innocent families would not lose their homes just because they were a certain ethnicity, as the Jew did. People who looked different or "like the enemy" ,such as the Japanese Americans in 1942, would not need to report to drab detention camps to be imprisoned regardless of the fact that many were innocent. Unfortunately, because many people in America are racist, prejudice, and cold hearted towards foreigners, foreigners and immigrants have experienced discrimination, rejection, and hate from the United States.