Re: “Stephen Miller finally gets his revenge on LA” (July 13, Nation):
It has been said those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it. But if we’ve learned anything from history it’s that people don’t learn from history.
Not long ago, the U.S. government rounded people of Japanese descent and shipped them to overcrowded incarceration camps across the country. This included the Sakuma family, of Sakuma Farms in Burlington. For three years, they were kept behind barbed wire under constant guard and treated as enemies of America.
By the end of the war, Sakumas lost their farm on Bainbridge Island, but their Burlington farm was saved thanks to their neighbors, Oscar and Nora Mapes, who maintained it.
The narrative of an “outside” enemy and the “othering” of marginalized populations is nothing new. But our government continues to scapegoat immigrants as “criminals” and threats to national security, detaining them in camps for seemingly no other reason than to appease the weird autocratic-feudalistic fantasy of a few billionaires.
History will frown on these monsters pulling strings in government to demonize our neighbors. In the meantime, we need to do what’s right — look out for each other.
In a world full of Stephen Millers, be an Oscar and Nora Mapes.
Tara Nelson, Bow
