Lately, I’ve seen many disturbing social media posts that vilify, demean, shame, and lie about immigrants or people of different cultures, religions, political philosophies, sexual orientation — basically, anyone considered by some to be “the other.”
Most of these posts attempt to inspire fear of “the other.”
The fear-mongering, especially recently about Muslims, reminds me of the propagation of fear of Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Common Racist Rhetoric – World War II Fear-Mongering
1. “Japanese Americans are spies waiting to strike.” – Propaganda portrayed Japanese Americans as secret agents preparing sabotage on the West Coast. Dr. Seuss’s 1942 cartoon depicted them lining up to receive explosives, implying coordinated espionage. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_for_Japanese-American_internment
2. “They are a fifth column.” – Shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, various prominent U.S. government officials, military leaders, journalists, and public figures—most notably, Secretary pf the Navy Frank Knox and General John DeWitt, Head of the Western Defense Command, falsely labeled Japanese Americans as a “fifth column” to justify wartime mass incarceration. https://encyclopedia.densho.org/The_Fifth_Column_on_the_Coast/
3. “A Jap’s a Jap — loyalty doesn’t matter.” – DeWitt’s infamous statement asserted that race alone determined loyalty, implying that even U.S.‑born citizens were inherently dangerous. https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2013/11/22/a-slaps-a-slap-general-john-l-dewitt-and-four-little-words/
4. “They are racially unassimilable.” – Propaganda framed Japanese Americans as biologically incapable of loyalty or assimilation, reviving older “Yellow Peril” tropes. https://digitalgallery.bgsu.edu/student/exhibits/show/race-in-us/asian-americans/the-asian-as-unassimilable-
5. “They are sneaky, secretive, and treacherous.” – Hearst newspapers and other media described Japanese Americans as inherently deceptive, often using slurs and caricatures to portray them as untrustworthy. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/citizen-hearst-japanese-incarceration/?utm_source=copilot.com
When the Japanese sunk as low as they did on Sunday morning they were closer to unreasoning animals than human beings… No longer will men condemn the actions of others by saying it was a “skunkish trick.” Much more damning will be the phrase “Of all the lowest Japanesish things to do.”
– “Lowest Animals Now Surpassed,” San Francisco Examiner, 12/11/1941
6. “They must be removed for national security.” – Government films and posters insisted mass incarceration was necessary to protect the nation, even though intelligence agencies recommended targeted arrests instead. Propaganda claimed Japanese Americans maintained secret allegiance to Japan, ignoring FBI findings that the community was overwhelmingly loyal.
Do any of the above photos or statements look or sound familiar? One need only substitute the nationality and it’s the same thing we’re hearing today.
This prompted me to research a variety of “others” targeted in the past. I put together the following table.
A few thoughts:
- As you can see by the table above, the ancestors of most Americans were once considered “the other” and endured the same kinds of prejudice and vilification as what’s happening today. Of course, this table can’t cover every group that endured injustices, like Native Americans, Germans, Jews, Palestinians, Vietnamese, etc. Nearly every major immigrant group as well as Indigenous peoples, have faced legal, social, or violent discrimination at some point in U.S. history.
- So much of the ugliness expressed is based on differences, whether political, religious, etc. Is someone evil or dangerous just because they are different or think differently?
- Is it true? Much of what’s on social media anymore is fake, and often, what’s fake has been created to inspire hate or fear — like last year’s “Haitians are eating your cats and dogs.” I trust very little of what I see on social media anymore without checking a reliable source, especially before passing it on.
- If a claim targets an ENTIRE group, ask who benefits from it. 120,000 Japanese Americans were interned during World War II as a result of the rhetoric inflaming the same kinds of fears I see happening today with Muslims and other people of color: “They’re going to take over our country.” No Japanese American was ever charged or convicted of espionage or spying during World War II.
- Knowing most of us have backgrounds where our ancestors, too, once endured injustices, what if we “returned to those shoes?” In other words, what if we tried to empathize with these people — think about their stories and who they really are, not what social media memes claim they are?
Every person has a story as complex as our own.
For more information on this video, read “Ankle monitors, arrests and lost jobs: Inside the new realities many Haitians in the US are facing.”
I often think about our history — at best, our unwillingness to accept; at worst, our vile hatred of — “the other,” and a Bible verse my dad taught me, Mark 12:31, comes to mind:
Love your neighbor as yourself.
There is no qualifier in this verse. No “Love your white neighbor,” or “Love your Christian neighbor,” or “Love your Democrat or Republican neighbor,” or “Love your U.S. Citizen neighbor.”
I wonder where we’re headed as a nation. In my opinion, hatred will destroy this country before anyone considered “the other” will.
