Eahland wrote:Punished UMN wrote:And? That does not excuse that FDR committed arguably the biggest human rights violation in US history, in direct violation of the Constitution. His achievements don't negate that he put his own people in concentration camps, auctioned off their property, and deported tens of thousands of them for dubious reasons.
Hahahahaha no.
I'm not downplaying the severity of the Japanese internment, but we've done way, way worse. For starters, look at basically any interaction the U.S. has ever had with the native population. And do I need to remind you that literal millions of people were held as chattel slaves over a period of more than 75 years (and much longer before it was technically "US history"), with lingering effects even up to this day, and most of our pre-Civil War Presidents not only endorsed this practice, but participated in it?
There is fundamentally a political difference between them, and that is the friend-enemy distinction. The Japanese-Americans were American citizens, the others were not, that is to say, FDR is the US president who committed war crimes against his own people.
That said, you're absolutely right, and I worded my post incredibly poorly.
