US Presidential candidate Donald Trump sparked controversy this week saying he wants to ban all Muslims from entering the US.
He backed up his comments saying there was a legal precedent for his proposal: the Japanese Internment Camps, where thousands of Japanese-Americans were sent after Japan attacked Pearl Habour in 1941.
Nick Harper has been gauging reaction to the comments from the star of a new New York Broadway musical all about the camps.
IN: MUSIC + "These camps....."
OUT: SOC
DUR: 3:00
AIR: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-air.mp3
ARN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-arn.mp3
FM4: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-fm4.mp3
ICRT: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-icrt.mp3
NIGERIA: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-von.mp3
RNZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-rnz.mp3
VATICAN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-vat.mp3
ZIZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-ziz.mp3
GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-gen.mp3
-natsound - music-
TAKE VO
The camps are one of American history's darker moments. Following the attack on Pearl Habour 120,000 thousands Japanese-Americas were forced from their homes and imprisoned in camps scattered across the US, as this government war-era film explained.
-natsound - film - "Sateneeta Race Track for example suddenly became a community of about 17,000 persons."
TAKE VO
Decades later the US government formally apologized. But the years-long incarceration left a scar on America.
-natsound - film - "We're setting a standard for the rest of the world in the treating of people who may have loyalties to an enemy nation."
TAKE VO
Now, a recently-opened Broadway Musical, Allegiance, tells the tale of the internment of one family.
Like many of the cast Greg Watanabe has a very personal connection to the story. His father was conceived in a camp in Wyoming.
TAKE SOUNDBITE
Greg Watanabe, Actor
"I feel so privileged and grateful to be apart of this. Quite frankly I never thought there would be a Broadway musical about the Japanese American incarceration experience. There have been a lot of plays, a lot of poetry, there are plenty of history books, there are many stories. It's well catalogued within our community, within the Asian-American, Japanese American community. But never on this kind of scale."
TAKE VO
But now the story of the camps is receiving renewed interest. Yet perhaps not for the right reasons.
This US Presidential race has already thrown up many surprises, not least the fact that one of America's darkest moments in recent history has been referenced. And referenced in a way to trying to justify a ban on Muslims into America.
TAKE VO
The most controversial candidate Donald Trump has said the treatment of Japanese-Americans in World War Two had created a legal precedent, that back-up his plan to keep Muslims out of the country. Something that surprised and shocked Greg Watanabe.
TAKE SOUNDBITE
Greg Watanabe, Actor
"I understand that on some level it may just be sensationalistic. But it's dangerous rhetoric. It makes our show very relevant and so on one hand I'm like, thank you Donald Trump for exposed how racist America still is, because there are people who agree with him. And also exposing how tenuous the position of people who are others, who are the minority, who don't have as much political power, and how it's important for everybody else to understand that we have to stand up for their rights."
TAKE VO
The international backlash against Trump has been severe, with calls to ban him for certain countries, including a petition to bar him from the United Kingdom.
TAKE VO
The cast and crew of Allegiance just hope the renewed interested in the Japanese internment camps will ensure that what happened in the past will not be forgotten in the future.
SOC
ENDS
OUT: SOC
DUR: 3:00
AIR: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-air.mp3
ARN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-arn.mp3
FM4: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-fm4.mp3
ICRT: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-icrt.mp3
NIGERIA: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-von.mp3
RNZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-rnz.mp3
VATICAN: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-vat.mp3
ZIZ: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-ziz.mp3
GENERIC: http://www.fsnradionews.com/feeds/1211camps-nh-gen.mp3
-natsound - music-
TAKE VO
The camps are one of American history's darker moments. Following the attack on Pearl Habour 120,000 thousands Japanese-Americas were forced from their homes and imprisoned in camps scattered across the US, as this government war-era film explained.
-natsound - film - "Sateneeta Race Track for example suddenly became a community of about 17,000 persons."
TAKE VO
Decades later the US government formally apologized. But the years-long incarceration left a scar on America.
-natsound - film - "We're setting a standard for the rest of the world in the treating of people who may have loyalties to an enemy nation."
TAKE VO
Now, a recently-opened Broadway Musical, Allegiance, tells the tale of the internment of one family.
Like many of the cast Greg Watanabe has a very personal connection to the story. His father was conceived in a camp in Wyoming.
TAKE SOUNDBITE
Greg Watanabe, Actor
"I feel so privileged and grateful to be apart of this. Quite frankly I never thought there would be a Broadway musical about the Japanese American incarceration experience. There have been a lot of plays, a lot of poetry, there are plenty of history books, there are many stories. It's well catalogued within our community, within the Asian-American, Japanese American community. But never on this kind of scale."
TAKE VO
But now the story of the camps is receiving renewed interest. Yet perhaps not for the right reasons.
This US Presidential race has already thrown up many surprises, not least the fact that one of America's darkest moments in recent history has been referenced. And referenced in a way to trying to justify a ban on Muslims into America.
TAKE VO
The most controversial candidate Donald Trump has said the treatment of Japanese-Americans in World War Two had created a legal precedent, that back-up his plan to keep Muslims out of the country. Something that surprised and shocked Greg Watanabe.
TAKE SOUNDBITE
Greg Watanabe, Actor
"I understand that on some level it may just be sensationalistic. But it's dangerous rhetoric. It makes our show very relevant and so on one hand I'm like, thank you Donald Trump for exposed how racist America still is, because there are people who agree with him. And also exposing how tenuous the position of people who are others, who are the minority, who don't have as much political power, and how it's important for everybody else to understand that we have to stand up for their rights."
TAKE VO
The international backlash against Trump has been severe, with calls to ban him for certain countries, including a petition to bar him from the United Kingdom.
TAKE VO
The cast and crew of Allegiance just hope the renewed interested in the Japanese internment camps will ensure that what happened in the past will not be forgotten in the future.
SOC
ENDS