"Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States was gripped by war hysteria. This was especially strong along the Pacific coast of the U.S., where residents feared more Japanese attacks on their cities, homes, and businesses. Leaders in California, Oregon, and Washington, demanded that the residents of Japanese ancestry be removed from their homes along the coast and relocated in isolated inland areas. As a result of this pressure, on February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which resulted in the forcible internment of 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry. More than two-thirds of those interned under the Executive Order were citizens of the United States, and none had ever shown any disloyalty (J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah)." The internment of these Japanese-Americans is one of the darker moments in United States history. However, although in hindsight this act of the U.S. Government was wrong, I believe it is understandable given the circumstances surrounding World War II and the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is human nature to make rash decisions, and broad-sweeping generalizations, in response to fear and ignorance. I would assume that most of the exposure Americans had to their fellow Japanese-American citizens was minimal, at best, in 1941. Therefore, when we were attacked by Japan their first reaction was to assume all people of Japanese ancestry were our enemy.
"When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you." Deuteronomy 18: 9-12
By definition, an omen is anything perceived or happening that is believed to portend a good or evil event or circumstance in the future. I have heard an omen described as making a truth out of an experience. We are all guilty of that to one extent or another. How many of us have said something was a good or bad omen because it reminded us of something we experienced in the past? Because the United States was attacked by Japan, at the beginning of World War II, all Japanese were labeled as evil. Similarly, you see this practiced by people from all walks of life. African-Americans still find it difficult to trust White-Americans because of the history of racism and bigotry against them in the United States. While all these beliefs have their origins in reality, they are what God calls "detestable practices." Most of us will say we don’t generalize and stereotype others, but we all do it to one extent or another. And all of it is based on an experience we have had in the past, whether good or bad. Most of the time it is bad.
"Never pay back evil for evil to anyone. Respect what is right in the sight of all men. If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY," says the Lord. "BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD."Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12: 17-21
Recently, I had the opportunity to meet a woman who was an adolescent during World War II. She grew up in Germany and recalled a harrowing story that took place in a building she was trapped in as allied bombs destroyed her town. She was trapped in a basement, filled with water, for nearly a week. She told me how she still has the sensation in her hand from touching a dead body that was floating underneath the surface of the water. Some twenty years after the war she moved to the United States where she said she encountered hostility from Americans toward her because she was a German. Interestingly, she said that she understood their hostility given all that had transpired during the war. Both her story, that of the Japanese-Americans and African-Americans are examples of what happens when fear and unforgiveness are harbored in ones heart. The Japanese-Americans and this elderly lady had nothing to do with the attack on Pearl Harbor or the atrocities perpetrated by Nazi Germany during World War 2. Yet, those that suffered at the hands of the Japanese and Germans, the Americans, found it difficult, if not impossible to forgive anybody who looked like or had a shared heritage with those that attacked us. The only way to be at peace with all men and to avoid paying back evil for evil is to forgive.
"For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Romans 5: 6-10
The United States government eventually apologized to the descendants of the Japanese-Americans interned during World War 2. It also helped rebuild parts of Germany and Western Europe after the war ended. Now, Japan and Germany, for all tense and purposes, are allies of the United States. Similarly, through legislation and other forms of outreach, both public and private, attempts at restoration with the African-American community have taken place as well. Perhaps it can be said that a form of forgiveness has been sought by the government from both Japanese-American and African-American communities as well as extending forgiveness to those we fought during World War 2. In order to have a relationship with each other we need to forgive others of the debt they owe us because it cannot be repaid. This applies to both members of the Japanese-American and African-American communities as well. In many ways, the debt owed to them is too great for an apology or government program to restore what was lost. In order to move on it is necessary to relieve the U.S. government from the debt they owe. Jesus, God in the flesh, died to take away the debt of sin we owed to God because it was too great for us to pay back. God, in His love, desired to have a relationship with mankind. Therefore, through Christ’s sacrifice, He removed the obstacle of sin that prevented that relationship from happening. Now, in Christ, we are able to approach God in confidence and faith in order to have a relationship with Him. He took away our sins in order to restore His life to us. In turn, all believers can now extend the forgiveness we have received from God with those who have sinned against us.
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