Takaki "Roots"

I thought it was interesting how Takaki mentions that the Japanese that were placed in internment camps were "stigmatized" for years and felt "shame" because of the experience. This was difficult for me to grasp because I see the U.S. internment camps as an atrocity to humanity and a huge mistake on the part of our government. For me to think about this event as something the victims feel shame for is hard to grasp. I suppose their shame comes from the fact that their loyalty to their country was in question and possibly after months of being told they were disloyal they began to believe it? Its also strange to think that the victims do not want to share their stories with the younger generation that is trying to understand their ethnic history and identity in the United States. I think it is important that we do not forget about the suffering of the victims in the internment camps because if we do not remember there could be the chance in the future that history could repeat itself. I have also never thought about the origin of the word "Oriental" until reading this piece. The word orient means east, so Oriental is referring to a place that is in the east. But east of what? East of Western society and "white" society. It is all about perspective and we have categorized an entire group of people under this single word that makes them seem exotic and foreign to the Western world, the world that we deem as "normal."