Aleut internment: Who knew?

Not me! While I had heard of the interment of Japanese Americans during WWII, I had never heard about the Alaskan natives that were swept out of their homes on the Aleutian Islands and into camps in Southeast Alaska during the same war. It happened after the Japanese had invaded the last island of the chain, so it was ostensibly to protect the Aleuts from being casualties of war, not because they posed any sort of threat to the U.S.

The problem is, no one protected the Aleuts from what happened to them in the camps, which were largely abandoned, decrepit factories. They had no plumbing or running water, and scant food, clothing, heat, and medical care. According to a documentary we saw on the topic, Aleut Story, their living conditions were much worse than those the U.S. provided German P.O.W.s. As you would imagine, many died--the Aleuts died at about the same rate as Americans in P.O.W. camps in Europe, if I heard correctly--and a lot of Aleut culture was lost along with the people.

Also, no one protected the homes and churches the Aleuts left behind--the government billeted U.S. soldiers in the homes, and they trashed them. They also vandalized the towns and stole artifacts from the churches, and generally behaved like barbarians--which was a term members of the press had used to describe Aleuts. Typical.

If that weren't enough, the government bullied Aleuts into killing seals each summer, even Aleuts who had better jobs in the capital or in the military--sealskin was a big money-maker in those days, and the government used the Aleuts as cheap labor to "harvest" the crop.

Is this sounding familiar? Yikes!

It's yet another shameful, terribly racist episode in our country's history, one glossed over--if not ignored altogether--in the history books I read in school. Thank goddess the Internet has resources galore on this story, so I can catch up. Apparently, reparations have been made, but how can you make up for a baby whose life was cut short because her mother couldn't keep her warm enough to get over pneumonia? Or how can you replace a stolen artifact from a Russian Orthodox church that had been brought over from the Mother Country years, if not centuries, before?

Sadly, I don't think the powers that be learned much from this episode, if the fate of the 9th Ward in New Orleans is any indication.

Yes, that's me--Miss Uplift. At your service! Methinks the fact that my cold is still holding on for dear life has me in a mood.