Scott Kurashige
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Scott Kurashige
@scottkurashige.bsky.social
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Author of American Peril: The Violent History of Anti-Asian Racism and co-author of The Next American Revolution by Grace Lee Boggs.
Educator, speaker, and consultant on history, public scholarship, and comparative race/ethnic studies.
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Rachel Maddow's Burn Order podcast will bring unprecedented attention to the evils of Japanese American incarceration. But it's stuck in a liberal framework that sees "bad guys" undermining American democracy. Turns out I debunked this in a 1992 grad school paper for Prof. Mari Matsuda.
Problems with the Good Guys vs. Bad Guys Theory The scapegoating of DeWitt also plays into the good guys vs. bad guys theory of causal interpretation. By this notion, bad guys like DeWitt and those at the War Department prevailed over concerned good guy liberals like Ennis and others at the Justice Department. Moreover, the good guy Supreme Court members, whose job it is to impartially uphold justice, were deceived by the bad guys at the War Department. This theory is also disturbing. As the historical record shows, there were few examples of a liberal or humanistic view towards Japanese Americans in the federal government and no examples of that view prevailing to shape government policy. After many failed arguments, even the government lawyers argued that the Supreme Court was not deceived by the War Department but acted as an accomplice to validate the “military necessity” position!
December 4, 2025 at 10:51 AM