Japanese American leaders slam Trump for comparing Jan. 6th rioters to WWII incarceration

Japanese American leaders have lambasted former President Donald Trump for comparing rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to Japanese Americans who were incarcerated during World War II.

What he said: In a podcast with Dan Bongino released on Friday, Trump equated the treatment of Capitol rioters to the U.S. government’s mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during the war, saying, “Nobody’s ever been treated like this… Maybe the Japanese during the Second World War, frankly. They were held, too.” Despite the violent events of Jan. 6 — in which rioters armed with firearms, stun guns, bear spray and other weapons assaulted law enforcement officers — Trump has dubbed it a “day of love,” continuing to portray the rioters as victims. The attack left five individuals dead, 140 officers injured and four more officers committing suicide afterward.
Why there’s no comparison: During World War II, over 120,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly incarcerated without evidence of wrongdoing, following President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s executive order. Their imprisonment was based solely on racial prejudice and war hysteria, a stark contrast to the Capitol rioters, who were charged with crimes following legal proceedings. The Capitol breach was a violent attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, leading to over 1,500 people being charged, with 1,200 convicted and 600 sentenced to prison.
What Japanese American leaders are saying: Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum, condemned Trump’s historical analogy as “egregiously inaccurate and flawed,” urging that the lessons from the incarceration of Japanese Americans should never be minimized or erased. Meanwhile, David Inoue of the Japanese American Citizens League told the Washington Post that there is a “night-and-day difference” between the two situations, emphasizing that Japanese Americans were unjustly incarcerated without trials, while the Jan. 6 rioters were tried and convicted for their actions. Sharon Yamato, the daughter of former Japanese American detainees, echoed these sentiments, calling the comparison “horrible.” She told AP News, “Japanese Americans are not and should not be compared to insurrectionists who committed major crimes and in which people were hurt and killed.”

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