Groups slam Trump's comparison of Jan. 6 rioters to Japanese Americans incarcerated in WWII

Source: NBC News

Oct. 21, 2024, 12:50 PM EDT


Japanese American leaders slammed former President Donald Trump after he compared Jan. 6 rioters to those of Japanese descent who were incarcerated during World War II just because of their race. In a newly released podcast, the Republican nominee defended those who were charged and convicted after storming the Capitol and assaulting police officers in an effort to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump told conservative commentator and host Dan Bongino that the insurrectionists’ treatment by the justice system is comparable to what some 110,000 Japanese Americans endured more than 80 years ago, when they were forcibly removed from their homes and placed in incarceration camps with no evidence of wrongdoing.

“Nobody’s ever been treated like this,” Trump said in Friday’s interview. “Nobody’s ever — maybe the Japanese during the Second World War, frankly. But you know, they were held too.”

Several Japanese American leaders condemned Trump’s comments, with Ann Burroughs, president and CEO of the Japanese American National Museum, calling them an “egregiously inaccurate and flawed historical analogy.” “Now more than ever, the lessons from the Japanese American incarceration must never be forgotten, ignored, minimized, or erased,” she said in a statement on the museum’s website.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/trump-compares-jan-6-rioters-japanese-americans-wwii-rcna176409