After we talked about this in class I felt horrible because this tragedy was nothing that I had ever heard of. I hope and think that it is not entirely my fault for I have never been taught this information nor have I sought out any of its kind. I think it is reprehensible that the American public is not aware of what happened to the Aleutian people. It however, sadly, does not surprise me in any way that this information forgoes the knowledge of the average person. I think that the government thought that they were doing the right thing by getting the Aleutian people out of the way of the Japanese so that they could not be harmed. I think our government always
tries to do what is best by the people but that they do not know how to do it, or even, that they do not care. I just do not understand why they would go through all the trouble of up-rooting the people just to put them in poor living conditions in the southeastern part of Alaska. I guess they thought that this was the thing to do, dump people in crappy living conditions but letting the rest of the world know only that they saved them from the Japanese. I think it is total and complete BS for the government to have burned down all of the churches and homes, I do not see what great advantage the Japanese would gain by having the houses/churches of the native people. It just meant a total destruction of everything that they had worked for and built, by hand most likely. I am anxious to read the story and see what other insight I will gain into this atrocity.
I think this quote really shows how it must have felt to be whisked away from everything that you have ever known; your homeland, everything that you have labored over, familiarity, territory, a life...
"In 1942, my wife and our four children were whipped away from our home... all our possessions were left... for mother nature to destroy.... I tried to pretend it was really a dream and this could not happen to me and my dear family." -Bill Tcheripanoff, Sr., of Akutan
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