Scapegoat Cities

I am grateful that Mr Muller has presented actual stories from people’s lives, to bring them to life, rather than just dryly retelling the history of the camps. My parents, grandparents and other extended family were all imprisoned in the camps, so I know many horror stories myself, but it’s important for the public at large to understand what happened. 2/3 of those locked up were American citizens. Many were children. No one was ever found guilty of treason!

I came across Scapegoat Cities a month or two ago and slowly listened all the way through. Each story brings forth a sense of humanity that can be lost in the retelling of historical events. Before having the privilege of taking Professor Muller’s First Year Seminar and coming across Scapegoat Cities, I knew very little of the removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans during WWII. Music paired with words and an articulate voice is a prime medium for bringing this period to light. Thank you for this.

Professor Eric Muller is a master of the written and spoken word. I’m actually dragging my feet about the last few episodes, not wanting to be finished listening. I grew up in a house constructed from several pieces of the barracks at the Heart Mountain Camp. Though growing up I understood the story of the camp, I never understood the injustices inflicted there by my own government until I was an adult and a student in Professor Muller’s constitutional law course at the University of Wyoming’s College of Law. These stories build on and deepen that understanding. If you like the podcast, you must read Eric Muller’s book “Free to Die for Their Country.”

As a storyteller, I know that stories open listeners’ hearts and touch us emotionally in a way that mere facts do not. As a Japanese American with family members who were incarcerated at Tule Lake and Minidoka for the crime of looking like the enemy, I am especially grateful for Eric Muller’s carefully researched and moving stories that bring the hardships of the incarceration to life and to a larger audience. These stories are needed more today than ever before and Professor Muller is doing a remarkable job here. Thank you!