Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is among the tech firms that are critical of the Trump administration's executive order barring Muslim immigrants from certain countries. This weekend, Google co-founder Sergey Brin at the San Francisco International Airport.
Today, the Google Doodle — the picture that appears on the home page of the search engine — provided a subtle reminder of what happens when the U.S. targets a group of citizens because of their national origins. The Doodle is an illustration of the civil rights activist and survivor of the internment camps where the U.S. government put Japanese-Americans during World War II.
In 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt that incarcerated more than 115,000 people of Japanese descent. The order was based on fears that in the wake of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the heritage of these Americans meant they might be spies for the enemy.
, the son of Japanese immigrants but born and raised in Oakland, Calif., was 23 when the order came down. He went into hiding but was eventually arrested for refusing to report for relocation and sent to an internment camp with his family in Utah. His conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court in .
Decades later in 1976, President Gerald Ford and apologized for the internment saying in part that "Japanese-Americans were and are loyal Americans." And in 1983, Korematsu's conviction as the court reconsidered the motivations behind the order.
Five years later, President Ronald Reagan signed , citing "racial prejudice, wartime hysteria and a lack of political leadership" as the real reason for the internment.
Today would have been Korematsu's 98th birthday. (He died in 2005.) It is officially recognized as in California, Hawaii, Virginia and Florida.
But Google's choice to make him the focus of the Google Doodle doesn't seem like a total coincidence.
The Trump administration says that the executive order banning entry from certain Muslim countries isn't targeted at all Muslims, but the order also says that refugee claims by religious minorities from those countries for entry. And Trump suggested to the Christian Broadcasting Network that to persecuted Christians.
At least someone at Google must think there are parallels between what happened to the Japanese during World War II and the questions that Muslim Americans are facing today about their loyalty to the U.S.
And they aren't alone in seeing the parallels. The actor George Takei has started a asking Americans to stand up for Muslims. Takei, who is gay and Japanese-American, is best known for his role as Sulu in Star Trek. He was also held, , in one of the internment camps for Japanese-Americans.
Google CEO Sundar Pichai was among who have denounced Trump's immigration ban. In response, Pichai a $2 million fund to help refugees, calling it the company's "largest campaign ever."
Google Doodles have occasionally taken heat from for being liberal leaning. Past Doodles have included historical civil rights leaders such as , the founder of the National Farm Workers Association, and who was friends with Malcolm X and showed support for controversial figures such as Che Guevara and Fidel Castro.
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