Introduction to Asian American Studies: Final Zine Project (4) - Lauren Hendrickson - Kelli Kufta - Madi Earnshaw - Hayley Lee

Relation: USD March Evacuation COVID-19 While the circumstances of USD’s COVID-19 Evacuation in March are completely different than those that Yuri & her family faced in the time of concentration camps, there are some similarities in terms of the stressfulness and abruptness that students faced this past March. When the decision was made to send students home due to the outbreak of COVID-19, students were told they had a week to move out. Not long after that date was made public, students were then informed they had 24 hours to relocate. By changing this deadline without much more information a lot more stress & anxiety was added to students already frightful of the situation. Knowing how stressful the inconvenience of leaving campus in the middle of the semester was, we can only imagine the stress & fear that the Japanese being relocated went through. Because there are so many different logistics to packing up & moving, we assume that the Japanese families faced a number of unprecedented challenges that they were forced to overcome in a very scary & unnerving time. This idea/realization is similar to recent protests of Police functionality/brutality. A lot of what is happening is being attributed to the concept of a ‘few bad apples’ but many question whether or not ‘a few bad apples’ take over the functionality of the police, which then led to the increased presence of the defund the police movements. CONNECTION TO TODAY: Functionality of Police: During her time in the concentration camps, Yuri was detained for posting Alumni flyers in San Pedro. This detainment introduced her to the concept of ‘bad apples.’ By being introduced to this concept, Yuri was able to maintain the belief that American institutions upheld the professed values of democracy and fairness & also allowed her too support the US Military/police force that support & protect in specific, the ruling class.

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