• DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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    1 year ago

    FDR didn’t commit genocide. The Japanese internments were a national shame but were not genocidal in nature.

    He is only guilty of it you count segregation itself, which he didn’t start and couldn’t stop, though the New Deal coalition he assembled would evolve and become key to the growing Civil Rights movement even if the New Deal itself wasn’t as fair to black people as it should have been, like everything else in America.

    I personally would choose Lincoln as number one but FDR is definitely a contender for best. Certainly better than you should have expected from a segregation-era liberal.

      • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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        1 year ago

        Not that either. A grave injustice that could very easily have become such, one that corrupt local officials certainly abused, but there were no death marches, no mass executions, and no cultural extermination.

        Misuse of the term genocide dilutes the impact of the accusation, and you should just be generally careful of trying to tear down one of the few presidents who tried to make things better for… Well, anyone. We haven’t really had one since before Reagan that did more than talk a good game and then stab labor in the back.

          • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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            1 year ago

            When they say “with the intent of making a region ethnically homogeneous” they do that by actually removing the people from the region instead of forcing them into camps in the region and then letting them out again.

            That and, you know, mass murder.

            • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              Ah right, they totally planned to let them out again. They never bothered to tell them that, but…

              • Dkcecil91@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Dude, the US was grown out of the blood of the people who were already living in whatever place they wanted to be at the time. Every president has done something horrible to people who were just trying to live their lives. Kennedy did an exceptional amount for the average worker despite that and if other presidents had followed in his footsteps, we would probably have a more egalitarian society today. Being a hard edged absolutist and unable to see in shades of gray and take into account the prejudices and circumstamces of the time period does not make you correct. Especially as all of your posts (apart from quickly googling a definition) have been very low effort and provided no candidate for who you would say is better, even though the other poster asked you for one several posts ago. Try being constructive instead of destructive, if you even know how.

              • DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe
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                1 year ago

                They did, actually.

                But so did the Nazis.

                The Japanese internments were interesting, in a historical perspective, in that the idea to imprison Japanese Americans was broadly popular but the genocidal aspects normally associated with the similar practices were never discussed, at least at a policy level.

                There were no disposal or relocation plans drawn up (that I’m aware of anyways, feel free to source otherwise), FDR’s administration literally just said “throw all the Japs in prison until we’ve won, it’ll be good for the polls!”

                Which is honestly pretty weird, because they called them “relocation camps” at the time but seemed to mean it as “we’re relocating you to this camp.”