The Nazi Kid From Brooklyn

by David Cole

History must always be remembered, except when it shouldn’t. No one will ever claim that adage, but many people adhere to it, one way or another.

Pity the person with a history that disturbs a popular narrative. In the blink of an eye, “never forget” can become “never remind.”   Last week, the media went into full-on “never forget” mode after Donald Trump’s “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” proposal. Damn near every mainstream media outlet immediately invoked World War II Japanese-American internment as an example of how U.S. war hysteria inevitably leads to racism.  The fuss over Trump’s comments will eventually ebb. Of more interest to me is how the episode proved, once again, that while the story of the 71,000 Japanese-Americans who were relocated, and the 35,000 Japanese aliens who were interned (in a previous piece, I explained the difference), is classified under “never forget,” the story of the approximately 14,000 German- and Italian-Americans and aliens interned during the war is officially filed under “never remind.”....To Read More....