‘Anti-Muslim’ Internment Camp Fliers Meant to Warn Against ‘Possible Future’ Found at UCSD

ashley.rae | March 2, 2017
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Fliers cautioning against Muslim internment camps, stylized as the Japanese internment camp notices, were spotted at the University of California, San Diego on Wednesday (UCSD). The fliers are being described as “anti-Muslim,” even though the person behind the fliers says they were meant to be a “warning” against a “possible future.”

NBC 7 reports the fliers “targeting Muslims” satirized the 1942 Japanese internment notices.

Instead of reading, “Instructions to all persons of Japanese ancestry,” the fliers read, “Instructions to all persons of Islamic belief.”

The fliers, dated Apr. 1 (April Fool’s Day), called for the evacuation of all Muslims living in San Diego County on Apr. 8 (text provided by NBC 7):

All Muslim persons, both alien and non-alien, will be evacuated from the above disignated area by 12:00 o'clock noon Wednesday, April 8, 2017. No Muslim person will be permitted to enter or leave the above discribed area after 8:00 a.m., Thursday, April 2, 2017, without obtaining special persmission from the Provost Marshal at the Civil Control Station..

The fliers outraged members of the UCSD community.

Student Silvina Rodriguez said, "It should be taken seriously because this is not a joke.”

Rosa Moreno, who lived at one of the halls with the flier, said, “It’s not right. They shouldn't be allowed to do any of this.”

Lizbeth Ibarra, who tore down one of the posters, stated she found the notices offensive.

The person behind the fliers contacted NBC 7 to say the fliers were not meant to be anti-Muslim, but were supposed to “shock and anger people” about what could allegedly happen in America without action.

The Triton, UCSD’s student paper, confirmed the identity of the person behind the fliers and published the individual’s full statement on their site.

The person behind the fliers said they were not meant to be anti-Muslim, but, rather, sympathetic for Muslims.

"I am a Japanese American myself, so the subject of interment has always meant a lot to me as a tragic event, especially since my own grandparents were forced into internment,” the artist wrote.

The artist said the posters were meant to show people “what could happen if they don’t do anything to stop it” and be a “warning presented as a possible future”:

The posters were meant to mimic the internment posters because I wanted to shock/anger people and to show them what could happen if they didn’t do anything to stop it. It was a warning presented as a possible future. I know this meaning doesn’t come across in the posters very well, but that is why I wrote in red ink at the bottom of each poster.

It’s not clear what the artist meant by stopping “it.”

The person behind the posters said they were meant to help people “educate themselves” and learn about America’s history of internment:

Each poster has a message or subject that was supposed to get the viewer curious and begin researching internment, as well as send a message about internment. They included things such as Fred Korematsu, Executive Order 9066, Unit 442, as well as little messages comparing dates like “Feb 19 1942, Jan 27 2017”. A couple even included statistics or quotes about refugees and how they are harmless.

That was the other goal of this project, it was to make people educate themselves. I left many of the messages vague and with a loose connection to internment because I wanted to simply establish a connection between the situation of the Muslim people, and the Japanese people, and then let the viewer arrive at their own conclusion.

The person behind the fliers added, “I wasn’t necessarily after changing the world, I just wanted to add to the discussion, provide some information, and let people know that this had all happened before.”

The person behind the fliers also issued an apology to “anyone that I have offended or hurt.”

 

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