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Content: As Ronald Takaki says inStrangers from a Different Shore,
          it seemed that the Japanese Americans would always be viewed by some
          as “strangers,” no
          matter how just their cause and how loyal to the country they proved
          to be. But I was encouraged by the American people who came to these soldiers’ aid
          in opposition to the hostilities. Comrades who had served with these
          Japanese Americans in the war as well as other open-minded Americans
          came to the Japanese Americans’ side. This shows that the Japanese
          Americans did succeed in changing some people’s views about them
          through the bravery they showed in the war. The significance of their
          actions became even more apparent during the next ten years, when discrimination
          against the Japanese Americans gradually subsided. The Alien Land Law,
          Oriental Exclusion Act, anti-naturalization laws, and miscegenation
          laws, among other laws and statutes, were rescinded to allow Asian
          Americans the equality they had long fought for. President Truman said to the soldiers, in his speech to the 442nd
          battalion, “You
          fought not only the enemy, you fought prejudice – and you won.” I
          agree that like the 54th regiment of the Civil War, in which Black
          Americans fought for a country that had formerly enslaved them, the
          men of the 442nd battalion showed so much courage in fighting adversity
          and decades of discrimination with hope and determination to carry
          out an important duty for America. These Japanese Americans emerged
          from the shadows of the internment camps and the sufferings of their
          parents to uphold the honor of their culture and people. In fighting
          for a country that had thwarted their efforts to thrive in so many
          ways, their pride and valor reflected the spirit of their families
          who immigrated to America and strove to survive despite the hardest
          conditions.