Time of Fear

'Time of Fear' is a good background study of injustices that we have placed upon our own citizens. At lot of people in our country claim that they are mistreated by the masses. We usualy do not consider the injustices that our Japanese citizens were forced to indure at our governments hands. Of the few Japanese internment camps, two were located in Arkansas. Both were located in in the same general area of the state. The areas were not very suitable for the thousands of people in these camps. The Japanese proved to be very resourceful and survived the hardships of being interned. They actually improved the lands on which they were forced to remain. This would be a very good cd for all children that live in the state to view, so they may learn from injustes that we as a people inflict upon others.

Great great great documentary about the Japanese internment during WWII. Have shown it every year to my US history class of juniors and get a good response.

Loved this video, my Dad was in the Jerome internment camp, so our family really enjoyed seeing the history of the camp.

Great movie, I showed in my US history course. Students enjoyed the movie.

Interesting information.

The internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II resonates today in more ways than one. Having read and viewed other material on Japanese-American internment, I found this film's slightly different emphasis on Arkansas refreshing. Arkansas, like many States in the American South, rigidly enforced segregation policies designed to keep blacks and whites separate. The arrival of 12,000 Japanese in Southeast Arkansas during WWII threw into question not only conceptions of what it meant to be American but what it meant to be white or black.Among the more memorable parts of this documentary was the tensions surrounding Mainland and Hawaiian Japanese Americans in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team ("Go For Broke"). When fighting over cultural differences threatens the integrity of the unit, a group of 442nd men (including U.S. Senator Dan Inouye) are sent to the Arkansas camps to witness the conditions (barracks, barb wire, and maching gun posts) that the mainland Japanese Americans enlisted under. It was the sight of fellow Japanese-Americans behind barb wire, more than anything, that really motivated the 442nd to overcome their differences and prove their American loyalty in battle.Aside from the Arkansas experience and the Hawai'i-Mainland Japanese differences, there's not a whole lot of new material covered here. "Time of Fear" is nonetheless memorable, if only because it throws a refreshingly different angle on the subject of Japanese American Internment.I'd recommend this for any high school or college class studying Asian Americans, World War II, and/or Race in American History.

Let me start with what was new and unexpected. Unlike other works on this tragic topic, this focused specifically on one state's Japanese-American concentration camps: that of Arkansas. This film did not limit itself to the white-yellow binary: it covered the role of African Americans on this topic. I almost screamed when I learned that the Arkansas governor said, "We can't let the Japanese come to our colleges, because then we'd have to let the blacks do the same." (Luckily, I don't punch TV screens!) Finally, this film mentions that at times locals accused Japanese Americans of being unfairly advantaged in the camps!Outside of that, this was pretty much the standard work on American internment. For those who do not know about this dark era, it will be informative; for those who do know, this will be standard fair. It was amusing to see a Caucasian academic with an accent just like Bill Clinton's. This documentary interviews both Japanese-American men and women. You would think celebrities would appear first, but George Takei does not show up until the end of the work. Takei's presence may be a reason for trekkies of any ethnic background to see the work.I think this PBS American Experience series would be sorely lacking if it didn't cover this matter. Still, other episodes opened my eyes to things I never ever knew. This one did not. It would be good viewing materials for high school and junior high American history classes, especially those with large Japanese-American student bodies.

It's a good documentary. When I started watching the video, I thought I knew most of what happened. But to hear the stories from the children who lived through it, is better than any revisionist history book-