“I pledge allegiance to the flag, of the United States of America..”

Each day students step into class, ready to learn. Everyone is chatting with their friends, then, the speaker turns on, and it’s now quiet.” Please stand for the pledge of allegiance”. Everyone stands and recites what is muscle memory to them. After finishing, students and their teacher would sit back down and start their day. It’s weird to think that most people in the U.S have said the pledge ever since they can remember. Yet, one day when they least expect it, they can get their whole life thrown upside down.

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans faced immediate backlash and were targeted. They were considered dangerous and seen as the enemy just because of how they looked. Instead of people uniting, citizens of the U.S decided it would be easier to blame a whole group of people that did nothing wrong. Soon after, there was a law passed that Japanese Americans were going to be sent to incarceration camps so the government can keep an eye on them. Most Japanese Americans were already struggling as it is, but now, they had to leave everything behind and follow orders from the people who see them as enemies.

To think that citizens in the United States had a couple of minutes to leave their whole life behind, only to be loaded onto vehicles and transported like objects, is heart-breaking. All their hard work, years spent on building a better future for themselves and their families, gone. Most didn’t even bother fighting back because they knew that force and violence would be used on them. Calling this injustice is an understatement.

So why is it that the U.S praises for unity and equal rights yet in times like these, we are far from it? The U.S is supposed to be a place where people come for great opportunities and live out their dreams. That’s why there are so many people from all different backgrounds and ethnicity. We all have goals but would beat each other down just to get ahead. This is in no way just talking about the U.S, but humanity as a whole. Humans are supposed to stand together, but as time flies, it feels as though humanity as a whole is growing farther and farther apart.

Unfortunately, it is sad to think that justice only applies to the majority when it’s beneficial to them and ONLY them. Blaming others has and always will be an easy way out. It doesn’t take much brainpower to blame someone else and bandwagon on other people’s opinions rather than forming ones yourself. I mean imagine it. What would people do if their life is taken away? What if “pledging your allegiance” doesn’t matter anymore, as it did to Japanese Americans.

“… liberty and justice for all”. Funny, isn’t it?