Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/I am an American

I am an American

Original - A large sign reading "I am an American" placed in the window of a store, at 13th and Franklin streets, on December 8, the day after Pearl Harbor. The store was closed following orders to persons of Japanese descent to evacuate from certain West Coast areas. The owner, a University of California graduate, would be housed with hundreds of evacuees in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration of the war.

Reason

Heartfelt plea by a Japanese story owner for the public to recognize that Americans of Japanese ancestry living on the west coast of the United States were Americans first and Japanese second, and as such should not be treated as enemy combats or enemy aliens. With the signing of Executive Order 9066, the Japanese living on the west coast were evacuated and interred in various camps until the conclusion of WWII. I think the picture makes a compelling and moving statement as to the extent of the irrational hysteria and deep-rooted xenophobia present in the United States, even in the here and now.

Articles this image appears in

Japanese American internment, Dorothea Lange, Jap hunts

Creator

Lange, Dorothea

• Support as nominator --TomStar81 (Talk) 22:06, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
• Comment I took the liberty to remove the frame and stretch the contrast. Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 22:56, 16 September 2008 (UTC)
• Conditional oppose low resolution, unrestored scratches. We can do better. Durova^Charge! 02:08, 17 September 2008 (UTC)
• Oppose, per Durova. Mostlyharmless (talk) 05:27, 18 September 2008 (UTC)
• oppose Per above Mrmariokartguy (talk) 23:18, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Not promoted MER-C 06:47, 26 September 2008 (UTC)