I had the honor to speak at the National Museum of American History at the Smithsonian recently on civil rights issues. I was joined on the stage by Japanese Americans who grew up in internment camps where they were forced to live by the United States government merely because of their Japanese ancestry. It was a shameful time in American history, and even more important to discuss today as xenophobia is again on the rise.

The event commented the start of the recent Smithsonian exhibit on the Japanese Internment.