"Alas, for they mock the threads which make them whole, inspire the disregard of elder time, and fail to remember their roots. I can only beseech them to avoid treading on the symbols of freedom lest those symbols one day trample them. I--we all can learn to forgive the ignorance of youth, yet those who have fallen give no council; their images are left out in the darkness to fade in silent melancholy."
I chose to open with this old quote from a source who passed on after World War II because it captured perfectly what I felt was an absolute maiming of regulatory honor and respect for the legacies of the past coming from the youth today. As perhaps less than a majority are aware, countless Japanese-Americans fought with distinction and pride during the conflict even as they endured the racism from whites and African Americans regarding their similarities to the Axis force of their motherland. In what can only be viewed as a sad and regrettable moment in American history, many citizens of Japanese origin were quarantined and held for years under the suspicion that they might be aiding or abetting the opposing nation in the war effort. FDR's Democrats had few reservations about the measures, and the reality leaves a painful stain on our nation's history which we remember even as so many of the ethnicity served honorably for the Allies during the 1940s.
As such it is not hard to understand why I was more than a bit aghast to catch site of several youths defacing the Japanese-American Veterans Memorial north of the capitol in Washington D.C. by performing skateboard tricks over its surface. While one might have expected the usually high class Washingtonian police to have taken more immediate action over the travesty, they gave rather a lukewarm response contrasted with the firm discipline which was obviously needed.
Though I feel the officers deserve the benefit of the doubt considering that this may be regular or even commonplace behavior which they have no control over, something else remains which cannot be so easily forgiven. These children, young as they may be, seem to have no calculable respect for the legacy of the nation or those who died preserving its freedoms. In the end it might be caused by a lack of education, yet the beautiful marble engraving spells out clearly its purpose in such a way which leaves no doubts. So despite the possibility that the teen violators were unaware of the historical importance surrounding the assembly, they cannot be excused for failing to read the evident title of the structure and knowing to stay outside of it.
America can not hope to preserve educational parity forever as the stark differences between private and public as well as district will predominate any forms of complete equality, yet the area which we can not afford to lose ground within is the impression of this nation's civil religion upon the succeeding generations. Not every citizen will become a statesman, yet it is far more ideal to have a society which embraces nationalism at all social brackets than a country where the youth take their freedom for granted and disrespect the source of that gift.
May God bless the memories of these great heroes, and may He change the hearts of the young to pay respect to their forefathers' service to this fine and enduring nation.
Gabriele Vogt
National Alliance Chairman
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