Editing Manzanar (section)

== Reception of and discussion regarding Manzanar ==
The Manzanar site had 1,275,195 people visit from 2000 through December 2016.<ref name="ManzanarVisitation" /> The [[National Park Service]]'s interpretation of events and experiences has been described as both "[willing] to memorialize a shameful, unconstitutional policy" and "providing a shortcut around the unjust suffering and often insurmountable adversity imposed by the internment".<ref name="colborn-roxworthy 2007"/> Congressman [[Mel Levine]] said the site should "serve as a reminder of the grievous errors and inhumane policies we pursued domestically during World War II and a reminder that we must never again allow such actions to occur in this country."<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/>

Academics have criticized those who initiated and implemented the WRA relocation policy and members of the JACL for supporting the WRA policies.<ref name="hansen 42">Hansen, p. 42.</ref> They have also pointed out that the majority of accounts of the relocation published within the first few decades following the closure of the camps have been from the perspective of the WRA and the JACL.<ref name="hansen 34-36"/>

=== Terminology ===
{{Further|Japanese American internment#Terminology debate}}
Since the end of World War II, there has been debate over the terminology used to refer to Manzanar and the other camps in which [[Japanese Americans|Americans of Japanese ancestry]] and their immigrant parents were incarcerated by the [[United States Government]] during the war.<ref name="ManzanarControversy">{{cite web | title=The Manzanar Controversy | url=https://www.pbs.org/weekendexplorer/california/mammoth/manzanar.htm | publisher=Public Broadcasting System | access-date=July 18, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108145320/http://www.pbs.org/weekendexplorer/california/mammoth/manzanar.htm | archive-date=November 8, 2012 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="DanielsTerminology">{{cite journal | last=Daniels | first=Roger | date=May 2002 | title=Incarceration of the Japanese Americans: A Sixty-Year Perspective | url=https://historycooperative.org/journal/incarceration-of-the-japanese-americans-a-sixty-year-perspective | journal=The History Teacher | volume=35 | issue=3 | pages=4–6 | doi=10.2307/3054440 | jstor=3054440 | access-date=July 29, 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190729152316/https://historycooperative.org/journal/incarceration-of-the-japanese-americans-a-sixty-year-perspective/ | archive-date=July 29, 2019 | url-status=live }}</ref> Manzanar has been referred to as a "War Relocation Authority center",<ref name="mcstotts 2010">McStotts (2010).</ref><ref name="nara japanese relocation"/> "War Relocation Center",<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="nps historical study of manzanar p663"/> "relocation camp",<ref name="Calisphere relocation"/> "relocation center",<ref name="nara japanese relocation">{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/japanese-relocation|title=Japanese Relocation During World War II|date=August 15, 2016|website=National Archives|access-date=June 4, 2020}}</ref> "[[internment camp]]",<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="american history byrd 20150318">{{cite web |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/baseball-behind-barbed-wire |title=Baseball behind barbed wire |first=Philip |last=Byrd | date=March 18, 2015 |publisher=[[National Museum of American History]] |access-date=June 4, 2020 |archive-date=April 1, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200401230213/https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/baseball-behind-barbed-wire |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="nara japanese relocation"/> "incarceration camp",<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="american history byrd 20150318"/> "prison camp",<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/> and "[[concentration camp]]".<ref name="mcstotts 2010"/><ref name="Calisphere relocation">{{cite web |url=http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/jarda/historical-context.html |title=Relocation and Incarceration of Japanese Americans During World War II |publisher=University of California – Japanese American Relocation Digital Archives |access-date=April 25, 2014 |archive-date=April 26, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426214946/http://www.calisphere.universityofcalifornia.edu/jarda/historical-context.html |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="CLPEF">{{cite web|url=http://www.momomedia.com/CLPEF/backgrnd.html#Link%20to%20terminology|title=CLPEF Resolution Regarding Terminology|year=1996|publisher=Civil Liberties Public Education Fund|access-date=July 20, 2007}}</ref>

Prior to the opening of an exhibit about the American camps at [[Ellis Island]], the [[American Jewish Committee]] (AJC) and the National Park Service, which manages Ellis Island, expressed concern regarding the use of the term "concentration camp" in the exhibit.<ref name="NYTimes-Debate">{{cite news | last=Sengupta | first=Somini | title=What Is a Concentration Camp? Ellis Island Exhibit Prompts a Debate | newspaper=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/08/nyregion/what-is-a-concentration-camp-ellis-island-exhibit-prompts-a-debate.html | date=March 8, 1998 | access-date=July 11, 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107045726/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/08/nyregion/what-is-a-concentration-camp-ellis-island-exhibit-prompts-a-debate.html | archive-date=November 7, 2012 | url-status=live }}</ref> At a meeting held at the offices of the AJC in New York City, leaders representing Japanese Americans and Jewish Americans reached an understanding about the use of the term,<ref name="NYTimes-Debate"/><ref name="JANM-AJC"/> and the [[Japanese American National Museum]] and the AJC issued a joint statement:

{{Blockquote|A concentration camp is a place where people are imprisoned not because of any crimes they have committed, but simply because of who they are. Although many groups have been singled out for such persecution throughout history, the term 'concentration camp' was first used at the turn of the [20th] century in the [[Spanish–American War|Spanish American]] and [[Military history of South Africa|Boer Wars]]. During World War II, America's concentration camps were clearly distinguishable from Nazi Germany's. Nazi camps were places of torture, barbarous medical experiments and [[summary execution]]s; some were extermination centers with gas chambers.<ref name="JANM-AJC">{{cite press release | title=American Jewish Committee, Japanese American National Museum Issue Joint Statement About Ellis Island Exhibit Set To Open April 3 | publisher=Japanese American National Museum and American Jewish Committee | url=http://www.janm.org/press/release/52 | date=March 13, 1998 | access-date=December 30, 2007 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100617051045/http://www.janm.org/press/release/52/ | archive-date=June 17, 2010 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="NYTAccord">{{cite news | last=Sengupta | first=Somini | title=Accord On Term "Concentration Camp" | newspaper=The New York Times | url=https://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/10/nyregion/accord-on-term-concentration-camp.html | date=March 10, 1998 | access-date=June 13, 2010 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107045733/http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/10/nyregion/accord-on-term-concentration-camp.html | archive-date=November 7, 2012 | url-status=live }}</ref>}}<!--outcome? are they ok with the term 'concentration camp' in this case? The first part of the statement makes it sound like they are fine with it, the scond part, not so much.-->