Amongst the ABSORBING DiStasi information, I found the most intriguing:

(1) Japanese on Hawaii (nearly 40% of the islands), although at the very 
site of the Sneak Attack, and 5,000 miles closer to Japan, were NOT 
mass-interned.
(2) Italians on the EAST Coast NARROWLY escaped the Fate of WEST 
Coast Italian Americans.
(3) The FBI PRIOR to the war, had lists of both non-citizens AND CITIZENS 
of Italian descent who were considered "potentially dangerous." 
(4) But this List was NOT used, and Italians were moved EN MASSE only 
because they were of Italian origin--most of them old ladies who had never 
seen the need to apply for citizenship.
(5) Some American CITIZENS of Italian descent were INTERRED 
(6) That when I-As turn a "blind eye" to "injustice", we INVITE more! 
======================================================
Richard:

    You're substantially right. I haven't read Persico's book, but it sounds 
as if it perpetuates the same old canard that has been repeated ad 
nauseam for 20 years. 

    1) There is no question that a distinction was made between the aliens
of European descent who were targeted and the mass relocation and
internment of 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent, 2/3 of whom were
American born. For the most part, but not entirely by any means, the
major group subject to government restrictions among German and Italians
was the non-citizen group, the so-called "enemy aliens." 

    2) There is no question that racist attitudes prevailed, both among
government officials and among the general public. one needs only read
the newspapers of the time to see that. However, as Stephen Fox was the
first to argue, it was not just racism that got the Japanese on the west
coast interned. It was also their limited numbers, their concentration in
west coast areas, and the terrific animosity that was generated by the
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Otherwise, the Japanese on Hawaii 
would also have been interned en masse, but because of their numbers 
(nearly 40% of the islands) and their economic importance, they were 
NOT mass-interned there. 

    3) One reason Germans and Italians were spared mass internment 
was their numbers: Italians were the largest foreign born group in America 
at the time, and the Germans were second. There were 900,000 who were 
enemy aliens: 600,000 of Italian descent, and 300,000 of German descent. 

The government seriously considered doing the same thing on the East 
coast as if did on the West coast--that is, evacuate enemy aliens from 
coastal areas and sensitive installations. General Drum of the Eastern 
Defense Command had a plan already in place to remove all enemy aliens 
from the coast from Maryland up to Rhode Island. BUT IT WOULD HAVE 
MEANT MOVING MILLIONS OF PEOPLE AND WOULD HAVE 
DEVASTATED THE WAR ECONOMY, NOT TO MENTION CAUSING 
ENORMOUS RESISTANCE AMONG HUGE POPULATIONS. The plan 
was dropped in May of 1942, at the Order of the President.  

    The point is: the War Department <underline>wanted</underline> to 
do it, as it also wanted to remove all Italian and German Aliens from the 
entire Pacific Slope--the area it had already cleared of Japanese. But 
again, this was stopped by higher-ups. 

    The other point: this was a <underline>mass evacuation.</underline> 
it was NOT selective, as the govt has always insisted, not done only to
individuals who were targeted because of their sentiments. These people
were moved because they were of Italian origin--most of them old ladies
who had never seen the need to get citizenship. The books have 
completely ignored this movement. 

    4) There were, on the lists prepared by the FBI in the years leading 
up to the war, both non-citizens AND CITIZENS of German and Italian 
descent who were considered "potentially dangerous." Many of these 
citizens were arrested and detained. A few hundred were among those 
who were excluded from military areas on both coasts--the individual 
exclusion program. So to say that only Japanese Americans, i.e. U.S. 
citizens, were affected is not true. Also, I am aware of at least two 
internees of Italian descent who were, in fact, naturalized citizens. 

    5) There's a lot more to this. Italian Americans, though, ought to 
start learning more about this period in their own history. For the most 
part, they are willing to simply ignore it and shrug their shoulders. It's 
the "oh this didn't really bother us" phase of denial. But if they read 
some of the stories that we have collected (some of which are in my 
recent book, Una Storia Segreta), they'll begin to get the idea that 
thousands were affected, some never recovered, and the Italian 
community has been completely derelict in its duty to itself and to the 
larger community in letting the lies and half-truths continue to be 
perpetrated about such a significant episode in its history. 

This is what I consider collusion in our own victimization. 

                                Larry  DiStasi
                                Project Director
                                Una Storia Segreta

[RAA Note: Probably a matter of semantics, but I took the position, 
that the Japanese were not victims of racism (Almost all other Asians,
the Chinese, the Filipinos, entire South East Asia were our allies), but 
victims of rage!!

Unless you use the term "racism" in reference to a "nationality", then of 
course, there was not only anti- Japanese racism high in the Government,
but also against Italians. 

Was this general WASP discrimination, or the US anger toward Japan, 
for the the Invasion of Manchuria, and China, including wholesale brutality,
in the mode of the "Rape of Peking". 

The US had mixed feelings about Italy's Fascists, because they were 
keeping the Communists under control, but Italians or IAs were not held
in high regard, i.e inferior, therefore racist.