So, in our discussion of "Home," we mentioned how the issue of rights versus privilege arises when we start to think about how the notion of home sweet home is altered by Executive Order 9066.
What we didn't mention is that it's also tied to that tricky business of "Power."
As we know, with E.O. 9066, the president allotted a certain amount of power to the secretary of war and military officials to determine who had the privilege of living freely within designated military areas, as well as passing hither and thither across the borders. FDR gave the secretary of war the right to determine the privileges of private citizens and, in turn, deny a specific demographic their civil rights to the extent that they were incarcerated.
E.O. 9066 doesn't articulate this tension between rights and privilege, government and military, and military and citizen, but it doesn't have to. (That's our job.) It was simply that first domino that toppled the rest.
Questions About Rights Versus Privilege
- What is the difference between a right and a privilege?
- Can a right turn into a privilege? When and how? Consider the historical context of E.O. 9066, and think about which is easier to deny.
- Is the power given to the president a right or a privilege of his position as the country's leader?
- Can you think of an example of something that was considered a privilege in the past but is viewed as a right today?
Chew on This
Executive Order 9066 takes advantage of wartime conditions to deliberately blur the barrier between governmental privileges of power and fundamental rights of leadership. As a result, the United States pursued one its most unacceptable and inhumane policies.
It was Roosevelt's right as the president to ratify Executive Order 9066. He's not responsible for the abuse of power that occurred as a result of the authority he assigned to the secretary of war and his military officials.