Pre-internment

Re “Reliving a dark chapter in history,” Feb. 21

It is worth remembering that Japanese American internment was preceded by milder measures that paved the way to greater abuses.

Initially, a curfew was imposed on Japanese Americans. A court in Oregon ruled that the curfew did not apply to American citizens. The Times urged an appeal of that ruling to the Supreme Court, which eventually blessed the curfew. The curfew’s approval, in turn, created the legal precedent later used to approve fullscale internment.

This history is instructive today. Mild measures can become a stepping stone to great injustices. Ilya Shlyakhter

Cambridge, Mass.