9 episodes
Scapegoat Cities Eric Muller
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- Society & Culture
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5.0 • 43 Ratings
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Between 1942 and 1945, the US government locked up tens of thousands of Japanese American citizens not because of anything they’d done but because of who they were. Scapegoat Cities is a podcast that helps you know and feel what this episode of mass injustice was. Each episode tells one true and moving human story drawn from historian Eric Muller’s two decades of research, reminding us of the devastating harm that can arise when a frightened nation turns against its own people.
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The Desert Was His Home
In the hot spring of 1943, a lonely old Japanese prisoner went missing from the Gila River Relocation Center in southern Arizona. This episode introduces Mr. Otomatsu Wada and tells the story of his disappearance and of the efforts to find him.
The story is true in every essential detail. -
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Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been Japanese American?
Episode 5
Customer Reviews
Scapegoats, indeed
I am grateful that Mr Muller has presented actual stories from people’s lives, to bring them to life, rather than just dryly retelling the history of the camps. My parents, grandparents and other extended family were all imprisoned in the camps, so I know many horror stories myself, but it’s important for the public at large to understand what happened. 2/3 of those locked up were American citizens. Many were children. No one was ever found guilty of treason!
Medium Brings Moment to Light
I came across Scapegoat Cities a month or two ago and slowly listened all the way through. Each story brings forth a sense of humanity that can be lost in the retelling of historical events. Before having the privilege of taking Professor Muller’s First Year Seminar and coming across Scapegoat Cities, I knew very little of the removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans during WWII. Music paired with words and an articulate voice is a prime medium for bringing this period to light. Thank you for this.
Great storytelling on sorrowful topic
Professor Eric Muller is a master of the written and spoken word. I’m actually dragging my feet about the last few episodes, not wanting to be finished listening. I grew up in a house constructed from several pieces of the barracks at the Heart Mountain Camp. Though growing up I understood the story of the camp, I never understood the injustices inflicted there by my own government until I was an adult and a student in Professor Muller’s constitutional law course at the University of Wyoming’s College of Law. These stories build on and deepen that understanding. If you like the podcast, you must read Eric Muller’s book “Free to Die for Their Country.”