•  1940s: According to the 1940 U.S. Census, the population of Japanese Americans in the United States totals 285,116. Most live in Hawaii or in California.

•  Today: Japanese Americans are not singled out in the U.S. Census. They are grouped under a general category of people who are of Asian descent. There are about 7 millions Asian Americans living in the United States. The majority live in New York, California, and Hawaii.

•  1940s: About 120,000 Japanese American citizens living along the West Coast are sent to internment camps following the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor for what the government calls security reasons.

•  Today: Many Arab Americans in the United States are detained by the U.S. government for what are termed security reasons after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. From 2002 through 2006, approximately five hundred Muslims...