A ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops. – Proverbs 28:3

Today’s Scripture Reading (January 12, 2026): Proverbs 28

As 2025 drew to a close, I found myself obsessed with an old wrong. I began to think about the internment of the Japanese during World War II. The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an Executive Order that would forcibly remove 120,000 Japanese from their homes on the United States coast and send them to 10 internment Camps in various Southern States. About two-thirds of the interned in the United States were citizens, which meant that they were born in the United States, because at the time, there was no path to Japanese citizenship for those who emigrated to the United States. The camps were surrounded by barbed wire and patrolled by armed guards. The internees were placed in overcrowded barracks and were forced to sell land and businesses at a loss before they were placed in the camps.

The United States was not alone. They made the move first, but five days after the internment of the Japanese began in the U.S, it started in Canada as well. Fewer Japanese were interned in Canada because the Canadian population was significantly smaller. In Canada, 22,000 Japanese Canadians were taken from their homes on the West Coast of Canada and placed in internment camps in British Columbia.

All of this happened at the stroke of a pen. There was no due process, no court cases, no defense to be mounted. Officers showed up, arrested the man of the home, and took them off to be interviewed, and most were never seen again. These decisions were not made on evidence, but on conspiracy theories. It would be like our current leaders making significant political and health decisions because of rumors and conspiracy theories rather than on the facts of the situation.

After the war, land was not returned, and internees were recommended to find homes elsewhere in the United States. In Canada, the federal government pressured internees to accept mass deportations following the end of the conflict with Japan. Those who stayed in Canada were not allowed to return to British Columbia, the westernmost province, until April 1, 1949, almost 4 years after the war.

We dwell on these stories because we mustn’t repeat these events. Never again should we arrest and intern or imprison a group of people based solely on race. Never again should we be the instruments of creating a new class of people enveloped by poverty just because of an unfounded conspiracy theory.

Proverbs warns that a ruler who oppresses the poor is like a driving rain that leaves no crops. Crops need a gentle rain. Driving rain tends to destroy or wash away crops, leaving the farmer without the very thing he needs to survive. In the same way, a ruler who oppresses the poor courts a similar kind of destruction. And if you need an example, look at the internment of the Japanese. Ultimately, the internment of the Japanese during the 1940s meant that a reparations payment would be offered to the survivors. But it also took a group of Japanese patriots and made them enemies of the state that hadn’t existed before the internment was taken.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Proverbs 29