Even Religious Freedom Victories Harbor Defeats

My latest teaser for Faking Liberties is now up over at Killing the Buddha. Timed to drop on the anniversary of the 21 February 1927 Farrington v. Tokushige Supreme Court decision, the essay ties religious discrimination against Japanese American Buddhists to the recent Supreme Court decision to deny a brief stay of execution to a Muslim prisoner in Dunn v. Ray.

Here’s an image to give a sense of the racist press surrounding Japanese Americans in the 1910s and 1920s:

This image was included in a 6 November 1921 Los Angeles Times op-ed written by former Governor of the Territory of Hawai`i, Charles J. McCarthy. McCarthy warned whites that Japanese Buddhism posed a direct threat to life and property, both in Hawai`i and on the American mainland.

It’s weird to say “happy reading” for a piece like this, but you get the idea.