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Essay: Racism and Discrimination Behind the WWII Japanese American Internment

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  • Published: 26 February 2023*
  • Last Modified: 22 July 2024
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  • Words: 955 (approx)
  • Number of pages: 4 (approx)
  • Tags: Essays on racism World War II

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During World War II, US was involved in the Pacific and European Theater. Due to the Japanese expansion in the Pacific, US started to incarcerate thousands of Japanese Americans, including those who were citizens of the US. Japanese aggression in the Pacific also led to high levels of racism against the Japanese living in the US. Many rumors about the Japanese Americans being spies started to spread, and there were countless cases of Japanese homes being attacked. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 in response to the rumors and Japanese aggression. However, newspapers had no mention of the executive order. Why would the press hide such essential information? The first mention of any form of Japanese relocation was in an article published on March 2, 1942, which was almost two weeks after Executive Order 9066 was issued.

The attack on Pearl Harbor, which was just a couple months prior to the issuing of Executive Order 9066, is considered by many to be the immediate cause of the forced relocation of the Japanese. Though, there was a public outrage against the Japanese, General DeWitt claimed it was “military necessity” not “public clamor” that determined the Japanese relocation. (March 2 Article). General DeWitt stated that the Japanese posed a security threat to the nation, and these must be taken into consideration first (March 2 Article). The rights of the Japanese, citizens and aliens, that were given to them by the US Constitution were stripped in order to protect the nation. However, today, we know that the evacuation and internment of Japanese wasn’t just solely based upon the war. Racial attitudes towards the Japanese in America during the 19th and 20th Century were also a determining factor in the forced relocation of the Japanese. Asian Americans had often faced much discrimination and exclusions as portrayed in US history. The Chinese were one of the first to face discrimination, followed by the Japanese. Anti-Asian activist who first targeted the Chinese also started to attack the Japanese as more and more started to immigrate to the US (Book). The immigration of Japanese started to affect the White population, as Japanese were a form of cheap labor. They were taking away the jobs of the Whites, thus making it difficult for them to earn a living. Many other factors led to this hatred towards the Japanese in the late 19th and early 20th Century. The attack on Pearl Harbor triggered these racial attitudes to rise again, leading to the relocation of the Japanese.

The East Coast suffered much more damage than the West Coast, as the Germans sunk countless shops in the Atlantic. A total of 13 ships were sunk and 60 vessels were lost in the Atlantic (Book). The fact that the number of Japanese-Americans interned was much higher than the number of German-Americans interned proves that racial attitudes towards the Japanese was a factor in the forced relocation of the Japanese. The percentage of the Japanese population in Hawaii that was interned also provides evidence to the fact that racism led to the relocation. A third of the Hawaiian population at the time consisted of people of Japanese ancestry (nps.gov). Out of this population, less than 1500 Japanese-Americans were evacuated. This is quite small compared to the actual amount of 120000 Japanese-Americans that were interned. Pearl Harbor is located in Hawaii, so why weren’t more Japanese-Americans relocated from Hawaii? The reasoning behind this is that they were essential to the economy of the Island (nps.gov).  As the Japanese-Americans were a large chunk of the labor force in Hawaii, the white businessmen were afraid that the relocation of the Japanese-Americans would hurt them financially. As a result of this, a fewer number of Japanese-Americans were evacuated from Hawaii. The press didn’t give much attention to this fact. This lack of attention from the press shows that most of the American public was for Japanese-Internment. The press left out such essential information out of the newspapers. It just stated numbers without actually analyzing the numbers given.

The military was secretive about their plans for the Japanese. An article published on March 2, 1942 stated  that at first the Japanese-American leaders had predicted that about 60,000 Japanese-American citizens would be affected by the relocation (March 2). This number, however, also included Americans of Italian and German ancestry, so less than 60,000 Japanese-Americans were expected to be affected. The actual number, as we know today, was 120,000 Japanese-Americans — almost double the predicted amount. However, another article regarding the Japanese-Americans was published on March 4, 1942, and it put the number of Japanese-Americans that would be affect at 100,000 — still much lower than the actual amount (March 4). The articles concerning the Japanese-Americans that were later published in the NY Times did get close to the number that we know to be true today. The press at this point was publishing accurate information about the numbers of people that were being evacuated. This is most likely due to the fact that this is what the public wanted. The public was outraged due to the attack on Pearl Harbor. They wanted the government to do something to the Japanese.

In an article published on March 19, 1941, it is stated that approximately 62,500 of the 112,500 Japanese-Americans that were soon to affected by the evacuation were foreign born (March 19). The press mentions that there were 62,500 that were foreign born, but it doesn’t mention that almost 2/3 of the approximately 112,500 relocated Japanese-Americans were American citizens. The press decides to hide this fact in order to further justify the relocation. Mentioning that they were foreign-born makes it seem as if they were much more likely to be Japanese spies. This allows the press to somewhat uphold the morality of the relocation. The morality of this action against the Japanese was never questioned in the press.

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