Throughout history, America has been known for their mistreatment of others that are considered the minority. One particular culture that has endured mistreatment and discrimination is the Japanese-Americans. After the bombings of Pearl Harbor during World War II, people of Japanese ancestry faced extreme racism and discrimination unlike any other. Since the attack on Pearl Harbor was done by the Japanese, people of the United States feared that many people of Japanese ancestry could be living in the United States acting as spies for the Japanese forces. This fear is what motivated President Franklin D. Roosevelt to sign Executive Order 9066.
President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 just 10 weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor which led the United States into World War II. Essentially what this order authorized was the immediate relocation of Japanese-Americans and Japanese immigrants from areas of the United States in which military forces were based. These people of Japanese ancestry were relocated to government sanctioned internment camps located in the western half of the United States. The government sought to do this in order to remove potential Japanese spies from areas on the West Coast where the US military operated.
During this relocation, propaganda played a key role in the way citizens of the United States viewed and treated those of Japanese ancestry. Such propaganda ranged from ads that demonized the Japanese to informational videos that glorified the US government for wiping out potential threats while providing a safe environment for Japanese people. Some of this government issued propaganda showed the United States as a compassionate authority that worked with these people of Japanese ancestry to ensure the best quality of life and return to normal after the war. Other propaganda used racist terms and images that made the Japanese look evil which strengthened the already present fear of the Japanese. Both types of propaganda depicted a false reality of their subject. Although many government officials believed what they were doing was truly the right decision, they deceived the public with what the relocation was really like. In terms of the anti-Japanese propaganda, a deceitful and racist image of all Japanese people became the common prejudice belief among Americans. Photographers such as Dorothea Lange were hired by the United States to capture images of the Japanese-Americans inside interment camps. Her image “Pledge of Allegiance” shows several Japanese-American children showing their patriotism towards the United States. Just like other propaganda, this photo represented a false reality to what many people of Japanese ancestry felt towards the government. The use of propaganda was successful for the government and what kept so many other American citizens in the dark of what was really going on side the camps.
Once Executive Order 9066 went into effect, relocation began. Japanese-Americans and Japanese immigrants were removed from their homes and had to abandon their jobs and lives they had built in the United States. These people could only bring what they could carry and had no choice but to surrender most of their property and possessions. Families were forced into ill equip interment camps where they would remain indefinitely. With Executive Order 9066 signed just a few months after the bombings, these internment camps “were set up and occupied in about 14 weeks” after the United States entered the war (United States Courts). With the turn around being so short and the camps built in a small amount of time, the quality of life was low inside the internment camps. Families suffered for so long inside the camps with many children so young they were unable to remember life before the camps. One family who suffered in particular was the Wakatsuki family whose story is told through Jeanna Wakatsuki Houston’s memoir Farewell to Manzanar.
Jeanna Wakatsuki was a child when her and her family were relocated from their home to the interment camp in Manzanar. She came from a large family who all shared two small rooms in the poorly built internment camps. They began to lose touch of tradition, endured poor nutrition, and were not even given beds to sleep on (Farewell to Manzanar). Even though Jeanne was an American born citizen, she still was relocated with her family since she is of Japanese ancestry. Many families much like the Wakatsuki’s spent years in the camps until President Roosevelt repealed Executive Order 9066. It was not until about two and a half years later that the US Supreme Court ruled to close the camps and the President issued this repeal. Even though Japanese interment lasted a relatively short time compared to other cultural discrimination (ie slavery), people of Japanese ancestry faced severe loss and lingering racism.
With many families like the Wakatsukis complying to relocation and interment in order to keep their families together, many Japanese-American individuals tried their hardest to avoid relocation and arrest for not complying with said relocation. One Japanese-American whose resistance led him to the US Supreme Court was Fred Korematsu. Korematsu was born in California to his Japanese immigrant parents. Although he was born an American, he faced discrimination faced on his race throughout his whole life. Despite the discrimination Korematsu faced because of his heritage, he was a loyal American and was actually eligible to enlist in the military before the United States entered World War II. Korematsu lost his job after Pearl Harbor, but he did not let this discourage him and he continued to fight for Japanese equal rights. Korematsu evaded the relocation for a short amount of time by undergoing plastic surgery to change the shape of his eyes as well as changing his name. He was eventually caught and jailed for avoiding the mandatory relocation of people of Japanese descent. His case raised national attention when Korematsu was brought to the United States Supreme Court to dismantle the government’s constitutionality of Japanese internment. The case took place in the year 1944 roughly 5 months after his arrest. Korematsu lost his case against the United States Supreme Court with a 6-3 decision with the majority siding with President Roosevelt. Korematsu subsequently was relocated to an internment camp in Utah until all the camps were closed in 1945.
Despite the camps being being closed, many Japanese-Americans, including Fred Korematsu, continued to face discrimination. It was not until nearly 40 years after Korematsu’s conviction that he was given justice. His conviction for evading relocation was overturned in 1983 due to new evidence finding “that Japanese-Americans posed no military threat to the U.S.” (United States Courts). Five years after Fred Korematsu was served justice, President Ronald Reagan issued the Liberties Act of 1988 that awarded reparations to the internees of World War II. With the reparations granted more than four decades after the internment, many people of Japanese ancestry to endured the relocation never saw they day the government recognized their mistakes.
Overall, Japanese Internment during World War II, along with the United States Supreme Court’s decision on its constitutionality, is considered one of the biggest embarrassments for the government of the United States. Although the fear of the Japanese government was fair, the United States’ treatment of Japanese-Americans was not. With internment lasting a relatively short period of time, it is a subject that many look past or simply do not know about. It is important for the Japanese-Americans’ stories to be heard in order for the United States to truly move past this dark period of history.