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Nicolas Alimorong
April 5, 2018
Japanese Internment
Since the 19th century Japanese were the targeted race as for “stealing” the American life; for taking over America and especially it’s jobs. As result Japanese Internment camps came about which atrociously violated the Japanese Americans lives. From the year of 1942 to 1946 fear had almost been stimulated all throughout the United states after the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Which this situation was of course only worsened for the fact of the pre-existing prejudice views towards the Japanese community that were already visible prior to the fact. Due to these occurrences it had led President Franklin D. Roosevelt to take an executive action which was executive order 9066. It was the creation of Japanese Internment camps that forced many Japanese Americans to be almost confined within so called, “camps” in the Western states. It was because of America’s racial prejudice and social ideologies that influenced this action. Although President Franklin D. Roosevelt expressed that such severe actions are necessary solely to protect our the United State’s national security, that wasn’t actually the case.
Executive order 9066, the direct result of Pearl harbor had sent a wave of injustice all throughout the United States. Roosevelt had repeatedly studied that the action for his order are completely justified to prevent an internal sabotaje. The fear of a Japanese American aiding Japan during World War 2 was the issue and the idea of internment camps was a solution for that. But these actions were uncalled for, unjust, and immoral as there was no attempt of any Japanese American invading. In matter of fact Curis Manson, an investigator that was ordered by
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President Franklin D Roosevelt was set out to see if their were any potential threats to our national security of the United States, which this investigator had found that “Their would be no armed uprising of Japanese” within our country (relocation and incarceration). With interning all Japanese Americans it was a violation as they practically had their constitutional rights deprived by them. About 60% of the internees were U.S citizens (Morelock). But the majority of these Japanese Americans were Nisei meaning the first generation to be born within the US. The Nisei saw themselves as any other American, willing to protect and serve their country no matter the way they had looked out their difference in color, not to mention they were taxpayers which contributed to the government. Executive order 9066 how did not affect any Japanese Americans in Hawaii. A bulk of the people within Hawaii were Japanese American and President Roosevelt did not want to intern any in Hawaii because of the multitude of people. But when you look at Hawaii, it’s part of the United States yet internment camps were not issued over their, but only throughout the Western states. Which their could have been a viable threat within Hawaii considering the amount of people yet none of the people their were interned. It’s almost as if Hawaii was a loophole to allow an internal sabotaje. This clearly shows President Roosevelt's action was not even motivated by safety since he left Hawaii out, but was motivated by all of the racial implications towards the Japanese. Even after the internment camps it was reported that no Japanese even attempted espionaje within the United States (Relocation and incarceration).
When we look into the 19th century it is quite visible for the racial implication emplaced on Japanese. This can be seen through many things such as in the year of 1882 congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act to prevent further immigration from occurring and responded to all
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laborer’s resenting with Chinese labor (Depression era). Even within california many Americans had believed that too many of their jobs were being given away to these immigrants, most of them being Asian. They often described them as rats, as they are all scavenging America for jobs. And there was a herd of these so called, “Rats” which was why the Chinese Exclusion Act was passed. The bombing of Pearl Harbor only exacerbated this situation increasing hatred amongst all of the Asians. And in the 1940s many Americans; specifically farmers, and low-class workers expressed their hatred towards the Asian community. Austin Anson, the managing secretary of a farm organization, stated that he “[wanted] to get rid of the Japs for selfish reasons,” (Grodzins). This clearly shows the resentment towards the Japanese in America and how Americans did not like the fact that they were constantly flooding our country. Also within the United States there was never a security concern with the Japanese Americans as they never had committed any volatile actions within our borders. And even when we look towards our own government, the FBI responded to the issues of Japanese internment as they had concluded that they “adequately controlled any threat of espionage, and that the relocation of Japanese and Japanese-Americans was unnecessary”(Hill, Melody). It was through our own system these racial and social implications began to take form and all it took was the American people to finish this idea and instill within them. As President Franklin Roosevelt was motivated by these implications it allowed legroom and justification for Japanese internment camps since the fellow Americans already disagreed with the fact of a Japanese American being a civilized citizen within the US, there was no one to go against the creation of Japanese internment camps within our country.
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Now even though the American people had resentment towards the Japanese, this resentment was also cultivated through the media outlet and their use of propaganda which had influenced many Americans on their attitudes. Through cartoonist like Dr. Suess, he had created many cartoons like, “Jap Alley” (“Dr. Seuss Draws Anti-Japanese Cartoons During WWII, Then Atones with Horton Hears a Who!”) which depicted the Japanese as alley cats swarming into our country while creating the notion of the Japanese taking over our lands. In another cartoon Dr. Seuss had created an illustration in which a Japanese government official was writing off dynamite or “TNT” to Japanese Americans (Waiting for the signal). Which this had created a different perspective as it drew the illusion as if the Japanese Americans are going to internally sabotaje the US or perhaps attack our country. Also through a picture called, “Japs keep moving, this is a white man’s neighborhood” depicts how in predominantly white neighborhood, as it has a white white woman pointing towards the sign to keep the Japs out. Americans did not want any Japanese living near them as they already had this built on prejudice from the media as it antagonized them creating only a pessimistic attitude.
After this unwarranted action that was taken upon President Franklin D. Roosevelt, it had been very detrimental to thousands of Japanese Americans. Causing many to lose their jobs and some even owned business which they had to give up at a very low price and the government did nothing to compensate any of them; there was no liability assumed for any property. The Japanese Internment camps was a turning point for many Americans that had changed their lives forever all because of social and racial implications that fell upon them. It was a time of tragedy for many; these actions were a complete violation of their fundamental civil rights and human
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rights. A former Japanese internee John Tateishi described his experience as it was “humiliating and disorienting” (Qureshi, Bilal). As they had lived in barracks: bare walls and one light bulb, basic beds, Communal toilets, bathing facility, laundries, and dining area, minimal schooling facilities & medical care camps guarded by soldiers with guns; barbed wire. But eventually the survivors of the Japanese internment camps were compensated twenty-thousand dollars over 10 years which President Ronald Reagan announced and dismissed Executive order 9066, making a public apology to the survivors, and admitting to the guilt on behalf of the United States Federal Government owning up to their mistake. This was the first stop to a better relation with the Japanese community.