Japanese American In The 1940s Reaction Paper

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In this paper, the story of the Japanese Americans from the 1940s will be discussed in detail. In addition, the information on how they were put into camps when the United States was attacked by Japanese airplanes in 1942 will be explained. Also, the reaction of Japanese Americans will be presented as well as some of their beliefs about interracial marriages. In the Japanese American film, the attack from the Japanese regime in Pearl Harbor was shown, the United States declared war against Japan, but it also affected Japanese who were born in the United States. The film showed that the United States Government violated the rights of thousands of US citizens from Japanese descendants because they were put into camps and treated as enemies …show more content…

In the same way, fear could have been what kept the Japanese in silent for many decades. They were afraid that one day their children would not succeed in this country, or that their children could get killed if they protested for what happened to them. Tatum believes that people are afraid of being isolated for speaking the truth about racism (pg.147). The movie showed the isolation that the Japanese Americans experience when they were sent to camps. These individuals did not have access to education, the supermarket, or any place that a normal citizen should have access to; these happened because they keep silence for fear. Tatum explains that people need to lose their fear; he declares that not breaking the silence could bring great consequences on minority individuals. Tatum also declares that for people to break the silence means a “survival issue” (pg. 148). For the Japanese Americans, it was a survival issue because they did not want their children to pay the consequences of their …show more content…

In the article The Roots of Racial Classification, Martin, and Wakayama explain that color or appearance is still an issue in the United States and around the world. They believe that people lose opportunities to get a promotion or the opportunity to purchase a home due to the color of their skin (pg. 33). In the Japanese American film, a Japanese individual explained how he was exalted because he did not have an accent like the other Japanese. He would hear comments like “Your English is pretty good” The problem to these comments was that this individual does not have an accent because he is a born American citizen; these situations are still happening the 21st century. According to Iwasaki, Thai, and Lyons (2016), Asians are the population with the highest rate of interracial marriages in the United States. They state that 36% of women married non-Asian partners. The Japanese American film confirms these findings; Japanese are marrying non-Japanese partners. However, the mentality of the Japanese according to the film is that they are stronger than other ethnic groups and at the end; the other groups adhere to the Japanese’s cultures and

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