Japanese American Internment

Throughout Americas history, there has been prejudice, discrimination, and segregation. The prejudice, discrimination, and segregation of African-Americans and Native Americans are well known and often portrayed in movies. The group that is less exposed in movies is the prejudice, discrimination, and segregation of Asians. Mine is about a minority group that has seen prejudice, discrimination, and segregation that is now recognized universally deplorable the Japanese American. The incarceration of the Japanese by the United States during World War II is now considered unjust. After “Executive Order 9066 the army moved 40,000 long-term immigrants, and 77,000 United States citizens of Japanese descent.” (Miksch and Ghere, 2004 p. 212) Although, at that time “Most people thought internment of enemy aliens was a normal precaution in wartime situations.” (Miksch and Ghere, 2004 p. 211) “The practice of internment of enemy aliens is normal practice in Canada, Australia, United States, and European countries.” (Miksch and...

Japanese Americans faced a great deal of discrimination because of their economic and social presence during the mid 20th century. Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7, 1941 on a United States military base in Oahu, Hawaii. The Japanese military launched a surprise attack on the base through an air raid that destroyed many supplies that the US needed for the war. Over 3,400 American troops were killed which greatly angered many American civilians. After Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt addressed the issue by asking Congress to declare war on Japan which had official entered the US into World War II. During the war on the home front, President Roosevelt made the decision to confine those who came from Japanese descent for the duration of the war to ease some of the fears held by other citizens. President Roosevelt's decision was not justified because the events at Pearl Harbor caused citizens to over exaggerate and fear others of Japanese ancestry.

In many times throughout history groups of people have been discriminated against based on race or religion. These people receive inferior rights because of the discrimination. In some cases they do not get citizenship, in others they are segregated from others, and physically harmed. Two groups of people that faced discrimination near World War II (WWII) were the Jewish people and Japanese Americans. Both groups faced very different types of discrimination by different oppressors with different motives yet their treatment was very similar and many events paralleled each other. The treatment of Japanese in WWII internment camps was as harsh as the Holocaust's treatment of the Jewish people.

•     Murray, Alice Y. (2000). What Did the Internment of Japanese Americans Mean? Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt once proclaimed that the Pearl Harbor bombings that took place on December 7th, 1941 is, “ a date which will live in infamy.” The events that unfolded that fateful morning not only resulted in a U.S declaration of war against Japan the next day (subsequently promoted Germany/Italy to declare war against U.S three days later), but also proved to be a traumatic landmark event in the history of Japanese Americans. The aftermath of the Pearl Harbor bombings prompted Franklin D. Roosevelt to authorize Executive Order 9066 on February 19th, 1942, which consequently cleared they way for Japanese American internment. In Hawaii, where Japanese Americans made up one-third of the population, only 1200 to 1800 were interned. On the mainland (specifically the West Coast) over 100,000 Japanese Americans were interned. Despite widespread outcry in Japanese American communities, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of these exclusion orders in the 1944 landmark case Korematsu v. United States. The horrors of internment continued until January 2, 1945 when the exclusion order was nullified, and in 1946 the last internment was closed. Despite being released the hardships and material loss suffered by Japanese American internees were far from over. Many internees who survived this traumatic ordeal not only suffered from psychological problems, but also lost their properties and incomes. Although the U.S. government issued a public apology and compensated surviving former internees under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, it is still unclear if this adequately compensates former internees for the long-term economic hardships that followed as a result of internment.

Although United States of America is meant to be a country of freedom it has shown many times the opposite of freedom for the minority groups that have lived in the United States long time ago. The cases on which for example the African-American did not have rights in the past or the humiliation they suffered by being taken as slaves for the Whites were injustices that people have seen from a long time ago. Sometimes, a nation that is meant to be one of freedom might only be for the whites because the minorities have always struggled to be free and be taken as U.S citizens. There have been many cases on which the nation of United States has been unjust to its citizens and minority groups. Discrimination against African-Americans, Mexican-American, or even Asian-American has been discovered even in the current years.

Minidoka camp closed October 28, 1945, the Japanese-Americans in January 1945 were finally permitted to return the West Coast though most were encouraged to relocate to the East Coast or the Midwest as prejudice still ran high on the West Coast. It wasn’t until August 10, 1988 that the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was signed by President Ronald Reagan. It finally provided a formal apology and redress to those Japanese-Americans still living. The tragic reality is that almost half of those imprisoned and stripped of their civil rights died before the act was signed.

that they were not to change residences after 12:00 PM on this very day, and that all

Throughout history, Canada has relatively been a supporter of multiculturalism. In the past Canada has had very few racial conflict, although there has been one incident which has had quite a controversial effect about human rights violations and discrimination. This thorn in Canada's side is the Japanese Internment which took place during the second world war.

After the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States was filled with panic. Along the Pacific coast of the U.S., where residents feared more Japanese attacks on their cities, homes, and businesses, this feeling was especially great. During the time preceding World War II, there were approximately 112,000 persons of Japanese descent living in California, Arizona, and coastal Oregon and Washington. These immigrants traveled to American hoping to be free, acquire jobs, and for some a chance to start a new life. Some immigrants worked in mines, others helped to develop the United States Railroad, many were fishermen, farmers, and some agricultural laborers.

How did Americans react to the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WW2? This question didn’t seem important during the period of Japanese Internment but it is sure one we’re asking ourselves today. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone in the government believed this was a good idea. After Pearl Harbor, most Americans were scared of Japanese and anyone they thought was involved with them, including Japanese Americans who had never set foot in Japan. There’s no denying most people in the US were ignorant and believed white people were superior. They were just concerned with being bombed by people of a different skin color.

Japanese Americans were interned during World War 2 because of their ancestors who attacked several Pearl Harbor ships unexpectedly during the year of 1941. America then realized that they weren’t in good terms with the Japanese. According to Chief Justice Black, the writer of The Korematsu Supreme Court Ruling in 1944, “ when, our shores are threatened by hostile forces, the power to protect must be commensurate with the threatened danger.” As years passed on, there were Japanese Americans who were related to ancestors who attacked the Pearl Harbor ships or planned it. Therefore America established Internment camps for Japanese Americans based off of their ethnicity to prevent further attacks on America, According to Harry Howard, the writer

What if entire families were suddenly evicted and thrown into prison just because of their ethnicity? What if thousands of people suddenly disappeared without a trace?

One example of the way the Japanese Americans were treated inhumanely was throughout the war the Japanese Americans were trying their hardest to protest against the way they were being treated in the internment camps. The Japanese Americans wanted and insisted to be recognize as loyal American citizens (Library of Congress). To add on to that the conditions at the internment camps, they were notably difficult and traumatic, leaving the worried mothers with only a few options but to provide not only emotional support, but also physical support. While all the Japanese Americans could do was hope for the best (Dusselier [Page 12). Along with, the abuse the Japanese Americans in the eyes of the Americans viewed them as aliens forcing abuse on them whether it b...