The Internment of the Japanese-Ameicans

So the hysteria was understable. The question was whether or not to do anything about it, and for an angry, grief stricken America, internment camps were the answer. Mass hysteria of the Japanese caused the urge for government issue of executive order 9066 to satisfy the anti-Japanese groups and to rid of all the fear. The order was based on a false claim. The day of, Japanese Americans were given 48 hours to leave their homes a... ... middle of paper ... ...f American citizens of Japanese ancestry and resident aliens from Japan.The Japanese attempted to fight back and prove their innocence.The most famous case, Korematsu v. United States shows that.

Franklin Roosevelt's speech to Congress, asking for permission to declare war on Japan, shows the resentment and despair of the American people. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many Americans felt a lot of resentment against Japan, and the Japanese. Much of this resentment arose because Japan gave the United States a false hope of peace between the two countries. Also, from the evidence, it appeared that the attack was premeditated. Because of the distance between Japan and Hawaii, it was found that the attack had been planned days, possibly weeks beforehand (Roosevelt, 170).

The Japanese government was further outraged when the United States stopped all trade with Japan. Japan was naturally low on necessary resources like oil and coal, and they saw that move as a threat to the nation’s survival. Japan sought revenge on the United States and with great precision and care, they created a plan. General Yamamoto sent a surprise bombing on the United States fleet in Pearl Harbor December 7, 1941 at 8:00 AM. This bombing caused nearly 23 ships to be damaged or sunken.

Laws were passed to keep people of Japanese descent from becoming citizens or becoming property owners. Their entire lives were modeled by anti-Japanese laws in the early 1900’s it got so bad that they could not even marry in the U.S. unless it was to another person of Japanese descent. So by the time WWII came around the anti-Japanese agenda had a large following. Perl Harbor was just the push it needed to gain backing my Politicians publicly and it spread like wildfire. The Japanese came to this country for a better life and were discriminated against the entire time.

Out of the everlasting fear of racial superiority, panic of attack and suspicion of the Japanese in the United States, on February 19, 1942, just two months after the attacks, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that called upon the evacuation of over 110,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps in the west coast. This order violated the constitutional rights by ruthlessly forcing thousands of innocent Japanese Americans to abandon everything they had to move into the poorly conditioned internment camps. Japanese Americans suffered immensely due to the racial struggles and consequences of the Executive Order 9066. After the Pearl Harbor attack rumors spread that Japanese Americans sought to sabotage the war effort in loyalty to Japan although none had ever shown disloyalty to the nation. Americans feared disloyalty of Japanese citizens, they believed that even American-born and raised Japanese were an “unassailable race [that can’t fit into American culture].” Some Americans believed that Asians should be deported to “preserve white racial purity.” The order stated that the internments were necessary due to the, “successful prosecution of the war [that] requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to natio... ... middle of paper ... ... internment camp was closed in 1945.

It is said that the main reasons for the imprisonment of these oriental citizens were the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the fear for “national security”, and in the end it resulted in a case of “mass hysteria”(jarda.edu). The history of the United States was forever changed by the imprisonment of the Japanese Americans. It opened up a whole new type of prejudice and racism for America. Although it is hardly thought about now days, the disenfranchisement of these citizens can never be forgotten. The United States needs to always remember that they took away innocent civilians’ property, businesses, homes, finances, possessions, and even some lives.

For example, Japanese-Americans were being called “enemy aliens” but then they were encouraged by the government to be loyal Americans and enlist in the armed forces, move voluntarily, put up no fight and not question the forced relocation efforts (Conn, 1990). Stetson Conn (1990) wrote “For several decades the Japanese population had been the target of hostility and restrictive action.” It was easy for the government to take advantage of the Japanese-Americans because they were already the target of aggression. Since the Japanese population was already in such a low position in society, taking advantage of their circumstances was easy for the government. The Japanese found themselves having to defend their presence in a country that was supposed to be accepting; this also happened to the Chinese before the Japanese. (Terry, 2012) The opinions of... ... middle of paper ... ...n left out of the United States elementary schools and looked over when World War II is being taught.

Kabuo Miyamoto, the Japanese American put on trial for murder, had endure this harsh reality of racism that plagued his town and saturated the court system giving him no chance for a fair and just trial. On the morning of December 7, 1941, the surprise bombing of Pearle Harbor violently awoke America causing great uproar throughout its nation. With all of America hating the then called, “Japs,” it made certain that no other Japanese person either from Japan or from our own soil, got a chance to do any further damage to our already crippled country. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Executive Order in February of 1942, which gave De Witt the power to round up over 112,000 Japanese Americans, over half of whom where U.S. citizens by birth (Manzanar 2). These Americans were forced to leave everything behind taking only what they could carry.

Confinement of Freedom Throughout the entire United States in 1942, the nation incarcerated over 100,000 Japanese immigrants to internment camps (“Internment History.”). At this time, the United States just began their involvement in World War II against the Nazis and the Japanese. Panic and chaos struck the country when a bomb, now famous today, detonated in Pearl Harbor, HI. Although many envisage freedom when entering the United States, the Japanese received the opposite. Due to the racism afflicted by United States’ citizens during World War II, Japanese Americans, along with their future generations, suffered and still suffer from many physical and psychological hardships.

Others spent their lives trying to prove their loyalty to Canada, but were still interned. Even though the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) declared them loyal, due to the racial sentiments in British Columbia, they were still sent to the camps. The internment of Japanese Canadians during World War II was extremely unfair, as it was based on prejudices and assumptions - deeming it unnecessary. The Japanese Canadians had lost their fundamental rights as a Canadian citizen because they were accused of espionage. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, suspicion quickly fell on the Japanese Canadian residents in British Columbia for being disloyal.