Citizen 13660 Summary

These are cases where the government created laws to be selectively enforced for one race. Then the military came and took innocent Japanese-Americans out of their homes only to put them in camps because of their race (National Japanese American Historical Society).

The autobiography illustrates personal experiences of discrimination and prejudice while also reporting the political occurrences during the United States’ involvement in World War II. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, the United States government unleashed unrestrained contempt for the Japanese residing in the nation. The general public followed this train of thought, distrusting the Japanese and treating them like something less than human. In a country of freedom and justice, no coalition stepped up to defend the people who had lived there most of or all of their lives; rather, people took advantage of the Japanese evacuation to take their property and belongings. The government released demeaning propaganda displaying comical Japanese men as monsters and rats, encouraging the public to be vigilant and wary toward anyone of Japanese descent. The abuse of the Japanese during this period was taken a little too lightly, the government apologizing too late and now minor education of the real cruelty expressed toward the nation’s own citizens. Now we see history repeating itself in society, and if we don’t catch the warning signs today, history may just come full

The poem “In Response to Executive Order 9066” by Dwight Okita has a central theme of discrimination towards Japanese-Americans which is written in a first person point of view of a young girl who experiences a cultural differences between where she came from and the culture she grew up in. Also, the author uses a hyperbole in line 6 of the poem, saying “We’re best friends” allowing the author to emphasize that they

In the poem “In Response to Executive Order 9066: All Americans of Japanese Descent Must Report to Relocation Centers” , by Dwight Okita, a young Japanese-American girl gives us her point of view on being the race she is at the time. She expirienced recism, at it's finest, and endured it like a champ. In the short story "Merican's," by Sandra Cisneros, a young Mexican-American girl gives us her experience growing up in an American household with a Hispanic grandmother that detested Americans. Both works show that cultural heritage and physical appearances do not determine what it means to be American.

Throughout our history as a nation, we have earned a reputation of undermining the relationships we have had with minorities and of largely neglecting their needs. Our almost hostile nature towards minorities in the United States can largely be seen in the treatment of Mexicans and Mexican American citizens in the times surrounding World War Two. Such hostilities are reflected in our treatment of Mexican Americans in the late 19th after the Civil War and early 20th centuries, the Sleepy Lagoon murder responses, and the Zoot Suit riots. My primary source reveals a feeling of inferiority in the United States by the Mexican American youth due discrimination that they faced, which can be better understood by analyzing the cultural contexts.

The author of "Response to Executive Order 9066" builds characterization through two groups of people during world war 2. The literary analysis of the story is that Japanese-Americans are not enemies to the united states , and that they are citizens just like everyone else. The excerpt shows how the author is indifferent from the rest of society and that she is the same as any American teenage girl because , she shares the same language , interest , and hobbies as other girls. The authors tone in the "Response to Executive Order 9066" is confused because she as an individual has done nothing wrong to have these type of actions evoked on her.

When Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942,1 thousands of Japanese-American families were relocated to internment camps in an attempt to suppress supposed espionage and sabotage attempts on the part of the Japanese government. Not only was this relocation based on false premises and shaky evidence, but it also violated the rights of Japanese-Americans through processes of institutional racism that were imposed following the events of Pearl Harbor. Targeting mostly Issei and Nisei citizens, first and second generation Japanese-Americans respectively,2 the policy of internment disrupted the lives of families, resulting in a loss of personal property, emotional distress,

According to the novel Farewell to Manzanar, “I smiled and sat down, suddenly aware of what being of Japanese ancestry was going to be like. I wouldn’t be faced with physical attack, or with overt shows of hatred. Rather, I would be seen as someone foreign, or as someone other than American, or perhaps not be seen at all” (158). After the bombing at Pearl Harbor, the government saw all Japanese-Americans as enemies even though most, if not all of them, had done nothing wrong. They were taken from their homes and send to awful internment camps where they were treated as prisoners. The Japanese-Americans stayed in the camps four years, just because of where they come from. During this time Americans completely turned against the Japanese people living in their country and bombarded the news with anti-Japanese propaganda which showed how much racial discrimination there was, even back in the 1940s. While Farewell to Manzanar explores this concept, there are many questions in which the reader is left with. First, the Japanese-American Internment was fueled by more than war time panic, which reveals the question: what role did prejudice play in the Japanese-American Relocation? Then, there is the question: what modern day connections can you make with this time in American history? Lastly, this story leaves the reader with the question: do you think something like this could happen today? Farewell to Manzanar gives a glimpse of the lives of Japanese-Americans in the 1940s and

Startled by the surprise attack on their naval base at Pearl Harbor and anxious about a full-fledged Japanese attack on the United States’ West Coast, American government officials targeted all people of Japanese descent, regardless of their citizenship status, occupation, or demonstrated loyalty to the US. As my grandfather—Frank Matsuura, a nisei born in Los Angeles, California and interned in the Granada War Relocation Center (Camp Amache)—often

Like all issues involving race or war, the question of whether or not it was legal and ethical to make Japanese Americans move to relocation camps in early WWII is a difficult and controversial problem. The internment of around 50,000 Japanese citizens and approximately 70,000 Japanese-American people born in the U.S. living in the American West Coast has become known as a tragedy and mistake. The government even set up numerous projects to apologize to the American citizens who were wronged (Bosworth). Still, at the time that the decision to relocate was made, the actions were constitutionally legal and seen by many as necessary. The actions were not based on racist feelings. It was, however,

There was also prejudice in the judicial system during this time. One example is shown in the case of Korematsu V.S. United States. This case was about a Japanese-American named Korematsu who didn’t want to go to his internment camp. His lawyers complained that it was unconstitutional to take people out of their homes and put them in internment camps solely on the basis of their race. It was noted that other so called enemy allies lie Italians and Germans had not been relocated (Korematsu 1). The verdict was that in this circumstance, the government was allowed to deny the Japanese their constitutional rights. This decision was prejudice only against the Japanese looks. The Japanese must have looked more dangerous than the Italians and Germans, and therefore they were the only ones to be treated so unfairly and have their

→ The author shows the racism in American from a lot of sources; such as cartoons, official documents, advertisements, movies, and songs. The mass media drew Japanese people as an immature children (p.142) and animals. Especially, cartoons depicted the Japanese as monkeys, apes, rats, bugs, beetles, lice, and other kinds of creatures that had to be wiped out. (pp. 181-189) An example is that one restaurant sign on the West Coast said "This Restaurant Poisons Both Rats and Japs". (p. 92)

Also, Kabuo knew that “they’re going to want to see me hang no matter what the truth is…. They hate anyone who looks like the soldiers they fought” (391). That quote seemingly holds a lot of truth. Much of World War II was waged against Germany, and their persecution of the Jews. Ironically, the most vocal bigot in this story (Etta Heine) is not only of German descent, but was actually born in Germany. Yet, there appears to be no prejudice against Germans on San Piedro Island as a result of the War. This provides a strong argument to the idea that white people were racist towards Japanese people also because physically they looked different. In all of World War II, no person of Japanese ancestry living in the United States, Alaska, or Hawaii was ever charged with any act of espionage or sabotage. This fact is at very least disturbing. Because of the internment camps, Hatsue and Kabuo are forced to spent their wedding night in a public room with only a curtain, and a radio to stop the details of their evening from traveling through the thin walls. They have no choice on what to wear, eat, or do.

How the United States and Japan integrated “previously despised populations into their nations in unprecedented ways, while at the same time denouncing racial discrimination and even considering these peoples as part of the national populations and, as such, deserving of life, welfare, and happiness” (Fujitani

In internment camps cultural integrity was a problem. The Issei, or first generation Japanese who were older, were used to being very well honored and respected by the younger generation. In internment camps, age had no value. To a white soldier, a Japanese man was a “Japo” and nothing more. In traditional Japanese culture, the elderly were very highly respected. However, at the camps their “traditional authority” was stripped away and this “contributed to the demoralization of the Issei” (62