Essay Comprehension of Prisoners Without Trial

The U.S. internment of people of Japanese descent during the 1940s was a major event in U.S. history, but it is often overlooked by many. It affected hundreds of thousands of people of Japanese descent, whether they were citizens or not. The incarceration of those placed in camps was affected mentally and it caused many of the internees to develop PTSD or otherwise commonly known as post-traumatic stress disorder (Potts, 1994, p. 1). The camps affected how the Japanese were viewed in society during the time period of the camps and following the liberation of them. It also changed how the Japanese viewed society. This paper will focus on the cultural and social aspects of the Internal Improvements.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the internment of Japanese Americans on the West coast of the United States. On going tension between the United States and Japan rose in the 1930’s due to Japan’s increasing power and because of this tension the bombing at Pearl Harbor occurred. This event then led the United States to join World War II. However it was the Executive Order of 9066 that officially led to the internment of Japanese Americans. Japanese Americans, some legal and illegal residents, were moved into internment camps between 1942-1946. The internment of Japanese Americans affected not only these citizens but the

People are only allowed to take to the camps what they could carry on their bags. They had to make arrangements to store or get rid of everything else, what they own, on short notice. The lucky Japanese got two weeks, some only a few days. All the Japanese got a tag that was their identity. No one knew where he or she was going to be deported, and how long he or she would be in prison. Because there were no trials, no hearings, and there was no due process to inform. As an example, I can use Fred Korematsu case. Fred Korematsu was a Japanese American boy. He had facial surgery, changed his name and claimed to be Mexican American until he was arrested. He also convicted of violating executive order No. 34. This executive order barred all persons of Japanese descent from the “Military area" of San Leandro, California. Korematsu challenged his conviction and appealed his case to the U.S. Supreme Court. However, the Federal Appeals Court ruled in favor of the United States. Korematsu claimed the Executive order 9066 violated his fourteenth and Fifth Amendment rights. Equal protection for all and protection for the federal government. The government argued that the internment of Japanese Americans was justified because it is necessary for a time of war. On December 18th, 1944, The Supreme Court handed down their decision. The Supreme Court said the President Roosevelt's order was constitutional. The majority opinion concluded that President and Congress did not

Japanese internment was not and is not justifiable. America is a mixing pot of cultures, religions, and ethnicities. Thus, American citizens do not inherently have a significant relationship to the nations of their heritage. Immigrants to this country actively selected a lifestyle other than that of their homeland, for one reason or another. Those who were born in America, without any first-hand exposure to the home of their parents or grandparents are especially free of potential conflicting ties. This is proven when Grant Hirabayashi admits, “...I was offered what they call…[an appointment as] a military cadet. And, I told the officer...no thanks. I was an American citizen,” (RAP, pg 190). Another point of importance is that an individual can be loyal to their country without wishing to join its military or military

War can be loud and visible or quiet and remote. It affects the individual and entire societies, the soldier, and the civilian. Both U.S. prisoners of war in Japan and Japanese-American citizens in the United States during WWII undergo efforts to make them “invisible.” Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken hero, Louie Zamperini, like so many other POWs, is imprisoned, beaten, and denied basic human rights in POW camps throughout Japan. Miné Okubo, a U.S. citizen by birth, is removed from society and interned in a “protective custody” camp for Japanese-American citizens. She is one of the many Japanese-Americans who were interned for the duration of the war. Louie Zamperini, as a POW in Japan, and Miné Okubo, as a Japanese-American Internee both experience efforts to make them “invisible” through dehumanization and isolation in the camps of WWII, and both resist these efforts.

The issues of Japanese-American internment camps is one of the most controversial, yet important time periods of American history. Many have asked: Why should we learn about this event? The event of Japanese-American internment camps has changed the way America and its citizens are looked upon. As Americans, this event is important to learn so that an injustice like this will never happen again in our history. This event has helped many people gain more rights and civil liberties. This event has also helped other groups fight for their rights and freedoms. Although this event had caused fear and pain, it had changed America and its treatment toward citizens of different descents and ethic backgrounds.

Some people may argue that Japanese Internment camps were necessary because the Japanese Americans got taken away to get put in the camps. The police would take the Japanese Americans away from their families because Americans thought that Japanese Americans were spies and they knew that something existed that the Americans didn't know about. I am here to argue that is not the case because, Augusto Kage ¨remembers his father getting taken away. The important thing about this is that his dad didn’t know what was happening and his relatives were petrified and had no idea what was going on.¨ The reason that the police are taking Japanese Americans away is because in January, a month after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor the U.S didn’t trust the Japanese Americans that lived in the U.S. Americans thought Japanese

officials eventually began to recruit these internees into the American army. Not only was WWII a war about political alliances and geographical sovereignty, but it was also a war about race and racial superiority throughout the world. Propagating this idea, Dower (1986) argues, “World War Two contributed immeasurably not only to a sharpened awareness of racism within the United States, but also to more radical demands and militant tactics on the part of the victims of discrimination” (War Without Mercy: p.5). In elucidating the racial motivations and fallout from WWII, Dower helps one realize the critical role that race and racial politics played during the war and are still at play in our contemporary world. An analysis of this internment process reveals how the ultimate goal of the U.S. internment of Japanese Americans and the United States’ subsequent occupation of Japan was to essentially “brainwash” the Japanese race into demonstrating allegiance to America.

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,

Apart from racial prejudice, discriminatory measures were adopted by the Government to curb their economic advancement. Japanese immigrants were denied American citizenship. They could only purchase inferior land in the names of their citizen offspring. With their superior agricultural skill they turned such land into fertile agricultural fields and controlled almost fifty percent of California’s commercial truck crops. Economic prosperity was a major irritant among the organized interest groups that carried on anti-Japanese campaigns influenced the government to adopt anti Japanese measures. Policy of deliberate exclusion was also evident in Munson Report that confirmed unquestioned Japanese loyalty to the American nation but were not made public intentionally to perpetuate anti-Japanese sentiments.

In World War II, 75 years ago devastation occurred to our country. This was the day of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and the start of a war that will forever change our country. After chaos calmed down in the community our government decided to create Internment Camps. These camps were made for the removal of all Japanese descent people in the United States of America. Some people think that this was justice being served. That our own citizens were also traitors, who would betray us at any time. But others, say that this was wrongful, that this wasn’t justice, but pure cruelty. This essay will explain, why these dreadful camps were indeed wrong. Not only because it brought innocent people out of their homes, but because they were treated like America wasn’t their home, because of the internment camps, innocent families and children thought that they couldn’t do anything to stop the things that was happening around them. The war.

The United States of America a nation known for allowing freedom, equality, justice, and most of all a chance for immigrants to attain the American dream. However, that “America” was hardly recognizable during the 1940’s when President Franklin Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, ordering 120,000 Japanese Americans to be relocated to internment camps. As for the aftermath, little is known beyond the historical documents and stories from those affected. Through John Okada’s novel, No-No Boy, a closer picture of the aftermath of the internment is shown through the events of the protagonist, Ichiro. It provides a more human perspective that is filled with emotions and connections that are unattainable from an ordinary historical document.

In the early 1940’s and as the war progressed, the treatment and perception of Japanese Americans, most of the western parts, like California, got progressively worse. The prejudice against the Japanese steamed from the treatment of the Chinese in America and how they provided cheap labor for the United States, cheating “regular Americans” out of their jobs. Once the Japanese started to have a significant demographic in California, concern swept across “Americans” once again, fearing cheap labor and lack of jobs once more. As tensions grew, the American paranoia of a Japanese invasion/revolt also increased. Once the American government decided that they would relocate all of the Japanese Americans to a “safer” sight, to prevent any spies from

Imagine the average American family; they’re law abiding citizens who have good jobs, they always pay their taxes on time, the kids are star athletes in their school. Now imagine they wake up one morning to soldiers banging on their door and telling them that they must leave their house; they can take only what they can carry and have to leave everything else, losing it forever. They have a week to get ready, and then after that the soldiers take them to a location where they’re put in inhumane living conditions and are treated like criminals. The idea seems ridiculous, but that was the unconstitutional treatment that many American citizens of Japanese descent received in the years following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1942.

While lawful incarceration deprives prisoners of most of Americas Constitutional rights, they do maintain a few constitutional rights. Federal courts, while hesitant to impede with the internal administration of prisons, will interfere to rectify violations of the constitutional rights that prisoners are still entitled to. A prison guideline that oversteps on a prisoner’s constitutional rights is lawful only if it is reasonably related to the safety of the inmates or the rehabilitation of that prisoner.