Essay On Violating Japanese American Rights

The internment and cruel treatment of the Japanese in the U.S. stemmed from a fear of a full-pledged invasion from Japan and also from years of racial prejudice

Executive Order 9066 issued by President Roosevelt on February 19. 1942 was a result of this new racial hatred. This law forced 120,000 Japanese Americans to sell their property, leave their homes, and enter detention camps located around the United States. Many rights granted to citizens by the Constitution were blatantly overlooked during this entire procedure.

After 9-11, things deteriorated drastically for Middle Easterners. They were labeled as terrorists, their houses and their places of worship were burned down, they were physically abused when out in public, Some were scrutinized heavily when traveling, or not even allowed to travel at all, they were detained illegally, deported, and some even had secret trials, (Hassan S. 2002) These are citizens of the United States, protected under our Constitution.

Throughout history of not only the United States but also the world, racism has played a huge role in the treatment of other humans. A dark mark in United States history, the Japanese Relocation during WWII is a prime example of this racism coming into play. Whether or not this event was necessary or even justified, however, is a constant question for historians even nowadays. The Japanese relocation of the 1920’s unnecessary and unjustified because it’s main causes: selfish economic plots by farmers, unrealistic military measures, and blatant racism.

There were more problems than just not being able to become a citizen, they were treated differently, worse. When the FBI was searching for anything that might connect the people to Japan, they looked at random objects and used them against the Japanese, it states this happening on page 7, “Most of the houses had radios with a short-wave band and a high aerial on the roof so that wives could make contact with the fishing boats during these long cruises. To the FBI every radio owner was a potential saboteur. The confiscators were often deputies sworn in hastily during the turbulent days right after Pearl Harbor, and these men seemed to be acting out the general panic, seeing sinister possibilities in the most ordinary household items: flashlights, kitchen knives, cameras, lanterns, toy swords.” This was completely ridiculous! They were being very prejudice of the Japanese when they were going through their houses, most Caucasian Americans had these items in their homes, but they weren’t even being questioned, who’s to say they weren’t giving Japan information? Just because they are Japanese does not mean they have any connection with Japan. Jeanne’s father, being Japanese was taken by the FBI for with only a photo as evidence that he is guilty, that photo was of him on his fishing boat with two fifty-gallon drums. They had no way to prove that it was oil in those drums, but they took him anyway, in his interrogation he was questioned about it on page 56,

The imprisonment of Japanese Americans occurred because of their Japanese ancestry. The fear of the Japanese, also known as Anti-Japanese Paranoia, was a direct result of the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Many Americans feared that Japanese descendants would remain loyal to and side with their home country (Japanese American Internment, 2008). The brink of war being just around the corner clouded American minds and led to quick decisions. America was paralyzed by fear in the midst of another World War, just years after the first. Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt wrote, “The Japanese race is an enemy race, and while many second and third generation Japanese born on United States soil, possessed of United States citizenship, have become ‘Americanized,’ the racial strains are undiluted.” Like DeWitt, many Americans felt that all Japanese Americans were a threat, especially the Issei and Nisei. “Literally speaking, the Japanese terms Issei,

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

“Herd ‘em up, pack ‘em off, and give ‘em the inside room in the badlands”(Hearst newspaper column). Many Americans were feeling this way toward people of Japanese descent after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The feelings Americans were enduring were motivated largely by wartime hysteria, racial prejudice, and a failure of political leadership. The Japanese-Americans were being denied their constitutional rights, they were provided poor living conditions in these relocation camps, and by the time apologies and reparations were paid to the Japanese, it was too late.

Like I said above, a massive number of Japanese-Americans were sent away to the Internment-Camps just because of their race for an average of 3-4 years. During those three to four years the Japanese-Americans could not attend to their jobs, property, and other obligations simply because they were in the internment camps. For reading this excerpt from Document D (Korematsu Supreme Court Ruling), you can see that the Japanese-Americans were not allowed at their houses during the time of Internment: “Compulsory exclusion of large groups of citizens from their homes… is inconsistent of with our basic governmental institutions.” That obviously states that Japanese-Americans were took away from their property, which would lead to loss of job, and other

When Pearl Harbor was hit they removed 5,000 Japanese-Americans from the U.S. army on December, 19412. They army took away Japanese-American rights as citizens, by not allowing them to be apart of the United States Army. The selective services renamed them “enemy aliens” and stopped the draft of Japanese-American citizens. Military officials denied Japanese-Americans citizenships. December 7th, 19412, FBI arrested selected Japanese-American nationals on the West coast, they never returned home. They never got to say goodbye to their family until after six years, when the war was over.

Japanese-Americans were legal citizens at birth. Under the constitution if they were born in the U.S. than they were by law a legal citizen. They went to programs such as school just like any other person and they were lawfully a citizen. They were having their rights violated when the U.S. took the nearly 75,000 American-born Japanese-Americans to internment camps. Their rights were violated so what the U.S. did was an unlawful act against the constitution.

The Japanese-American placement in internment camps was wrong and unconstitutional. The Japanese-American people had been living in the United States without question until the uprise of racial prejudice brought on by the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Many Japanese-Americans had been born in America and lived an American life, integrated into American schools, speaking with American accents, and enjoying American culture. But, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the Japanese were suddenly seen as threats that needed to be controlled. Without any consent, these Japanese-Americans were placed in internment camps with poor conditions and treated as if they were ticking time bombs themselves.

On February 19, 1942, President, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This gave the Secretary of War in charge of deciding where the military zones would be and who should be removed. This gave the military power over the Attorney General to make these decisions without any hearings or due process. Congress allowed this power. It gave the military the power to impose restrictions on anyone that deemed a threat. When the evacuations of the Japanese-Americans began on March 22, 1942 the propaganda started by the newsreels announcing fear and contempt. This resulted in mayhem, theft, and loss. The Japanese-Americans were allowed to take to the camps what they could carry on their backs. This meant they had to make arrangements to

Pocky, Anime, manga, kanji. Have you heard of any of these? If not… where have you been? All around us teenagers, children, and even adults are being drawn into Japanese culture through TV, books, and even food. Japanese comics, called manga, take up more and more space on American bookshelves, and they've infused new life into the publishing industry. Japanese animation, anime, is on more and more movies and TV screens and influencing popular toys and games.

After the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor, life in the U.S. had changed. It was the first time in a long time that America was attacked on its homeland. This national security threat was a big shock to the people. The Japanese had to suffer the consequences of their attack. Just as the Germans developed concentration camps for the Jewish during World War II, the Americans set up "relocation" programs better known as internment camps to keep all the Japanese. The reason the Japanese were moved into these camps was because they were suspected of being spies. They were forced to live there for up to four years and were not able to continue with their own lives as they were before while they were living in these camps.