Internment of Japanese Americans in World War II Essay

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

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.

The Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Many Americans were afraid of another attack, so the state representatives pressured President Roosevelt to do something about the Japanese who were living in the United States at the time. President Roosevelt authorized the internment with Executive Order 9066 which allowed local military commanders to designate military areas as exclusion zones, from which any or all persons may be excluded. Twelve days later, this was used to declare that all people of Japanese ancestry were excluded from the entire Pacific coast. This included all of California and most of Oregon and Washington.

“On February 19th, 1942 President Roosevelt signed into effect Executive Order 9066: an authorization for military authorities to exclude any and all persons from designated areas of the country as necessary for national defense (Jones, Par. 11).” This was the first strike in a round of racial exclusion that violated the Japanese's rights, abolished their faith in the American government, and interned them in a camp for up to four years. The Japanese internment camps were unethical and completely barbaric because they violated the Japanese's rights as individuals and as citizens of the United States, it was a violation of the justice system as well, they had no evidence to prove any of the Japanese were plotting against the United States,

Barbed wired barracks, portable potties, and partition-less showers. My grandfather reminisces his time spend at Manzanar Internment Camp. While my grandfather stood in the giant shadow of a 30-foot armed tower, 500-acres of Californian dessert enclosed nearly 12,000 Japanese Americans. In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorizing the removal and detainment of anyone in military territory. When “armed police went door to door rounding up Japanese Americans and ordering them straight to the camps” as my grandfather asserted, America’s national fear was exploited. My grandfather at the age of sixteen, lost his home, his family, and notably continued to face several obstacles postwar. Thousands of Japanese Americans during the 1940’s, including Ichiro in John Okada’s No-No Boy, have had their lives reshaped by new territories, boundaries and inner conflicts. The lost of family and friends was prevalent as racial prejudices intensified throughout the nation. While thousands of innocent families were victimized in the Japanese interment camps and imprisonments during WWII, the overwhelming distress led to corrupt relationships and inner turmoil.

Ten weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, authorizing the removal of any or all people from military areas “as deemed necessary or desirable.” The military in turn defined the entire West Coast, home to the majority of Americans of Japanese ancestry or citizenship, as a military area. By June, more than 110,000 Japanese Americans were relocated to remote internment camps built by the U.S. military in scattered locations around the country. For the next two and a half years, many of these Japanese Americans endured extremely difficult living conditions and poor treatment by their military guards.

On December 7, 1941 the Japanese had made a secret attack on the American Naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, that day become extremely historic because President Theodore Roosevelt signed the Execution Order to force Japanese Americans to leave their homes around the country. The Government had called these places “relocation centers” because they were temporary and only used for a short period of time, before they would leave to arrive at their permanent location. Roosevelt didn’t want any Japanese-Americans stirring up trouble in the U.S. especially with the recent attack on Pearl Harbor. (THESIS)

Even with an apology to Japanese Americans for their internment, the Internment is still considered a dark mark in America’s history. On December 7, 1941, The United States declared war on Japan and entered World War II out of fear and to protect its own people, The United states set up Japanese internment camps for people of Japanese decent living in America. More than 120,000 Japanese Americans were taken from their homes and put into these camps. America claimed that the Japanese had no rights of citizenship and that this was the only and best way to protect The United States. The American Government tried to protect its nation at the cost of psychological and physical distress of those in the camps who were no longer granted civil liberties or natural rights.

Despite evidence pointing to the innocence of Japanese immigrants living in America, racial bias and irrational fears lead to the internment of thousands of Japanese Americans. When Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese, wartime paranoia and discrimination spread through the US like wildfire. Fueled by fear of espionage, Franklin D. Roosevelt issues an order that relocates Japanese Americans to internment camps for an indefinite amount of time. The PBS article “Children of the Camps: Internment History” includes objective facts and sources to provide the audience with information while also utilizing word choice and language to maintain only the author’s point of view.

A series of unfortunate events would soon unfold on the Japanese American race. Terror and fear hung over individuals when they were not allowed to do the same things they have done in the past. It was time to start a new life, in a whole new place, with different people they have not yet met before. It was the beginning of a new age for the Japanese Americans, and it was also one they would have to seek through in order to make it to the end. Events started to turn on December of 1941 where the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. This struck terror on the United States and panic spread throughout the country. The deepened fear of the Americans caused the relocation of Japanese Americans to relocate to one of several internment camps. Taking away the Japanese Americans away from their home, especially when their documents were legalized stating they were citizens of the United States of America, was a violation of their rights here in the U.S. In a war where the U.S. bravely fought to preserve liberty, the Japanese American Internment stands out immeasurably, as a violation of the civil and human rights of tens of thousands of families.

“Studies point to the fact that only West Coast Issei and Nisei were removed-not those living in Hawaii or on the East Coast-and that the residents calling for their removal were California nativists, laborers, and farmers, who had long viewed Japanese immigrants as social and economic threats” (Hay 15-17). "Signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, Executive Order 9066, or the Japanese Internment Order, authorized the secretary of war to prescribe military areas and was presented to the public as a necessary wartime measure to aid the United States in fighting World War II. The order was used to authorize the internment of over 100,000 Japanese Americans during the war. Both the U.S. government and much of the public feared that Japanese Americans would commit acts of sabotage in the United States to undermine the U.S. war effort and assist the Japanese. Instead, the government forced Japanese Americans into camps throughout the West, where they suffered from deprivation, despair, and disease for much of the war, even as Japanese-American units distinguished themselves in the U.S. military”

Many people are unaware of the forced relocation of Japanese Americans after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. This is no wonder, as the U.S. is not proud of this dark moment. It is mentioned in schools as a footnote, often preferring to focus on the similar relocation of German Jews and other ‘undesirables.’ The internment of the Japanese people stemmed from fear and xenophobia that America still experiences today. Pearl Harbor instilled fear and animosity toward Japanese Americans in the rest of the population. Due to this fear, the president found it necessary to intern Japanese Americans in ‘concentration camps.’ Those in and out of the camps were treated poorly by the rest of society, living in fear. These camps not only impacted the lives

Following the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the United States entering World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in 1942. This order led to the evacuation of over 100,000 Japanese Americans, both citizens and immigrants, to Relocations Centers located away from the Western coast of the United States. Life inside the Relocation Centers was complicated not only by the living and working conditions, but also by the many social, political, educational, and cultural dynamics among the different generations of Japanese Americans. (Kessler, 1988). Once released from the centers, the United States, through the Resettlement Program urged the Japanese Americans to settle throughout the country in hopes for better

From the 1930's to 1940's millions of ethnic groups experienced unjust persecution stemming from prejudice and racism. Although we often remember this time for the discrimination the Jews faced from Nazi Germany, we must also remember the unsubstantiated targeting and imprisonment of Japanese as well as other ethnicities in America. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans faced persecution at the hands of the U.S. military, mostly on the West Coast of the United States. Executive Order 9906, issued and signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, vested unwavering amounts of power into the U.S. military, who disproportionately targeted Japanese, forced them out of their homes, and placed them in internment camps.

In 1942, policy makers of the United States, triggered by the event of Pearl Harbor and faced with an increasingly daunting threat from the east, made a fateful decision to confine 120 thousand Japanese American citizens in internment camps. This displaced thousands of families and created an anti-Japanese sentiment that would persist in America for years to come. While truly horrific, some will say this injustice was due to the largely circumstantial factual errors and misplaced suspicion which drove this decision. However, passing this event off as unique creates the disillusion that America will never again be faced with a similar situation. Consider that our government leaders have the ongoing task of handling formidable threats, in many