No Hope For A Better Life

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

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.

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,

Japanese internment camps from 1942 to 1946 were an exemplification of discrimination, many Japanese Americans were no longer accepted in their communities after the Bombing of Pearl Harbor. They were perceived as traitors and faced humiliation due to anti-Japanese sentiment causing them to be forced to endure several hardships such as leaving behind their properties to go an imprisoned state, facing inadequate housing conditions, and encountering destitute institutions. The Bombing of Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7, 1941 (Why I Love a Country that Once Betrayed Me). This led president Roosevelt to sign the executive order 9066, which authorized the army to remove any individual that seemed as a potential threat to the nation (“Executive Order 9066”) This order allowed the military to exclude “‘any or all persons from designated areas, including the California coast.”’ (Fremon 31). Many Japanese opposed to leave the Pacific Coast on their own free will (Fremon 24) . Japanese Americans would not be accepted in other areas if they moved either.Idaho’s governor stated, Japanese would be welcomed “only if they were in concentration camps under guard”(Fremon 35). The camps were located in Arizona, Arkansas, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, and California where thousands of Japanese Americans eventually relocated. (“Japanese Americans at Manzanar”) The internment lasted for 3 years and the last camp did not close until 1946. (Lessons Learned: Japanese Internment During WW2)

Two months after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt authorized “Executive order 9066”. Which made More than 110,000 Japanese in the U.S to relocate to internment camps for reason of “national security”. The United States feared that they’re could have been Japanese spies inside America so the government relocated most Japanese immigrants to camps. It was one of the saddest moments in America that the government of America took actions on innocent people just because their heritage. America’s internment camps are similar yet different to Hitler’s concentrations camps.

On February 19th 1942, Roosevelt signed the executive order 9066. Under the terms of the order, people of Japanese descent were placed in internment camps. The United States’ justification for this abominable action was that the Japanese American’s may spy for their Homeland. Over 62% of the Japanese that were held in these camps were American Citizens. The United States’ internment of the Japanese was a poor and cowardly method of ‘keeping the peace.’ The United States was not justified in stowing away Japanese Americans into almost concentration camps. This act goes against the basic Bill Of Rights granted to all American citizens, the Fifth Amendment's command that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty or property without due

Following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor by Japan, racial tensions increased in the United States, especially on the West Coast (Divine 898). The anti-Japanese sentiment led to President Franklin Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066, which gave military officials the power to limit the civil rights of Japanese Americans (Danzer 802). The order also authorized the forced relocation of all Japanese Americans to concentration camps (Divine 898). These camps were located in desolate deserts and flatlands in the interior of the United States (Sato 67). Two thirds of the 120,000 Japanese Americans who were forced to relocate were “Nisei”, or native born American citizens (Divine 898).

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.

The relocation of Japanese Americans was an event that occurred within the United States during World War II. On February 19th, 1942, Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which forced all Japanese Americans living in the West Coast to be evacuated from the area and relocated to internment camps all across the United States, where they would be imprisoned. Approximately 120,000 people were sent to the camps and the event lasted through the years 1942 and 1945. The main cause of the relocation and internment of these people was because of fear made among Japanese people after Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941. Citizens of the United States had been worrying about the possibility of Japanese residents of the country aiding Japan, and/or secretly trying to destroy American companies.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States and President Franklin D. Roosevelt created and implemented Executive Order 9066 which was authorized the Secretary of War to identify certain areas as military zones, clearing the way for the incarceration of Japanese Americans in concentration camps. As a result, the United States Office of War Information created a film to defend the implementation of the Internment Camps. A quote mentioned in the film states that the “Japanese themselves cheerfully handled the enormous paperwork involved.” However, in reality, the living conditions for the Japanese were poor. The government signed Executive Order 9066 because they were very paranoid of what was going to come next.

On February 19, 1942, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which ripped 122,000 innocent lives out of their homes and shoved them into internment camps. The residents of Japanese ancestry were deemed guilty and suspicious solely based on their ethnicity. Not to mention that they were also feared as a security risk by America. Leaders in California, Oregon, and Washington, demanded the United States to remove them from their homes along the west coast and to be relocated in isolated inland areas. All of this was entirely fueled by America’s war hysteria after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 7, 1941.

Amid a growing anti-Japanese sentiment during World War II, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, which called for the evacuation of all persons of Japanese descent from the West Coast. Many individuals and families evacuated to assembly centers and eventually internment camps in ten inland locations across the country. Among the more than 100,000 people of Japanese ancestry interned, many of those were children, and most of these children were American citizens. The collection of War Relocation Authority Photographs of Japanese-American Evacuation and Resettlement provides a unique view of how the WRA wanted the U.S.

Despite the efforts to mobilize the war America was still afraid of attack on U.S. soil. On February 19th, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which gave the approval to send Americans of Japanese heritage to interments camps (otherwise known as “relocation