The Rights Of Fellow American Citizens

Roger Daniels’ book Prisoners without Trial is another book that describes the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II. This piece discusses about the background that led up to the internment, the internment itself, and what happened afterwards. The internment and relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II was an injustice prompted by political and racial motivations. The author’s purpose of this volume is to discuss the story in light of the redress and reparation legislation enacted in 1988. Even though Daniels gives first hand accounts of the internment of Japanese Americans in his book, the author is lacking adequate citations and provocative quotations. It’s

Mindful of the hardships during war times for all Americans, the Court implies that it is the responsibility of citizens to bear this burden, “We uphold the exclusion order …Not unmindful of the hardships…But hardships are part of war,…the burden is always heavier.” (Korematsu, 357). The hardship of one race seemed to outweigh that of another, no mention is made about the fact that the only race ordered to evacuate by reporting to Assembly Centers followed by indeterminate confinement to detention camps were Japanese Americans. The Supreme Court outlines that this case is about an exclusion order and not racial prejudice, “Our task is simply, our duty clear…we are specifically dealing with nothing but an exclusion order. To cast this case into the outlines or racial prejudice…merely confuses the issue.” (Korematsu, 358) Korematsu was a loyal citizen of the U.S., his loyalty was never attested; nevertheless, he faced charges against him because he refused to obey an order which singled him out because of his ancestry. “Guilt is personal and not inheritable” (Korematsu, 364). The military acted to protect the nation against espionage and sabotage, they were acting in the interest of the nation and at the time of the Pearl Harbor attack time was limited, the loyal could not be segregated from the disloyal. During wartimes however the US Government needs to be mindful that this is a country made of vast cultures, races, religions and the US Constitution

While World War II had been ongoing since 1939, Japan had been fighting for the Axis powers, against the United States. In 1941, when Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States government had assumed the viewpoint that the Japanese were not to be trusted, and that the Japanese-American citizens of the United States were much the same. As such, they had resorted to establishing internment camps, or preventive labor prisons, so as to keep them in check and ostensibly to prevent further Japanese sabotage. However, the government’s actions were not fully justified, as several factors had interplayed into the circumstances that directly contradicted the intentions and visible results of the internment of the Japanese-Americans, in the social, political, economical, and cultural aspects. On the whole, the internment camps served as drastic measures which were not wholly without reasoning; contrarily, those factors in support of the internment camps did not override those which had gone against it, since the United States’ own legislation, in the form of the Constitution and other laws, had explicitly prevented the depriving of human rights, privileges, and pursuits, which had doubtless applied in light of the Japanese-Americans’ universal citizenship along the Pacific Coast in the early 1940s. As such, while the internment camps were not completely unjustified and without purpose from the viewpoint of the government, they did not align with standards of law and

Japanese-Americans were forced to evacuate from coastal areas following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. A massive amount of Americans who were not of Japanese descent believed that the Japanese community could not be trusted, so the government felt that it was necessary to remove them from their homes and place them in camps located away from militarized coastal regions. This was a controversial decision at the time and still receives criticism today for going against typical American constitutional values centering around citizen’s unalienable rights. Through the research of many letters written during Japanese internment or reflecting on the event, it seems that Japanese-Americans of that time period had mixed feelings about being relocated and the majority of the community was upset that they were viewed and treated differently than other Americans but did acknowledge that the overall treatment they received at camp was fair. Japanese Internment camps were psychologically damaging to Japanese-Americans due to the racist nature of selective forced evacuation, and the Japanese community was more upset about being removed from their homes than how they were treated at camp.

Imagine being a part of a minority that was blamed for the disaster that was out of their control, and as a result were forced to leave behind everything. This was a nightmare that became a reality for the Japanese when President Franklin Roosevelt passed the Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, which allowed the government authorized the internment of tens of thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry and resident aliens from Japan. Over 120,000 innocent citizens of California, Arizona, and Oregon faced unjust and unconstitutional treatments by their own government, who was supposed to protect citizen’s rights but made the Japanese feel the complete opposite. The internment camps impacted the Japanese-American citizens tremendously in the areas of finances, social status, and physiological well-being.

More than 110,000 Japanese Americans living on the west coast of the United States were forced and placed into internment camp. Many believe that the internment camps were necessary for national defense. Conversely, I believe that the actions taken place at time of war were unnecessary and racist acts. Throughout this paper, I will discuss how and why the removal of the Japanese-Americans was uncalled for and harsh, while addressing the counterpoint. The first reason I believe that the Internment camps were despotic is that for other war like situations, no actions this harsh were taken.

The Japanese-American internment did not have a logical reason for its doing. “There is no Japanese “problem” on the coast,” (Munson, 3). Munson states there is no problem on the West Coast with the Japanese. As a “rebuttal”, Lt. Gen. DeWitt states in a government report that ”it is better to have had this protection and not to have needed it than to have needed it and not to have had it,” (DeWitt, 1). DeWitt proposes the argument that America did it out of fear of another attack by the Japanese. However,

The internment of Japanese-Americans serves as an illustrious example to demonstrate the abysmal execution of this protection. By looking back at events such as this, the people of the United States can prevent acts of this nature from transpiring again. More specifically, it is the responsibility of the judicial branch to ensure the equal protection of the law. Judicial figures should aid in this cause by being more vigilant in assessing laws carried out by the Legislative and Judicial branches of

On February 19th, 1942, president Teddy Roosevelt signed executive orders to have all Japanese Americans on the west coast be removed detained and excluded. Without a question answered, the Japanese Americans were interned by the U.S government's orders. America was at war with the Japanese, so they took extra precautions to make sure America was at its safest. Although this was only out of protection, the U.S government did not do the right thing by interning the Japanese Americans. The government didn’t understand how to handle a precaution like this, the people made false accusations about the Japanese, and since they had Japanese ancestors and they were already at war with the Japanese, not many people had much trust in them, if not any.

When President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 in 1942, he effectively gave the order to displace over 120,000 Japanese-Americans -- forcing them to leave their old lives behind and attempt to find solace in internment camps across the nation. This was a huge blow towards racial equality in the name of ‘national security’. While critics may argue that the American government was justified in their actions due to the fear cultivated through the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, rounding up every citizen of Japanese descent -- even those born on American soil -- was not only a violation of the Japanese-American citizens most basic individual rights, but also an infringement on how the justice system in America operated as well.

The decision to relocate Japanese-Americans to internment camps during World War II was an impurity in the United States’ reputation for maintaining democracy and individual rights. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor during World War II, great hysteria spread through the United States, urging President Roosevelt to pass the now infamous Executive Order 9066, ordering the removal of all people of Japanese-American descent. More than 100,000 people were displaced and their lives were changed forever (Tremayne). The tragedies that these people suffered bring into question the reasoning behind the order and its constitutionality. Challenges were made to the constitutionality of the order in cases such as Korematsu vs. the United States that were ruled down. With hindsight bias, the immorality of Executive Order 9066 seems obvious, yet many at the time strongly felt that the right decision had taken place (“Personal Justice Denied”). The circumstances of war made the lines of morality blurry, distorting the decisions made. The Japanese American Relocation was an act of racism more than an act of protection, and was motivated primarily by a fear of foreign people.

In the early 1940’s, the United States was riddled with emotion as they had just joined the great and bloody World War II. Many Americans blamed this on the Japanese because of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, therefore, causing more racism and suspicion of the Japanese Americans living in the United States. On February 19, 1492, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorized the internment of the Japanese within the United States. The Japanese Internment was an order that was immoral and unconstitutional, there was no need for the order other than to satiate the fear of the American people, and the Japanese Americans affected by it were emotionally, physically, and economically harmed by the effects of this tragic

The evacuation of Japanese-American’s in the West Coast is seen as one of the darkest times in American history. The rising tension between the United States and Japan, leading up to the Attack on Pearl Harbor, made the decision for the evacuation much easier. Military and political motives both played a vital role in the action to separate Japanese-Americans from the rest of society during the 1940s. The purpose plays a very large role in the constitutionality of each case, as one has a stronger case than the other. Regardless if the evacuation was constitutional or not, the morality of it is still the same.

During the Imperialist Japan’s bombing of pearl harbor, struct fear for Americans and created a misconception that Asian, main centralizing on the Japanese, are worried that one might be a double agent or a traitor. The American government initiated a temporary legislation to arrest people from Japan for the the safety of the greater good for the United States of America. Victims who are prosecuted and arrested to undergo in a highly surveilled internment camps start to question their social title and what it really meant to be a citizen in the United States of America. They devoted and took oath of the American flag in order to become a citizen of the United States, but the loyalty and their trust to their country ended up stabbing them in the back. Frustrated and livid Japanese Americans protested and fought against these unlawful act of illegally captivating Japanese People without an unreasonable doubt that they are traitors to the country. The act that the United States took upon themselves without any second thought to the interned the Japanese is immoral and unjust. Fred Korematsu, fought the legislation and took up to the supreme court in hope to free his people. Korematsu taught and believed that “in school they taught us that all people are equal in this country, regardless of race and religion. I’m an American interning people just because of their race is simply wrong” (Chandler37). Fred Korematsu protest and resistance again the federal government and they legislation against the Japanese community incriminates and entire race due to a terrorized act of another company doesn't mean it is just to label the entire

Become a citizen of one of the best nations in the world is a privilege that not many people have. I’m talking about the United States of America. If you are an U.S natural born citizen you have rights and responsibilities that protect you based on the Declaration of Independence and the U.S Constitution. People who are in the position to become U.S. citizens gain the same rights, privileges, and responsibilities of citizenship as natural born American with the only restriction that they can’t be eligible for President of the United States.