The Violence of Japanese-American Internment Camps

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

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

After the attack on the Pearl Harbor in 1941, a surprise military strike by the Japanese Navy air service, United States was thrilled and it provoked World War II. Two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. President FDR ordered all Japanese-Americans regardless of their loyalty or citizenship, to evacuate the West Coast. This resulted over 127,000 people of Japanese descent relocate across the country in the Japanese Internment camps. Many of them were American Citizens but their crime was being of Japanese ancestry. They were forced to evacuate their homes and leave their jobs and in some cases family members were separated and put into different internment camps. There were ten internment camps were placed in “California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas”(History.com). However, until the camps were fully build, the Japanese people were held in temporary centers. In addition, almost two-thirds of the interns were Japanese Americans born in the United States and It made no difference that many of them had never even been to Japan. Also, Japanese-American veterans of World War I were forced to leave their homes and relocate in the internment camps. Japanese families in internment camps dined together, children were expected to attend school, and adults had the option of working for earning $5 per day. The United States government hoped that the internment camps could make it self-sufficient by farming to produce food.

In February of 1942, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066; this gave the foundation for the mass relocation of more than 110,000 persons of Japanese ancestry to internment camps. This mass relocation caused Japanese Americans -on the West Coast- to be removed from their homes for the majority of World War II. After a year of surviving in addition to waiting in the camps, the Japanese Nisei were allowed to join the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Making up the entirety of the regiment, the Japanese Nisei fought for their country during the events of World War II. During these events, the Japanese Nisei compromised their self-pride along with their lives for their country. Notwithstanding the fact of facing the battle on two fronts -the prejudice at home plus the fight on the enemy’s front- the Japanese Nisei of the 442nd RCT (Regimental Combat Team) came back from the war as Japanese American citizens, not “Japs.”

In many times throughout history groups of people have been discriminated against based on race or religion. These people receive inferior rights because of the discrimination. In some cases they do not get citizenship, in others they are segregated from others, and physically harmed. Two groups of people that faced discrimination near World War II (WWII) were the Jewish people and Japanese Americans. Both groups faced very different types of discrimination by different oppressors with different motives yet their treatment was very similar and many events paralleled each other. The treatment of Japanese in WWII internment camps was as harsh as the Holocaust's treatment of the Jewish people.

The relocation of thousands of Japanese-Americans would spark debates throughout the country. In a quote from PBS, “The head of the California Grower-Shipper Vegetable Association told the Saturday Evening Post: ‘If all of the Japs were removed tomorrow, we’d never miss them… because the white farmers can take over and produce everything the Jap grows. And we don’t want them back when the war ends, either.’”(PBS.org, 2007) There was also Japanese-American sympathizers that did not agree with Presidents Roosevelts Executive Order 9066. These sympathizers would write the

Two months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Executive Order 9066. This forced all Japanese-Americans, regardless of loyalty or citizenship to evacuate to the West Coast. The relocation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps during World War II was one of the most flagrant violations of civil liberties in American history.

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.

With this in the back of my mind, my quest for the real reasons that the Japanese were targeted began. I thought of the conflict at Pearl Harbor first, so I set out to find what even incited this original Japanese-American divergence.

According to Johan Galtung, structural violence is defined as “a form of violence wherein some social structure or social institution may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs.” The American government forced hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans into internment camps just because of their ethnicity. It did not matter if you were born here or not. If you were Japanese, you were trouble and were thrown into a work camp. Because of the fear instilled into the American people after the attacks on Pearl Harbor, everyone turned against the Japanese. 2/3 of the camp workers were American born. Before being sent away to the camps, the workers were kept in stockyards, fairgrounds, and race tracks. At the camps there was no heat and food was rationed. Workers had to pay .48 to eat per meal per day. These people’s basic human rights were taken from them and they were treated unfairly. The reconciliation was when the camps were closed in January of 1945. The government ended up paying the people who were in the camps a total of $37,000,000 total and an additional $20,000 to each individual that was still alive in 1988 due to a persuasion from the Japanese

During WWII, many Japanese-American citizens were imprisoned. They were imprisoned for being from the Japanese decent. There was no evidence to convict these people but they still were imprisoned. Many Japanese came to the West Coast, which caused Americans some paranoia. Americans thought that the Japanese might be terrorists in disguise. In February of 1942, President Roosevelt ordered Americans of Japanese to be sent to concentration camps which were located in various areas of the United States. There were many aspects to the imprisonment of the Japanese-Americans such as their life before coming to the camps, the executive order 9066, and what it was like being in the concentration camps.

“The relocation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps during World War II was one of the most flagrant violations of civil liberties in American history.” The event of Japanese internment camps occurred from 1942 to 1946. During that time, the imprisonment of the Japanese-Americans had an effect on both Americans and Japanese-Americans, for many Americans had lost friends and family, and many Japanese-Americans had lost the same. In 1942 Franklin D. Roosevelt unfairly ordered the evacuation of all Japanese ancestry into internment camps around the United States and split up countless Japanese families.

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.

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.