Attack in Pearl Harbor in December 1941 shocked United States to its core. It signaled not only an utter destruction of an important naval base and the loss of many lives, it in the first place signified the beginning of a great struggle for nation’s survival. At time when France fails to Germany, and Russia and Great Britain are at the verge of failing, nothing seemed to prevent the Nazi and its powerful allies to conquer the world. And though Attack in Pearl Harbor was shocking, the nightmare of expected upcoming tribulations was much greater.
While incidents similar to that in Pearl Harbor were perhaps unconsciously expected by many Americans as they were observing great struggles on European scenes of war, they still couldn’t accept so miserable defeat of their naval base. As Hitler came to blame the German Jews for the defeat of Germany in WWI, Americans came to blame the American Japanese for the defeat of their forces in Pearl Harbor. As there was no solid evidence of the German Jews treacheries activities against their German government also there was no conclusive evidence of even a single American Japanese engaged in treason against America.
Regardless how justifiable Internment of Japanese though to be during World War II (and by some today), it occupies, according to most historians an infamous place in American history. However it is possible to learn how to shape foresight policies during similar cases, if we learn from hindsight.
“What did the Internment of Japanese American Mean” book, edited by Alice Yang Murray introduces through 5 different essay, different aspects of Japanese internment: “Reasons for internment”, “Legality of internment then and after”, “Precedents of Japanese internment abroad”, “Resistance to internment by Japanese Americans”, “Perception of internment by the Japanese American families and communities”.
The Essay on Japanese American internment of 1942
... to the internment of the Japanese Americans as they were assisting the enemies of the country thus posing greater risks to ... the major reasons which led to the Japanese American intern was the Pearl Harbor attack which took place in 1941. This ... which American people had against the Japanese Americans. A report which suggested that espionage by the Japanese Americans had led to the Pearl Harbor ...
In the first part Roger Daniels describes the rise of paranoia against Japanese, and its underling racist motifs. He then goes into describing with some details on how the decision for mass evacuation evolved in the upper echelons of the government and military. The process of arriving to the decision is described by Daniels as intermingled with prejudices and lack of evidence. “Catch 22 situation” is particularly notable in this essay, which occurred when the absence of evidence of Japanese American sabotage was perceived by many key officials as the evidence of an upcoming sabotage.
In the second essay it is described how some Japanese asserted their rights in the Court after defying the order to relocate to detention centers. And how lawsuits brought by Japanese at the beginning of relocation were ruled against by the courts, only eventually to be reexamined under procedure of coram nobis and ruled in favor of (though too late to help most Japanese to short significantly their stay in camps).
However criminal charges of those who defied the orders of internment were cleared off only 40 years after their imprisonment.
In the second essay Peter Irons also ponders on the reasons Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of internment in Gordon Hirabayashi v. United States and similar cases. Certainly, Supreme Court Justices weren’t immune from mass-paranoia and prejudices against Japanese during the trial, as well government and public pressure to uphold status quo. (As the Supreme Court justices weren’t immune to prejudices and outside pressure during Plessy v. Fergeson decision).
However even more striking is the description of how a judge was tampering with jury by asking them to rule against Japanese plaintiff.
In the third essay Michi Wegilyn mention an important fact of how Canada removed its small Japanese minority a month before United States did that, and how this might had set a precedent for United States. Moreover, Canada treated Japanese harsher by confiscating their property in order to use it for supporting internment camps. On the other hand, United States pressured many countries from Latin America to follow its example and remove anyone with Japanese ethnicity, and extradite them to United States or detain them at their detention facilities. More than a dozen of Latin America’s countries complied, and thousands of Japanese were arrested and send to US detention centers or detained locally. In this process there was some pathetic cases, for example Paraguay eagerly arrested and detained the two Japanese it had on it borders thus “contributing greatly” to the war effort.
The Essay on Japanese Canadian Internment
The Japanese Canadian internment was the forced removal of more than 22,000 Japanese Canadians during the Second World War by the government of Canada. Following the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, prominent British Columbians, including members of municipal government offices, local newspapers and businesses called for the internment of the Japanese. In British Columbia, there were fears ...
In the fourth essay it is described how Japanese Americans resisted and resented their detention. The camp of resistance analyzed in essay was Tule Lake, one of the larger and with worse than average conditions. American Japanese resistance to their internment at this camp, manifest through food and work boycotts, election of Japanese representatives unpopular with administration , defiance of the camp administration’s orders, resisting draft and application to revoke American citizenship. At the pick of tension between administration and internee, administration instead of addressing Japanese Americans’ concerns, calls army.
Finally in the fifth essay of the book, Valerie Matsumoto describes better than average conditions at a smaller camp, called Amache. Although there are many commodities at Amache camp, like schools, recreation centers, hospital, libraries and cafeteria with plenty of food, Japanese representation, the condition of Internment camp were still far to simulate home. Detainees were armed guarded, restricted in leaving the camp, required to work, leave in crowded conditions and paid very small wages. In addition the social fabric of Japanese community deteriorated significantly in any camps, when men was losing its “breadwinner” status as their wife was earning comparable (meager) amount of money, and when children without adequate supervision grew disrespectful and frequently engaging in gangs. Subsequently, we can conclude from fifth essay that even the better of camps did not offer a really decent standard of living.
As a whole, the book is organized well and it addresses the most, if not all significant issues faced by Japanese Americans in interment camps. However the book would benefit if the opposite side, the justification of internment camp, were presented more extensively and genuinely (that is by advocates of interment camps themselves).
The Term Paper on The Impact of Japanese American Internment in the US
The internment of hundred of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II is one of infamous blotches in the United States’ experience with racial discrimination and human and civil rights violations. Although less discussed in the history books than the country’s fight against discriminatory practices against the African Americans, the incarceration of the Japanese Americans, nevertheless, ...
Even while most historians condemn Japanese Internment, a balanced debate of both sides is more informative than unilateral presentation of the issue.
We could relate Japanese Internment to current history, by referring to Patriot Act. While Patriot Act doesn’t force Arab Americans into internment camps, it could be used to prosecute, and deny civil liberties to many Arab Americans, including citizens. It is possible to argue that Patriot Act is justified out of security reason as the attack during September 11 occurred from interior of the country, rather from exterior, as it happen at Pearl Harbor, nonetheless most of the Arab terrorists, lived a relatively short time in the United States and did not hold citizenship. As United States is a melting pot, even if its effect is not always apparent, the likelihood for Arab American naturalized (and especially born) citizens, as for Japanese American, to commit sabotage, is not significant greater than for a Anglo-Saxon naturalized citizen (like Timothy McVeigh) to do so. Respect for civil liberties of all Americans thus is not only just but justifiable.
