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I've recently been inspired to read up on this, partly because I have longtime friends whose lives were jammed up by the internment camps. Is anyone else interested in the subject, or might you perhaps have stories to relate? The thing that still shocks me is that most of those 'interned' were born American citizens (Nisei, or second generation). It would be one thing to intern enemy nationals during wartime, although it should be pointed out that Japanese immigrants (Issei is the correct term for this first generation) were specifically barred from citizenship at the time. So they can't apply for citizenship, then get locked up as non-citizens...good lord. I think I'm catching a virulent 22 somewhere.
The more I study this entire episode the more I see how fatuous the defenses of 'internment' are. It was not for the Japanese Americans' protection against rapacious bigots, as evidenced by the simple fact that the weapons at the camps were facing inward. Plus, it's abrogating a duty of law enforcement: to protect law-abiding citizens and residents. I mean, really. Violence against women (and girls) has long been a serious problem that traumatizes a significant percentage of the female population sometime in their lives, but no one thinks the solution to that would be to lock the women up and prevent them from leaving via armed force. You don't lock up the innocent to protect them from crime; you deploy armed force to protect the innocent as best you can, you investigate crimes against them, and if you catch the criminal, you throw him (or her) in jail. Certainly not the victim.
It wasn't our only episode of bigotry run amok (as any Indian, Chinese or black person knows quite well; so for that matter do we of Irish heritage), but it was certainly one of the most recent and self-mutilating. We'll never know how much of the war effort's energy was wasted incarcerating innocent citizens and residents.
Not only could that effort have been deployed against the real enemy, but that effort would have had the avid support of over a hundred thousand people with every motivation to demonstrate their loyalty, courage, diligence and belonging. To gauge the level of benefit there, one may remember that during this era, elements of Japanese culture remained strong within the community. No one denies the dedication and valor with which Japan's people prosecuted the war. A hundred thousand loyal Americans with that level of dedication, able to apply it to our own war effort, would have been of tremendous value. A sample of what we might have had on a larger scale is easily seen in the wartime record of the famous 442nd Infantry.
My readings indicate that at most, the number of Nikkei actually sympathizing with Japan in the war effort represented a tiny percentage--certainly in the low four figures. And if those individuals were found to pose a specific threat or actually committed sabotage or espionage, I'm guessing we could have locked them up with the compliments of the vast majority of loyal Nikkei--just as those few German- or Italian-Americans who dared assist the enemy war effort could justly be (and were) thrown in a cell.
I believe we must remember this situation every time a situation of national tension creates xenophobia. It is never okay to punish many loyal innocents out of fear of a very few. If we are to grow as a nation we must move past that.
I've recently been inspired to read up on this, partly because I have longtime friends whose lives were jammed up by the internment camps. Is anyone else interested in the subject, or might you perhaps have stories to relate? The thing that still shocks me is that most of those 'interned' were born American citizens (Nisei, or second generation). It would be one thing to intern enemy nationals during wartime, although it should be pointed out that Japanese immigrants (Issei is the correct term for this first generation) were specifically barred from citizenship at the time. So they can't apply for citizenship, then get locked up as non-citizens...good lord. I think I'm catching a virulent 22 somewhere.
The more I study this entire episode the more I see how fatuous the defenses of 'internment' are. It was not for the Japanese Americans' protection against rapacious bigots, as evidenced by the simple fact that the weapons at the camps were facing inward. Plus, it's abrogating a duty of law enforcement: to protect law-abiding citizens and residents. I mean, really. Violence against women (and girls) has long been a serious problem that traumatizes a significant percentage of the female population sometime in their lives, but no one thinks the solution to that would be to lock the women up and prevent them from leaving via armed force. You don't lock up the innocent to protect them from crime; you deploy armed force to protect the innocent as best you can, you investigate crimes against them, and if you catch the criminal, you throw him (or her) in jail. Certainly not the victim.
It wasn't our only episode of bigotry run amok (as any Indian, Chinese or black person knows quite well; so for that matter do we of Irish heritage), but it was certainly one of the most recent and self-mutilating. We'll never know how much of the war effort's energy was wasted incarcerating innocent citizens and residents.
Not only could that effort have been deployed against the real enemy, but that effort would have had the avid support of over a hundred thousand people with every motivation to demonstrate their loyalty, courage, diligence and belonging. To gauge the level of benefit there, one may remember that during this era, elements of Japanese culture remained strong within the community. No one denies the dedication and valor with which Japan's people prosecuted the war. A hundred thousand loyal Americans with that level of dedication, able to apply it to our own war effort, would have been of tremendous value. A sample of what we might have had on a larger scale is easily seen in the wartime record of the famous 442nd Infantry.
My readings indicate that at most, the number of Nikkei actually sympathizing with Japan in the war effort represented a tiny percentage--certainly in the low four figures. And if those individuals were found to pose a specific threat or actually committed sabotage or espionage, I'm guessing we could have locked them up with the compliments of the vast majority of loyal Nikkei--just as those few German- or Italian-Americans who dared assist the enemy war effort could justly be (and were) thrown in a cell.
I believe we must remember this situation every time a situation of national tension creates xenophobia. It is never okay to punish many loyal innocents out of fear of a very few. If we are to grow as a nation we must move past that.
It dosent really matter, the President of the United States has the authority to detain all nationals of a nation that the US is officially at war with under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 period.
It dosent really matter, the President of the United States has the authority to detain all nationals of a nation that the US is officially at war with under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 period.
That does not make it right, just, fair or American. Nor does that apply to American citizens, as most of the detainees were. It most assuredly does matter.
That does not make it right, just, fair or American. Nor does that apply to American citizens, as most of the detainees were. It most assuredly does matter.
The interment of American citizens of Japanese DESCENT certainly WAS an ugly chapter in US history. Racism was most certainly involved. Also the uniquely "sneaky" attack on Pearl Harbor caused a resentment and "rage" among the American public unlike anything that happened in 'far off Europe'.
We can't really JUSTIFY what happened (I know a NUMBER of people myself who were interred...(a few as adults.... most of the ones who I know were children at the time). We can only try to 'analyze' it in view of our current 'War on Terror' and '9-11'.
It must be remembered that, beyond the obvious angle of racism, many Americans were terrified of the Japanese, their recent gruesome record in China and Manchuria, and were CONVINCED (rightly or wrongly) that the Japanese emperor was a "God". (This was FURTHER confirmed later on when reports started coming in about suicidal 'kamikaze' pilots.
Here on the West Coast, people were SURE we were about to be invaded...and as a matter of fact, the coast of California and Oregon DID get hit with a few incendiary bombs. (the ones designed to ignite forest fires). Night time blackouts were rigidly enforced, and a 'seige-like' mentality took over.
Looking back, it was probably a combination of SEVERAL things that caused this sorry situation....Racism, PLUS the very real sense of vulnerability here on the coast, PLUS the impression of the Japanese as a 'fanatical' enemy, willing to commit suicide for the sake of their "God-like" emperor. That led to 'mass hysteria' and the unhappy legacy of the relocation camps.
The fact that many young men volunteered to HELP America fight (in Europe), all at the same time their PARENTS sat behind barbed wire, did MUCH to raise the status of the Japanese Americans in the eyes of their fellow citizens.
One of the most controversial statements on all this came from none other than "crusty" old "Senator Sam" himself...S.I. Hayakawa. Born in Vancouver, BC, Hayakawa as a California senator was FAMOUS for outrageous 'zingers'. and ONE of these was his insistence that the interment experience HELPED the Japanese-American community by "forcing" them out into mainstream society decades before it might have happened 'naturally'.
My reading on the subject tends to suggest that the internment was the culmination of fifty years of 'they're just not like us' anti-Nikkei sentiment. Some of the things newspapers said about Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans (the distinction is difficult, as Japanese immigrants (Issei) could not apply for citizenship, though most would have done so in a heartbeat; their children (Nisei), were citizens by birth), even during WWI when Japan was an ally of the United States and hostile to the Central Powers, really blew my mind.
The various communities of Issei and Nisei wanted to maintain Japanese values they cherished, but they also saw the need to integrate and associate with the majority if they didn't want to be perpetual outsiders. Every time those two goals came into conflict, Nikkei sentiment was to shift toward integration, which in fact was a very Japanese value: the ability to be a good part of your community and not cause trouble. In some areas that paid them significant dividends, but when 1942 came the hysteria washed away all their efforts.
That's why I think that the 1942 internments/confiscations should not be seen in a purely WWII context. By that time, the notion of Japanese Americans as 'not really American' was pretty well entrenched despite all the best efforts of the Nikkei community. Irony: despite having Japanese afternoon schools in some Nikkei areas, designed to teach the kids some Japanese values and manners and language, the Nisei were fast becoming American. Nisei who attended these schools later described the experience just about like any other typical American teenager would: "BORRRRRR-ing. We had to go, but some of us acted up and most didn't pay attention." What's more American than kids wanting to skip school and go play?
Further irony: while the Pacific coast was feared to be a war zone, except for a few isolated incidents, it saw no action. The Atlantic coast was another story. U-boat attacks took a terrible toll early in US participation, until the US finally decided to learn from the British experience. There was real potential for German-sympathizing collaborators on the Atlantic coast to do serious damage by directly aiding the Kriegsmarine's undersea warfare efforts. Did we intern all second-generation German-Americans in Atlantic coastal states? I'm thinking we did not.
German americans were seen as american because they were white but japanese americans were not white so they had to be locked up.. Because at that time american=white.
German americans were seen as american because they were white but japanese americans were not white so they had to be locked up.. Because at that time american=white.
I'll tell you right here right now that even today, in the mind of VERY large percentage of Americans, American still equals and only equals to white. There are many studies regarding this subject published, for example, in a poll, most people believed Kate Winslet is American while Lucy Liu isn't or at least not as American as Kate Winslet.
Many foreign students I know mentioned that they had the experience of being lectured by some Americans on how they should speak English even among themselves because they live in America. I guess whoever that "real" Americans are, they probably aren't aware that English isn't the language of America. There is a still very prevalent mindset among mainly white Americans that basically says "I'm American, therefore anybody different from me must not be American", heck, even among white Americans, certain people consider certain political and religious belief to be badge of "true Americanness", Sarah Palin's numerous proclamation regarding so called "TRUE Americans" spoke volume of certain deeply held attitude. My friends, don't be too optimistic, had US found itself again in a really large scale war, I won't be surprised to see at least some kind of serious push by certain political force to repeat the whole internment policy again.
Originally Posted by Maki-Chan German americans were seen as american because they were white but japanese americans were not white so they had to be locked up.. Because at that time american=white
newsflash, japanese were honary whites, and germans face discrimination during the 40's because of hitler and the senate rejected a wisconsin elected socialist because he was german, german business were forced to change their names to more american names at the time which is basically english american style name to prevent backlash and violence from non germans
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