Japanese Internment Camps Discrimination

How would you feel if one day you were told to leave your whole life behind to live in captivity just because people halfway across the world did something wrong? This horror story was all too true for the thousands of Japanese Americans alive during World War II. Almost overnight, thousands of proud Japanese Americans living on the west coast were forced to leave their homes and give up the life they knew. The United States government was not justified in the creation of Japanese internment camps because it stripped law-abiding American citizens of their rights out of unjustified fear. Furthermore, the United States should do more to compensate the families of those impacted by internment because the recompense provided initially was minimal and should be considered an affront to the memory of the victims.

This investigation aims to assess the extent to which Japanese-American internment from 1942 to 1946 was a violation of the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which declares that, “No person shall be… deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The question must be asked in order to examine the legality of the actions taken by the U.S. government in opposition to American citizens of Japanese extraction (Nisei) and their immigrant parents (Issei). To determine this, the scope of this investigation will concentrate on the reasons for internment and the conditions in which the Japanese people lived during 1942 and 1946, particularly in a camp called Manzanar. One method applied is to explore an oral history interview

I do not think that Roosevelt 's actions were justified in the internment of Japanese-American citizens, because there was very little evidence that the Japanese citizens were a threat to the rest of America. The Executive Order 9066 led to a lot of changes for Japanese-American citizens. The Executive Order 9066 was signed by President Roosevelt two weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, and this authorized the removal of any or all people from military areas "as deemed necessary or desirable." This affected the Japanese-American citizens because the military then defined the entire West Coast, which was home to the majority of Japanese-Americans, as a military area. This then led them to relocate to internment camps, built by the U.S military in scattered locations around the country. For the next two and a half years, many of these Japanese-American citizens endured poor living conditions are poor treatment by their military guards, along with the rest of the country.

One reason why the U.S government’s decision was not justifiable is because many of the Japanese-Americans were innocent people who legally received their American citizenship. For example, in Monica Sone’s “Camp Harmony”,

The internment of Japanese Americans during WWII was not justified. After Pearl Harbor, many Americans were scared of the Japanese Americans because they could sabotage the U.S. military. To try and solve the fear President Franklin D Roosevelt told the army in Executive order 9066 to relocate all Japanese Americans living on the West Coast. They were relocated to detention centers in the desert. Many of them were in the detention centers for three years.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt made a decision that would change the lives of Japanese-Americans on February 19, 1942, two months following the Japanese bombings on Pearl Harbor. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the internment of over 110,000 American citizens of Japanese ancestry and resident immigrants from Japan1. Meaning that Japanese-Americans, regardless of their U.S. citizenship, were forced to evacuate their homes and businesses and then proceed to move to remote war relocation and internment camps run by the U.S. Government.

To start off, Americans weren’t affected by the Japanese Internment Camps as much as Germans, and those in surrounding countries, were by the Nazi Concentration Camps. As said in the American Propaganda Video, Japanese-Americans were, “...potentially dangerous…” and that the relocation of them was, “...with real consideration for the people involved.” Most Americans didn’t know the truth about the Japanese Internment Camps so they were, if anything, comfortable with the decision. However, this wasn’t the case with the Nazi Concentration Camps. Germans who didn’t remain loyal to Hitler were sent to a Concentration Camp, leaving thousands of Germans living in fear. Other countries, like Poland, were also affected by this, Concentration Camps were built in Poland and all Jewish people living in Poland were put into a camp. Additionally, the effects the camps have on people today are completely different. Even today the Holocaust is affecting Jewish people. Many survivors need therapy because of what happened inside of the camps and a lot refrain from telling their experiences because it brings back painful memories. On the other hand, the majority of Japanese-Americans that survived were left in a stable position with less long term effects when compared to the Nazi Concentration Camps. Above

The internment of Japanese-Americans was justified because there were Japanese suspects. Between ten internment camps in Arizona, California, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas, about 250-300 people in each camp were suspects under surveillance. Only around 50-60 people were actually considered dangerous. “It is easy to get on the suspect list, merely a speech in favor of Japan being sufficient to land one there” (Munson 2). Clearly, America was taking extreme precautions. If they would have let one of them leave, they could have rebelled. This is a main reason why Japanese suspects had to be taken away to keep the United States population safe. “It will be hard for them to get near anything to blow up if it is guarded” (Munson 2).

No innocent people like the Japanese Americans should have been punished or looked as bad people because of their ancestry. The bombing of Pearl Harbor caused the U.S. to fear the Japanese Americans, so they placed them in internment camps. Japanese Americans shouldn’t of been punished because most of them were born and raised on the West Coast. The condition of the camps were often not pleasant. Japanese Americans were viewed as alien and untrustworthy, and isolated from others. Life of a Japanese American was harsh and scary because you never knew what the mad people would do.

It ties into explore by the government making the decision of signing Executive Order 9066. The government explored new ways of keeping any Japanese spies contained in internment campss. After Pearl Harbor, the Japanese experienced racism and exclusion of other people. Signs were put on stores and neighborhoods saying, “No Japs!” Also, military was encountered on a daily basis for the Japanese while in internment camp. Guards made sure that there would be no escapees by surrounding the camp with guard towers. Finally, the government exchanged human rights for the safety of the country. They forced the Japanese into internment camps for two years. The people of Japanese ancestry had their rights taken away from them in order to keep spies from giving critical information to Japan while World War II. Japan finally lost the war, allowing the internees to be set

As opposed to righteous view that America was safeguarding its position in the war, the Japanese American internments were created out of resentment and racial prejudice fostered by other Americans. As the article “Personal Justice Denied” stated, the internments were led by “widespread ignorance of Japanese Americans contributed to a policy conceived in haste and executed in an atmosphere of fear and anger at Japan” (Doc E, 1983). It may seem like a precautionary cause to make internments but there aren’t any other extreme measures for other fronts. Caused by a hatred stirred by media and society’s view, many people disdain the Japanese. Even at the high levels of government, officials share similar prejudices. In this sense, there was very

In the CNN article “Muslim hearings recall my life in internment camps,” Rep. Michael Honda claims that during his experience in internment in World War II, the people were treated like cattles. Regardless of whether they were born in America or patriotic Americans and obeying the law, and providing to the American economy, they were considering at the enemies during the war. Yet, there was no reasonable answer for them to be imprisoned. After 65 years, the devastating event of September 11 happened and the similar experience of Rep. Michael Honda had reoccurred, but this time, it was targeting the Muslim Americans.

Because of Japan’s attack, the United States had to get involved with the war and defend themselves. They made all generations of Japanese people go into internment camps, but these camps were different from concentration camps. Although they were in camps, the japanese weren’t treated as bad as the Jewish people in concentration camps during the Holocaust. All they did was to work and they had places to stay in, even though they weren’t so bad. Although they were called internment camps, President Roosevelt called them concentration camps, yet they were treated

They had to live in harsh conditions and give up their freedom. All in the name of “national security.” Japanese Americans struggled dealing with the knowledge that their freedom had been stripped away. Though many were American-born Citizens they were treated as tough they were foreigners, treated as prisoners in their own country. For years these American citizens had trusted their country. They had been proud to call themselves Americans, but the country they were loyal to turned on them. Japanese internment camps caused Japanese American Families to lose things they held dearest to them. All because of fear and racism going hand in

In the beginning of WWII there were 9 million jews, by the end of WWII there were 3 million, killing 6 million jews altogether. Hitler was a ruthless, evil man who inflicted pain and suffering on people who were not like him. The japanese had it good compared to the jews, even though they were removed from their homes, detained in special camps, and eventually relocated. The jews were tortured. Japanese internment camps are essentially not the same as jewish concentration camps because the jewish concentration camps were much more harsh than the japanese internment camps, 6 million jews died from being tortured at the camps, and the jews feared going to the camps.