Download Japanese internment

Japanese-American
Internment
 Purpose: Prevent
possible sabotage
 Result of:
existing
prejudice towards
Japanese
Americans
 Anti-Japanese
began with
Japanese
immigration in the
1890s
 Americans called
this the “Yellow
Flood”
 Over 100,000
Japanese
immigrated
 White Americans saw the Japanese as
economic competition during the
Depression
 Created a strong and enduring resentment
of Japanese immigrants and their
descendents.
“Of all the races ineligible to [sic]
citizenship, the Japanese are the least
assimilable and the most dangerous to the
country. … They come … for the purpose of
colonizing and establishing here the proud
Yamato race. They never cease to be
Japanese.”
-Valentine S. McClatchy,
A wealthy California Newspaper owner testifying to Congress.
 Resentment of
Japanese grew
into an
unfounded
suspicion of
treachery based
more on racism
than actual
evidence
 Government placed
restrictions on
Japanese Americans
and their movements
 Executive Order 9066
allowed the military
to intern anyone
they felt necessary
 Lieutenant General
John L. De Witt
given power to
relocate those he
saw fit
“For the most part the local Japanese are loyal to
the United States … We do not believe that they
would be at the least any more disloyal than any
other racial group in the United States with whom
we went to war.”
-Curtis Munson
State Department
“A Jap is a Jap. They are a dangerous
element … There is no way to determine
their loyalty … It makes no difference
whether he is an American; theoretically
he is still a Japanese, and you can’t
change him … by giving him a piece of
paper.”
- General De Witt,
speaking to a congressional committee.
 Vast majority of Japanese Americans
were loyal to the US
 Tried to show loyalty despite
discrimination
 "[I pledge to] assume my duties and obligations as
a citizen, cheerfully and without any reservations
whatsoever, in the hope that I may become a better
American in a greater America.”
- Japanese American Citizens League Pledge
 No Japanese American was ever
convicted of treason during World War
II
 “[Though Japanese internment] was justified to us on
the grounds that the Japanese were potentially
disloyal, the record does not disclose a single
case of Japanese disloyalty.”
-Henry Steele Commager
Writer for Harper’s Magazine
 Military singled out
the Japanese
Americans for
relocation
 Restrictions were not
equally applied
 Restrictions fell
harder on Japanese
descent rather than
Italians or Germans
70
internment
camps were
spread out
over the
country
Gila River, AZ
Heart Mountain, WY
Western area internment camps
 George Takei (Star Trek’s Mr.Sulu)
was placed in a camp in Rohwer,
Arkansas
 Brothers & sister were given a tag
to wear which identified his family
 Transported on buses and trains –
most possessions either sold or
left behind
 Incarceration
and seizure of
property without
justification
violated due
process of law
 Deprivation of
equal protection
under the law
violated the
Constitution
Section One, Article Fourteen of the Constitution
of the United States:
“All persons born or naturalized in the United
States … are citizens of the United States and of
the States wherein they reside.
No State shall make or enforce any law which
shall abridge [their] privileges and
immunities … [nor] deprive life, liberty, or
property, without due process of law; nor deny
to an person … the equal protection of the
laws.”
 War hysteria and
sense of control
resulted
in this injustice
American Evacuation
Claims Act of 1948
 Government paid
$2,500 to each
Japanese
American
individual who
was put into an
internment camp
“Congress recognizes that,
as described in the
Commission on Wartime
Relocation and Internment
of Civilians, a grave
injustice was done to both
citizens and permanent
residents of Japanese
ancestry by the evacuation,
relocation, and internment
of civilians during World
War II.”
Civil Liberties Act of 1988
 Acknowledge the injustice
 To apologize on behalf of the
people of the United States
 Provide a public education
fund to inform the public
about the internment
 Make restitution to those
Japanese who were interned