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Incarcerated Japanese-American Citizens During World War II

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If I was one of the thousands of incarcerated Japanese-American "citizens" during World War II, and I was asked to pledge my allegiance to a country of which I could not even attain a valid citizenship, a country that had imprisoned myself and my family because of our ethnicity, it would be an easy decision. No. Furthermore, if they expressed their audacity by asking me if I would be willing to serve in their military, my answer would be synonymous. No. Even with the numerous consequences that would come with my chosen responses, I wouldn 't change them for the world.

The American government mistakenly considered those who were deemed disloyal a threat to the United States. Because of that, the obvious red flag to answering no and no, respectively, to Questions 27 and 28 on the loyalty questionnaire, was being separated from the other inmates and isolated at a concentration camp called Tule Lake. The conditions at Tule Lake were filthy and overcrowded, and riots and protests were commonplace. Those who protested against their imprisonment were often sent to federal jail. However, …show more content…

However, most Japanese-Americans weren 't sent to Tule Lake. Most Japanese-Americans answered affirmatively to Questions 27 and 28 on the loyalty questionnaire. Why would they do this despite the clear violation of their civil rights? They did it for a few different reasons. One of them was the spread of patriotism. Many of those Japanese-American citizens believed that the way to be pardoned for their uncommitted crimes, to become a true citizen of the United States, was to enlist into the American military. Another reason is that many Japanese-Americans were very fearful of what the American government had the capability of doing to them. For example, the term "concentration camp" incited fear in many of the Japanese, as during that time, while Adolf Hitler was in power in Germany, concentration camps were where the Jewish people were sent to and where they would most often be

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At the time of the order, the nation was devastated by the attack on Pearl Harbor and citizens feared another attack was imminent. Many people believed that the Japanese Americans were still loyal to Japan and would act as spies despite the fact that almost two-thirds of the internees were United States citizens. While moving to the camps, the internees were only allowed to carry bedding, toiletries and clothing with them. They could only bring whatever they could carry themselves. The Japanese did not know where they were going or for how long they would be

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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.

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This brings up another issue, and put this group of people in such a hard situation. The first question they were asked was, “Are you willing to serve in the United States Armed Forces?”, and the second question read, “If you swear allegiance to the United States and forswear allegiance to Japan and its empire?”. Answering “no” to one or both of those questions would get one sent to an internment camp, and the nickname a “No-No Boy”, referring to your answers on the questionnaire. That is what gave the

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286 Words | 2 Pages

Overall, the Japanese were interned during World War one because they were seen as a hypothetical threat to U.S security. The U.S viewed the Japanese population as saboteurs and more specifically, a threat national security. In document B of the Japanese internment DBQ it describes how the U.S racistly generalized the Japanese as Saboteurs who would easily destroy anything in their sight. With the mass hysteria in regards to the stereotype, the U.S too more precaution in regards to the Japanese community and imprisoned them. Moreover, another reason the Japanese were interned is because the Japanese only posed a threat to American security on the West coast.

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552 Words | 3 Pages

More than 25,000 japanese americans have served the army and not a single case of japanese disloyalty was made during the whole war. This just further proves my statement. Not only did the japanese americans who were imprisoned proven to have no intentions of betraying america, but such harsh measures were never taken against the german or italian nationals.

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571 Words | 3 Pages

The government then imprisoned over 100,000 Japanese Americans in internment camps in fear of them becoming traitors. They had also taken any radios and kept them away from the coast. Japanese american men were allowed to fight in the war but only in europe not in the pacific. The japanese americans made supplies for the troops when they were in the camps. The camps were crowded and provided poor living conditions.

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One of the most trouble was the denial of naturalization rights. This eliminated one of the standard paths by which immigrants had been able to protect their rights. Some Japanese immigrants volunteered for military service as an avenue to gaining citizenship. Making up over one-third of the population in Hawaii, Japanese Americans were the first to enlist. One of the main reasons that the internment of the Japanese was not justifiable was because it violated their human rights on a basic level.

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The would make sure that all traitors would be unable to hurt the United States again. Yet the majority of the people taken into the internment camps were innocent and loyal to the United States, rather than Japan. Even the president realized that was they were doing was unjust. He told the Sacramento Bee that it is one thing to bring people to internment camps for the safety of a nation, but it is another to take away the rights and possessions of innocent, loyal Americans. (14).

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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.

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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.

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It did not matter the age, status, or class all persons with Japanese ancestry were required to leave

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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.

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If I was alive during the 1940s when the Japanese-American internment happened I would’ve been so scared to see those people disappearing and being taken away to internment camps. I would’ve wanted to hide those people in my house or speak up to the government. I don’t know what I would do if my family or people I knew were being put in internment camps, I think I would’ve fought harder to free them. I would take a stand against the government and protest. I personally feel much anger towards the government.

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571 Words | 3 Pages

As stated in the Imprisoned book, “For most, there was a whole and difficult language to learn and confusing customs to experience. And almost none were prepared for the resistance they would receive from native-born American workers who were fearful of losing their jobs to foreigners willing to work at lower wages in order to get a start in their new country” (6). It also states “Now Japanese became the target of hatred “ (9) . This lack of understanding of the language made it difficult for the Japanese Americans to protect themselves, as they were unable to comprehend the proceedings or the paperwork they were signing. This led to Japanese Americans feeling powerless and unable to defend themselves.

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804 Words | 4 Pages

“The entire Japanese problem has been magnified out of its true proportion largely due to the physical characteristics of the people” (Martin 31). The Japanese didn’t resist being kicked because they felt like if they complied to prove their allegiance (Sandler 45). The Americans betrayed them out of fear. It was fear that drove the

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