Japanese Internment Camps Essay

The United States Constitution consists of basic human rights granted to everyone in the country, which includes the First and Fourteenth Amendments. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of speech, religion, and press. The Fourteenth Amendment affirms that no state shall enforce a law that deprives a person of life, liberty, or property without due process. However, in 1942, Japanese Americans were deprived of these rights. Due to fear from the bombing of Pearl Harbor, many Japanese Americans were detained in internment camps or confinement places during wartime (“Japanese Internment,” 2007). This was deemed constitutional by Executive Order #9066, which granted military commanders the power to relocate Japanese Americans (Leither & Mersky,

This incident only assisted the anti-Asian sentiment among the nation. Many people were convinced that Japanese Americans, who were living in Hawaii at the time, assisted the Japanese forces. Americans saw Japanese immigrants in America as “dangerous enemy aliens” (Dunham, 2006) and were forced into “temporary reception centers,” called Assembly Centers (Grapes, 2001). The War Relocation Authority (WRA), established to supervise the resettlement of Japanese Americans, eventually issued orders for permanent relocation camps. Japanese internment camps were mostly located in the South West such as California, Wyoming, or Arkansas. With little hesitation despite the conditions, Japanese Americans complied. Toyo Suyemoto Kawakami, a Japanese American forced to relocate, recalls how the rooms inside the camps had “no furniture, unfinished walls, and ceilings,[and] a two-inch layer of fine dust…”(Grapes, 2001). The camps were not suitable for living. In the summer, the temperatures were suffocating and in the winter the temperatures dropped below freezing. There was no privacy as many families lived together in one unit. After the end of internment camps, in 1946, Japanese Americans slowly returned to society. Each surviving victim received $20,000 in compensation from the government along with a formal apology in 1988 (Powell, 2016). However, many Japanese Americans gave up their citizenship and went

Constitution was violated. Life with liberty and property no longer applied to Japanese citizens. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order #9066, in 1942, as a way to reassure the American nation. This order gave the U.S. military power to relocate Japanese Americans on the grounds of a way to protect national security (Watts, 2020). Japanese Americans were given a few days to sell their valuables. The Japanese had to sell their businesses, cars, and houses below the market price. Since they could only take what they could carry, most of their possessions were disposed of or lost. Some Japanese citizens attempted to hide their belongings in churches or community buildings, but most buildings were looted. Also, the U.S. soon began proceedings to gain the properties and farmlands of the Japanese Americans. This is unconstitutional because Japanese Americans, despite being Americans, had no say in their rights. Japanese Americans could not hold onto personal heirlooms, prized possessions, and homes as the Constitution promised. In addition, the Japanese American lifestyle was interrupted. Due to restrained life, family strains grew, the “traditional powers enjoyed by elder males were challenged” (Benson et al., 2009) and traditional folks and customs disintegrated. Japanese youth attended schools where patriotism and virtue were taught. Japanese culture