Pros And Cons Of Japanese Internment Camps

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Sometimes, people make mistakes. Even the government and President Roosevelt did in 1942. They made the mistake of allowing and supporting Japanese American internment after the country of Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The living conditions were horrible at the internment camps. It didn’t matter if a person was a born citizen of the US, if they’d been naturalized, or if they were US aliens. Almost all Japanese Americans living on the west coast went to internment camps. Years later, after most internees had passed away, America realized how wrong it really was to intern any innocent person for being from a certain country. They tried to right their mistake and apologize by giving $20,000 to every living victim of internment or direct descendant of a victim. It was a kind gesture, and many accepted it. But America was a little late to realize its wrong doings to Japanese Americans, for the amount of pain the country caused them was great. On Dec. 7, 1941, the Japanese …show more content…

Roosevelt hastily signed Executive Order 9066 on Feb. 19, 1942. The Order the President signed gave the Secretary of War the permission to “…prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate Military Commander may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion.” What he really meant was that he was giving his permission to intern all Japanese Americans living on the west coast into internment camps, or in other words, to “…relocate [Japanese Americans] into designated military areas…”. Meanwhile, to try and hinder the Japanese, the USA banned trading some materials, like oil, with Japan. The notice that Japanese Americans were to be relocated went up on May 15,