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Ronald Takaki A Different Mirror Analysis

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The fourteenth chapter of Ronald Takaki's A Different Mirror briefly covers American dilemmas during the Second World War. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaiian military governor General Delos Emmons declared: "We must distinguish between loyalty and disloyalty among our people"(Takaki 342). At first, this assured faithful Japanese citizens and aliens of Hawaii that the government would not produce mass concentration camps due to their ethnicity. President Roosevelt eventually settled for the internment of 1,444 Japanese after his original demand for 20,000 following Emmons' argument claiming that "such a removal of Japanese would severely disrupt both the economy and the defense of Hawaii" (Takaki 342). Meanwhile, on the west
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December 7th, 1941, the Japanese bombed the American naval base, Pearl Harbor. The occurrence of Pearl Harbor had depleted all trust between the two races. America’s response, conducted by President Theodore Roosevelt, lead to the interment of all Japanese-Americans. The first hand account Farewell to Manzanar written by Jeanne Wakatsuki, created a vivid illustration of what life was like being a young interned Japanese-American. In more detail, the struggles they were faced with after Manzanar were far greater ultimatums her and her family begrudgingly had to overcome.

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Reader Response of Chapter 2 of A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America by Ronald Takaki In the book, A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America, Ronald Takaki gives an anecdote about how the lives of both the Indians and the Irish were dramatically destroyed and how they were even almost extinct because of the violent and corrupted acts of the English. Moreover, the English expansion led to the “making of an English-American identity based on race” (Takaki 26). Furthermore, the Irish were the first people to be considered as savages. The English felt as if the Irish did not have any respectful manners or obedience to God.

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Zinn Assignment Howard Zinn states that the U.S. was very similar to the policies of West Germany or Italy; “In one of its policies, the United States came close to direct duplication of Fascism.” He continues on explaining how Japanese americans were basically bound to be exterminated and stripped of many rights due to the hysteria catalyzed by the attack of Pearl Harbor by Japan. Zinn then points out that Roosevelt wasn’t at all in a frenzy but still signed Executive order 9066 without a second thought and this allowed for the army to take charge and forcefully arrest and escort Japanese-Americans to their appropriate internment camps. Holistically Zinn brings many supporting facts to depict the endless troubles Japanese-Americans had to undergo.

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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. Prior to World War II, the 127,000 Japanese-Americans along America’s west coast (Japanese American Relocation and Internment Camps) were considered just another immigrant group coming to America searching for a better life. However, with the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, this perception soon saw a drastic change. The attack on the US Naval base on December 7th, 1941 left many casualties in its wake.

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On the date of Feb 19, 1942 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order. This executive order forced all Japanese American citizens, regardless of their loyalty to the country. It forced them to evacuate their homes and not just the Japanese Americans in a particular part of the country all Japanese Americans would be put into internment camps. At one point in time all of the camps combined held 120,000 Japanese Americans. This was all cause due to the fact that the Japanese Military at the time bombed Pearl Harbor an American Naval base in Hawaii.

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A poll taken showed that less than twenty percent of American supported going into the war. Many people had opposed Roosevelt now for doing the acts to support the war and publicly stating that we need to help Britian.(Document H). The St. Louis Post-Dispatch compared him to a dictator and that he would cause the deaths of millions of Americans (Document F). Even as the public knew the Rape of Nanking, one of the most infamous war crimes committed by the Japanese, Americans were reluctant to intervene in foreign affairs (Document D). But one act of war would change thousands of Americans’ minds: the bombing of Pearl Harbor.

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Due to the increasing fear of a Japanese attack on the West Coast, Lt. General John L. Dewitt recommended that all people of Japanese descent living in America be removed to the interior of the country. In the article “An American Tragedy: The Internment of Japanese-Americans During World War II” by Norman Y. Mineta, former US Secretary of Transportation, Dewitt backed up his suggestion with rumors that “ethnic Japanese on the West Coast were signaling Japanese ships out in the Pacific ocean” and they “had stockpiled numerous rounds of ammunition and weapons” (Mineta 161). In order to combat this threat in case of enemy invasion, the camps would detain the Japanese Americans so they cannot aid the enemy. The warped logic used to imprison 110,000 people purely based on ethnic background was convincing enough to the American people that they didn’t even question

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Jayna Marie Lorenzo May 23, 2023 Historiography Paper Professor Kevin Murphy Historiography Final: Japanese Internment “A date which will live in infamy,” announced President Roosevelt during a press conference after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Due to the military threat by the Japanese on the West Coast, on February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, ordering for the incarceration of all people of Japanese descent. The Order forced about 120,000 Japanese Americans into relocation centers across the United States where they remained in captivity until the war ended.

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December 7th of 1941 America would face a horrific scene in their own homeland, the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor with their Air Force not once but twice. That same day President John F. Kennedy would decide to place the Japanese Americans, living in the country at the time, in internment camps. The civilians would not have a clue what they would be put up against, now they would have to encounter various obstacles to make sure they would be able to survive. “The camps were prisons, with armed soldiers around the perimeters, barbed wire. and controls over every aspect of life”(Chang).

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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. A very important reason in proving that President Roosevelt 's

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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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Ronald Takaki a renowned pioneer in the field of ethnic studies has over the years authored numerous books on diversity in American society. As a grandson of Japanese immigrants who became the first black studies professor at UCLA, Takaki for many years has continually tried to bridge cultures and ethnic groups in the United States. In his book “A different mirror: A history of multicultural America”, Takaki addresses the idea of multiculturalism in our society, and also talks about how for many years we have been told to acknowledge the notions that the core principles of our nation uprooted only from one group rather than a contribution from other various cultures as well. The ‘master narrative’ posed by Takaki describes the growing

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We do not forgive easily. After World War II, our fear and resentment of Japan was strong in our hearts, as approximately 106,207 Americans were murdered and 248,316 Americans were wounded or declared missing by the hands of the Japanese. Even after the dust settled between our people, America never forgave Japan for their stubborn refusal to surrender and needless desire to drag on the war in hopes of negotiable bargains that would profit the cities of Japan. With Japanese American citizens in the heart of our country, President Roosevelt, clouded with war hysteria and racial discrimination against those with Japanese ancestry, he ordered Executive Order 9066 which resulted in the internment of Japanese American citizens. Many Americans felt that this order would protect America from Japanese espionage and attacks on our nation, but the Executive Order 9066 ushered an unjust wave of misinformation and insinuations to develop in

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Looking at the “alternatives” we see a variety of more simplified options. Looking at the options it seems strange that the choice of internment was made. The Law enforcement option was the Isai (Japanese immigrants to the United states) and Nisei (Japanese Americans born in the United States), secondly limit travel visas into or out of the United States, limit the geography the Isai and Nisei could go, and take away work from those who were acting questionably. Domestic exclusion zones were also put up for debate which would exclude Isai or Nisei from working on or near military bases, war manufacturing companies, and away from coast lines or boarders. Mass deportation was an option for non-citizens but due to the high expense it was not an economically feasible option at the time.

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Thesis statement: Though many speculate that the act of dropping the atomic bomb on Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) while not doing so on Europe (Germany and Italy) was racially motivated, racism played little to no role in these bombings. The United States of America and her allies were willing to end World War II at any cost, had the atomic bombs been available they would have been deployed in Europe. In the 1940’s there is no doubt that the United States of America was engulfed by mass anti-Japanese hysteria which inevitably bled over into America’s foreign policy. During this period Japanese people living in both Japan and the United States of America were seen as less that human.

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