ipl-logo

They Called Us Enemy Study Guide

601 Words3 Pages

How America Was at War With Itself During the Pacific War Did you know that over 110,000 Japanese people were locked in internment camps for reasons that were not truly related to them? During the Pacific War, the US government was essentially at war with its own citizens. This is because everyone who had a Japanese background, regardless if they were born in Japan or if they were American citizens, were considered and treated like enemies. This was shown as people were put into internment camps separating them from their country, they had to overcome difficult choices and internal conflicts and face discrimination all of the time. In the novel They Called Us Enemy by George Takei, from the perspective of an innocent Japanese family, they had …show more content…

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans were now afraid that there would be any other attack that would put them at risk of their national security. The solution to avoid any attacks from their Japanese enemies would be to put all people of Japanese background into internment camps. Even though they were still American citizens, which meant they were looked at as enemies in war, which is why it was as if the United States was at war with their citizens. Families like George Takei’s were sent to these camps and they had to face many difficult choices and internal conflicts. An example of a conflict they faced was when the government made people in the internment camps fill out a loyalty questionnaire. This questionnaire made them say yes to absurd questions or say no, but it would prove that they were enemies and they would face consequences. Questions 27 and 28 stood out from the rest because of what they were asking. Question 27 wants them to pledge their lives to the country which locked them up in internment camps and treated them horribly and question 28 says that they have any sort of allegiance to Japan, it poses them an enemy even though they only have a Japanese

Show More
Related

Review Of By Order Of The President, By Greg Robinson

567 Words | 3 Pages

The narrative begins with the first two chapters focusing on assessing Roosevelt’s evolving attitude toward Japan and Japanese-Americans, during his pre-presidential years and his first two terms in office. Continuing, Robinson changes directions and focuses on the origin and implementation of the internment policy, beginning with Roosevelt’s decision to issue Executive Order 9066 in February 1942, the authorization of relocating Japanese-Americans from the West Coast into internment camps, the subsequent controversy over with Japanese-Americans deemed “loyal” to the United States, and the decision to finally close the camps in 1946. The final chapter concludes with Robinson attempting to understand how Roosevelt, whom historians have celebrated for his strong commitment to individual rights, could have supported such an unjust policy. Robinson argues Roosevelt’s “past feelings toward the Japanese-Americans must be considered to have significantly shaped his momentous decision to evacuate Japanese-Americans from their homes … whether citizens or longtime resident aliens, [Japanese-Americans] were still Japanese at the core and should be regarded as presumptuously disloyal and dangerous on racial grounds” (p. 118 -

Read More

Japanese American Internment Dbq Analysis

163 Words | 1 Pages

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.

Read More

Similarities Between Japanese Internment Camps And The Holocaust In The Night

954 Words | 4 Pages

In december 1941 rumors spread about sending the Japanese to internment camps which means leaving their homes and being separated from their families This is very important to me because they could have handled this a better way , sixty two percent of the internees were united states citizens ! The Japanese internment camps was a forced relocation and incarceration during World War II of between 11,000 and 120,000 people of japanese ancestry who lived in the pacific coast . Ten internment camps were established in California , Utah , Arizona , Colorado , Arkansas and Wyoming . “ President Roosevelt signed executive order 9066 authorizing the war relocation authority to force 110,000 Japanese and their american-born children into relocation

Read More

The Pros And Cons Of Japanese Internment

1699 Words | 7 Pages

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.

Read More

What Are The Similarities Between The Crucible And Japanese Internment Camps

678 Words | 3 Pages

They didn’t know if any of them were spies or helping Japan so they played it safe and put all Japanese citizens in internment camps. The Japanese were not happy about this at all. Many of the Japanese- Americans had lived in America for several generations. They worked so hard to get everything they own and he government tells them they have to sell it all and live in an

Read More

Dbq Japanese Internment Essay

808 Words | 4 Pages

Akiko Kurose, who was 16 and attending a Seattle high school at the time, described when, after the Pearl Harbor attack, “one of the teachers said, ‘You people bombed Pearl Harbor’”, referencing Akiko’s Japanese heritage (Document 1). If, indeed, this was the general feeling of all non-Japanese Americans, than it is easy to see how amassed public hatred could lead to the internment of the hated. The government was even aware of the minimal threat posed by the interned—The Munson Report, delivered to President Roosevelt by his Special Representative of the States Department, Charles Munson, has such a statement as follows, “There is no Japanese ‘problem’ on the Coast. There will be no armed uprising of Japanese” (Document 4). And Mary Tsukamoto, who was an American of Japanese heritage, was forced in 1942 to an internment camp with her husband and child, leaving their strawberry farm behind, described her shock, “We couldn't believe that they would need all of us to quit our work to produce our fruit, food for victory... and then be put away”(Document 3).

Read More

How Did Hysteria Affect The Internment Of Japanese Americans

521 Words | 3 Pages

“The internment of Japanese Americans in the United States was the forced relocation and incarceration during World War II of between 110,000 and 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry who lived on the Pacific coast in camps in the interior of the country.” (Crawford 1). After the attack, the government felt threatened by the Japanese. Therefore, they could not trust any, even the ones living in the United States. Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps or military camps where they were not allowed to leave.

Read More

What Are The Pros And Cons Of Japanese Internment Camps

751 Words | 4 Pages

What would you do if you got stripped from your home and placed in a categorized camp because others simply didn't think your “race” was trusting? Well, that's exactly what happened to the Japanese when they were forced into internment camps for their own “beneficial safety” during world war 2. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, which was the United States Naval base in Hawaii Territory. Because of the unexpected attack America responded back and had officially started a war. WWII officially known as the second world war was a well-known event that lasted from 1939 to 1945.

Read More

Japanese Americans In The Crucible

448 Words | 2 Pages

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).

Read More

Why Is Japanese American Internment Justified

146 Words | 1 Pages

The internment of Japanese-Americans was justified because there were Japanese suspects. Between ten internment camps in Arizona, California, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas, about 250-300 people in each camp were suspects under surveillance. Only around 50-60 people were actually considered dangerous. “It is easy to get on the suspect list, merely a speech in favor of Japan being sufficient to land one there” (Munson 2). Clearly, America was taking extreme precautions.

Read More

Japanese Internment Camps Dbq Essay

1317 Words | 6 Pages

Even before Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, Japanese Americans were discriminated against because of their race. During World War ll, the United States was also at war with Germany and Italy, but German and Italian Americans were not experiencing the same unfair treatment that Japanese Americans endured. This was because of their race. For example, in an editorial in The Crisis periodical, Harry Paxton Howard wrote in September of 1942, “Color seems to be the only possible reason why thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry are in concentration camps. Anyway, there are no Italian-American, or German-American citizens in such camps” (Document E).

Read More

Japanese Internment Camps During World War II

762 Words | 4 Pages

It had dented the US’s history culturally accepting and stemmed from its long history of Asian immigrants. The internment camps were a result from the Executive Order 9066 issued by the pressured President, were endured by the interns with its poor conditions, and was shut down after further US investigation. This proves that the Japanese-Americans, who was accused of being saboteurs, in those hard times remained loyal to their country and got their well-deserved

Read More

Write An Essay On Japanese American Internment Camps During Ww2

673 Words | 3 Pages

World War 2 was a devastating time that has caused cruel actions such as prejudice towards minorities and self hate of their own citizens in the past. For example, the Pearl Harbor bombing had influenced numerous Japanese American citizens due to their appearances that showed them as enemies to American citizens. In addition, the act of the Japanese American Internment Camps was significantly unnecessary because this was an unjust law that was racist and hysteria, also, Japanese Americans are citizens of the U.S not from a foreign land at all, and lastly, Japanese Americans had served in World War 2 that extinguished many fatalities in the past. First of all, this act had displayed cruel racism and hysteria towards Japanese Americans. For this reason, it states in the web article “From Wrong to Right: A U.S Apology for Japanese Internment,” “John Tateishi says the experience was both humiliating and disorienting.

Read More

Japanese Internment Camps Injustice

1460 Words | 6 Pages

The Trail of Tears, slavery, Jim Crow laws—the American government has committed many injustices against its people. But there exists an injustice of a different kind, an injustice that is rarely mentioned in history class, which unlike the others is not flaunted as a tribute to American power—the Japanese internment camps. These military areas were organized soon after Pearl Harbor attack, when the whole nation was stunned by the trauma of that event and by the fear of what was yet to come. On December 7th, 1941, the war had made its way to the American shore and the Japanese were the ones who breached the illusion of peace that the U.S. had been under/ had convinced itself of. While the dislike toward those from the Orient was substantial

Read More

Japanese Internment Camps Essay

671 Words | 3 Pages

You most likely have heard about World War II and that the United States was Isolated from the war until Pearl Harbor. But have you thought about the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor? Especially in a time of racism and hysteria? Japanese Internment camps were created and relocated thousands of Japanese-Americans, thinking that they are a national security threat. Japanese Internment was unnecessary and unlawful because it was a time of racism, stereotype, hypocrisy and criminal.

Read More

More about They Called Us Enemy Study Guide

Open Document