With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japan had essentially declared war with the United States. As a result, President FDR ordered through Executive Order 9066 that Japanese internment camps be established throughout the American West and Mid-West. The policy stated that anybody of Japanese descent (up to 1/16 Japanese) would be relocated to various assembly centers around the United States. A majority of the near 117,000 people forced to leave their homes were American citizens and had very little ties to the Japanese except for the color of their skin and the way they looked. Japanese Americans out of any type of Asian in America had tried incredibly hard to be American. Parents would convince their kids to enjoy the American way of life and to these kids their dreams and aspirations were that of any other American kid. They loved baseball, watching movies, dancing the popular dances, and partaking in the average Tom Sawyer-like activities as well. So when authorities rounded up all of these nisei (2nd generation) Americans, they were really confused as they believed they were as American as anyone else. Children and the elderly were a part of this mass movement as well and with such poor living conditions at the centers, any ill or disabled people were basically sentenced to death.

Once everybody was brought together the government handed out cards asking for their names and birthdays that also asked if they were willing to give up any preexisting Japanese citizenship and if they were fully loyal to the American war effort. Those that said no were deported to Japan and those that said yes had the option to join the military and serve. Those that chose to serve became a part of the most decorated United States Infantry Regiment of all-time. This military regiment made up of almost entirely nisei Japanese Americans was awarded more than 18,000 awards with over half of these awards being Purple Hearts to a regiment of around 14,000 men strong for combat against their parent's motherland. Personally, I feel like this is the truest affirmative answer these Americans could give to the question "are you loyal to your country?"

Once the war ended, many people were allowed to return to their homes however some of the internment camps did not close until nearly two years after the war ended. The internment of the Japanese as a quick scapegoat to "protect America" because of their political powerlessness in America was one of the worst violations of the civil rights of Americans signifying how eager the United States and its people are to jump on the gun to blame people for something they themselves had nothing to do with.

In the 1980's, the Detroit automotive industry was plummeting as Japan's post-economic miracle was steadily growing. Japan's automotive industry was booming as they were making better cars and selling them cheaper to the United States. Because of this, many American employees within Detroit were laid off and began to grow angry at the Japanese for causing them to lose their jobs.

"It's because of you little [censored] that we're out of work!"

In 1982, Vincent Chin, an industrial draftsman for an automotive company, was with his friends at a strip club celebrating his bachelor party in advance of his wedding when two men came up to him calling him racial slurs telling him "it's because of you little [censored] that we're out of work!" Vincent, who had grown up as a second generation Chinese American, was a fun and energetic guy who studied engineering at the Control Data Institute, but could get heated at times. The three men got into a physical altercation and were consequently kicked out of the bar. They parted ways only for the two men to pay a 3rd man to find where Vincent Chin was headed. They later found him at a nearby McDonalds and where Michael Nitz pinned him to the ground and Ronald Ebens repeatedly beat his head with a baseball bat until it cracked open and Chin was unrecognizable. I heard a slam poem one time and I couldn't find it now, but this line stuck out to me because of how true it was: "and the two used America to beat and wipe away every visual representation of Asia they could see..."

Vincent Chin later died in the hospital without his mother or fiancee knowing. The two men were arrested, tried, and charged guilty of manslaughter in which they had to pay a $3000 fine (equivalent to $8000 today) and had 3 years of probation with no jail time. This case was heavily flawed as it turns out that the jury was all-caucasian and that the police officers who were African American were not even called in to have testimonies and as a result, sparked a massive response from the Asian American community demanding that the two men be charged of murder. Eventually, Ebens would be forced to pay the Chin family $1.5 million dollars to settle what Vincent would have lost in ten years worth of wages and that it could be renewed every ten years.

Overall, this hate crime (which is was later deemed once there were hate crime laws in place) was the result of Anti-Asian racism and Asians were used as a scapegoat during this time to justify workers in the automotive industry being unemployed. This case also reaffirms Asian Americans insecurities that Asian Americans, no matter how many generations born in America, will never be deemed full United States citizens.