Japanese Internment

Japanese American Internment During WWII

What was Japanese American internment during WWII? Japanese American internment was a time of suffering and torture for Japanese Americans, many of which were American citizens. It started after the bombing of Pearl Harbor when the paranoia of anyone of Japanese descent began to spread. It was thought that the Japanese Americans would work together with the fascist Japanese regime in japan to bring down the Americans from within. It ended with 120,000 Japanese Americans having been held in camps, having been alienated from society and treated inhumanely. This was excused as a measure undertaken to ensure national security.

It started in 1941. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans were living along the Pacific coast in America, of which about two-thirds were American citizens. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th of 1941, Japanese Americans were alienated from society. Over 3,000 people were arrested immediately following Pearl Harbor because of government suspicion that they may be spies who would later infiltrate the US army and navy, and leak information to the Japanese. As Japan continued to win victories, the American people became more uneasy with the Japanese American presence. This led to paranoia and news articles claiming that Japanese Americans were helping the Japanese win.

The idea that they should be removed from society was popular among American citizens. The government struggled, however, because they didn’t have a reason to incarcerate the Japanese. This changed on February 19th of 1942 when President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, an order that allowed the military to remove Japanese Americans from society. It was originally thought that the Japanese Americans could be relocated to work as farm laborers, but farmers were scared of the Japanese Americans and didn’t want them nearby. It was then decided that the Japanese Americans would be moved to “relocation centers”. Families chosen to be relocated were only given a few days of warning. Living conditions in the camps were awful. In one camp in southern California, families were held in horse stalls with dirt floors. There was little privacy in these camps, and not a lot of protection from the weather, leaving many too hot in summer and too cold in winter. Despite this, the Japanese Americans worked hard to make the camps feel as normal as possible. They organized activities such as creating newspapers, having markets, establishing schools, and even creating a police and fire department. Activities for teens included bands, sports teams, clubs, and even dances. Most camps were entirely run by the Japanese Americans living within, leaving them to form their own political system and hold votes. The education in these camps was also left to the Japanese Americans.

In 1943, the War Relocation Authority had all Japanese Americans take a loyalty test in order to determine if they could go to war. A total of 33,000 Japanese Americans ended up serving in the war and were a major factor in victories towards the end of WWII. However, they were almost always given the lowest rank and hardly moved up. Many soldiers were also part of experimental groups of the army. Others were not able to go to war. The loyalty test asked if they would reject loyalty to Japan and if they would fight for the United States. In rebellion, around 8,500 people answered no. They became known as no-no residents. The no-no residents were seen as disloyal and were sent away from families to a relocation camp. This made it harder to justify keeping the “loyals” in camps, leading President Roosevelt to declare the need for relocation to be over, and in 1944 the Japanese Americans began to be allowed to go back to the Pacific Coast. The camps were coming to an end, but the effects of the camps were massive. After returning to the Pacific, most Japanese Americans strayed from their culture in order to fit in with society better.

Sources:

• https://dornsife.usc.edu/news/stories/3487/japanese-american-soldiers-world-war-ii/

• https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/japanese-american-incarceration

• https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/japanese-american-relocation