Japanese Americans in Concentration Camps

I don't think this has been posted, so...

At school last week two boys from the debate team came in to argue about the Japanese being put in concentration camps in America, so I decided to look into it.

During World War 2, Japanese American were feared to be spies, so the first step was police raids. Thousands of people were arrested without proof of disloyalty, their businesses forced to close down, and evicted form their homes. President Franklin Roosevelt ordered 'executive order 9066', meaning the military could restrict any person of Japanese descent from living in spots such as the western parts of California, Washington, Oregon, and southern parts of Arizona. They were taken away from jobs, homes, places of worship, schools, and families.

In the entire course of the war, exactly 10 people were arrested as spies. All fall under the category of American.

Sen. Sam Ervin described it as "the single most blatant violation of the Constitution in our history."

Once in the concentration camps, they were forced to live in extremely tight living conditions. It was very similar to the conditions of concentration camps in Europe such as Auschwitz.

I've gathered a few photos. I figured this topic should be at least visible...

Family in 'Apartment'

Outside of barracks.

Deportation.

Barracks.

So, what it it all comes down to...

Was this an attempt to protect the United States from a chance of damage by Japanese spies, or was it a vicious act racism?

(I hope I didn't seem onesided on this)

sites

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1998/09/ito.html

http://www.lm.liverpool.k12.ny.us/Whacked/Manzanar1/Manzanar.html

Sheepo@_@:

I honestly have never heard of Japanese Americans in Concentration Camps. wow.
I have no idea, I would like to think it was just to protect America but I strongly disagree with that...... doesnt that go against one of the Individual Liberties? Unreasonable search or something? I would have to look more into this..

Yeah, but think about it. This was in the 30s and 40s during a war. I don't think many people had Individual Liberties. With all the poverty and violence, I don't think many people even got the chance of it...

I had never heard of this before. Reading through the some sites, and your post, I have come to think it's RACISM. The world is filled with it, and it's HORRIBLE. Just because they are Japanese does not mean they are spies, and why only Japanese?

The Virus Of Life:

I had never heard of this before. Reading through the some sites, and your post, I have come to think it's RACISM. The world is filled with it, and it's HORRIBLE. Just because they are Japanese does not mean they are spies, and why only Japanese?

Because that's who they were at war with.

RACISM!! there is no excuse for that at all.
But it wasn't Just Japanese-Americans, German-Americans and Italian-Americans were put in concentration camps aswell.

Handguns For Hearts:

The Virus Of Life:

I had never heard of this before. Reading through the some sites, and your post, I have come to think it's RACISM. The world is filled with it, and it's HORRIBLE. Just because they are Japanese does not mean they are spies, and why only Japanese?

Because that's who they were at war with.

X_X God, I'm an idiot.

Personally, I think it's both. They were trying to protect their country, but I think they hid racism behind an excuse to do what they did.

The Virus Of Life:

I had never heard of this before.

Me neither.

But this is terrible, and just backs up my view that the American government is so hypocritical.

Here's a site to read about it.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1998/09/ito.html

Handguns For Hearts:

Here's a site to read about it.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1998/09/ito.html

Thanks for that.

And to quote from it...

"Some American revisionists, however, see things differently, and they want you to know about it. Among their odder claims:

[list]
[*]Contrary to popular belief, more white people were interned during the war than Japanese Americans (another semantic point: most of the 120,000 Japanese Americans were "relocated," not "interned".
[*]Most Japanese Americans were never forced into the camps -- they received a "government invitation to sit out the war in a Relocation Center."
[*]Barbed-wire fences around the camps were strung up to "keep out the neighboring farmers' cows" and armed guard towers were used only as lookout sites for dangerous brush fires.
[*]The camps were so nice that East Coast Japanese Americans unaffected by the West Coast "relocation" were clamoring to get in."
[/list]

Ooh...lets guess which American revisionists have been payed off by the government...

kfk8e:

Handguns For Hearts:

Here's a site to read about it.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1998/09/ito.html

Thanks for that.

And to quote from it...

"Some American revisionists, however, see things differently, and they want you to know about it. Among their odder claims:

[list]
[*]Contrary to popular belief, more white people were interned during the war than Japanese Americans (another semantic point: most of the 120,000 Japanese Americans were "relocated," not "interned".
[*]Most Japanese Americans were never forced into the camps -- they
received a "government invitation to sit out the war in a Relocation Center."
[*]Barbed-wire fences around the camps were strung up to "keep out the neighboring farmers' cows" and armed guard towers were used only as lookout sites for dangerous brush fires.
[*]The camps were so nice that East Coast Japanese Americans unaffected by the West Coast "relocation" were clamoring to get in."
[/list]

Ooh...lets guess which American revisionists have been payed off by the government...

Your welcome.

Here's another site just in case that wasn't enough.

http://www.lm.liverpool.k12.ny.us/Whacked/Manzanar1/Manzanar.html

I've heard about this and its horrible. I mean our goverment is a bunch of hypocritcal racist bastards who have no idea what the fuck they're doing.

I mean poloticians are thiefs they steal our money, take bribes, take free things, and this wasn't just "back then" it's right now.


And then we say how horrible the concentration camps for Jews were (and they were extremly horrible don't get me wrong), but we did something very similar to that.....damn government.

Minority_Under_Dog:

I've heard about this and its horrible. I mean our goverment is a bunch of hypocritcal racist bastards who have no idea what the fuck they're doing.

I mean poloticians are thiefs they steal our money, take bribes, take free things, and this wasn't just "back then" it's right now.


And then we say how horrible the concentration camps for Jews were (and they were extremly horrible don't get me wrong), but we did something very similar to that.....damn government.

Yeah. America will do anything to hide hypocracy.

But...the Holocaust of Jews and such was purely based on racism. The 'Japanese Internment' was supposedly based on protection of the US. But I think they used that as an excuse to get away with what they did.

Handguns For Hearts:

Minority_Under_Dog:

I've heard about this and its horrible. I mean our goverment is a bunch of hypocritcal racist bastards who have no idea what the fuck they're doing.

I mean poloticians are thiefs they steal our money, take bribes, take free things, and this wasn't just "back then" it's right now.


And then we say how horrible the concentration camps for Jews were (and they were extremly horrible don't get me wrong), but we did something very similar to that.....damn government.

Yeah. America will do anything to hide hypocracy.

But...the Holocaust of Jews and such was purely based on racism.

The 'Japanese Internment' was supposedly based on protection of the US. But I think they used that as an excuse to get away with what they did.

Yeah I deffinitly think so. I mean in hisotry we're learning about WWII now (even though i already knew about it), and Hitler just didn't like Jews (mostly) or gypsys or gays...or anyone who wasn't "pure" german

The Americans Are (as my dad likes to say to me)

"Frequently wrong but never in doubt"

I've never heard of this either. It's horrible.
See, in a way, it is racism, because they're being discriminated really....but at that time, did they care about racial discrimination? And also, as you've said, at the time of a war they probably got really scared, trying to protect their country. I don't think it was right but how where they to know who were spies and who weren't?
It was a horrible thing to happen but I think you have to look at all of the points.....

Waiting <3:

I've never heard of this either. It's horrible.
See, in a way, it is racism, because they're being discriminated really....but at that time, did they care about racial discrimination? And also, as you've said, at the time of a war they probably got really scared, trying to protect their country. I don't think it was right but how where they to know who were spies and who weren't?
It was a horrible thing to happen but I think you have to look at all of the points.....

I don't think many people in that time got the concept of what racism really was.

i just did a project on this topic...it's so sad my grandpa got sent to an internment camp and he was an american citizen...like so many others....

something from his journal he kept:

Today we arrived at Tule Lake Relocation Center. We seem to be right in the middle of a desert - its extremely desolate and barren, and the heat is unbearable. They served us stale bread and brined liver, which bounced on the ground when thrown. Dust coats everything, and if you try to eat something, i guarantee there will be a thick layer of dust on it. There is no such thing as privacy here - if you take a shower or go to the bathroom, everyone can see you. Its very intimidating and embarrassing. At least we don't have to live in horse stalls anymore..

.:

i just did a project on this topic...it's so sad my grandpa got sent to an internment camp and he was an american citizen...like so many others....

something from his journal he kept:

Today we arrived at Tule Lake Relocation Center. We seem to be right in the middle of a desert - its extremely desolate and barren, and the heat is unbearable. They served us stale bread and brined liver, which bounced on the ground when thrown. Dust coats everything, and if you try to eat something, i guarantee there will be a thick layer of dust on it. There is no such thing as privacy here - if you take a shower or go to the bathroom, everyone can see you. Its very intimidating and embarrassing. At least we don't have to live in horse stalls anymore..

Oh god thats horrible...

I had never heard about this particular topic before...obviously I had heard about other concentration camps but never in America with Japenese people. Thats just...*shudder*

I hate racism.

ImBlindAndISmellLikeShit:

.:

i just did a project on this topic...it's so sad my grandpa got sent to an internment camp and he was an american citizen...like so many others....

something from his journal he kept:

Today we arrived at Tule Lake Relocation Center. We seem to be right in the middle of a desert - its extremely desolate and barren, and the heat is unbearable. They served us stale bread and brined liver, which bounced on the ground when thrown. Dust coats everything, and if you try to eat something, i guarantee there will be a thick layer of dust on it. There is no such thing as privacy here - if you take a shower or go to the bathroom, everyone can see you. Its very intimidating and embarrassing. At least we don't have to live in horse stalls anymore..

Oh god thats horrible...

I had never heard about this particular topic before...obviously I had heard about other concentration camps but never in America with Japenese people. Thats just...*shudder*

I hate racism.

History classes have a tendency to leave this little detail out.Thats why alot of people havnt heard of it.

Our history books don't spend too much time talking about this. Even so, I'm shocked at the number of people so far who haven't heard of this.

To me, this kind of thing ties in a lot with the NSA wiretapping thing going on. In both cases, the government claimed to be acting to protect the American people by violating their rights. Hmm.

To be fair, though, this is not something that you can malign modern America for. It happened in WWII, when most of the population wasn't even born.