Shatara Dixon
May 21 2014
USH B
Veronica Vredenburgh
Japanese Internment On December 7, 1941 the Japanese took a strike at Pearl Harbor. The United States feared the Japanese would attack again, and war overran the country. The President of the United States, which was President Roosevelt at the time, had a lot of pressure on him to interfere with the issue. In response, on February 19 1942, the President published the Executive Order 9066 on. This commanded a relocation of over 120,000 American citizens. More than 80,000 of those imprisoned were citizens of America and 60,000 were children. Some families were split up and put in other camps. It is important for people to learn about this event because U.S. citizens, as ourselves, in WWII went through a lot just for being of Japanese descent. They were innocent American citizens who were stereotyped and treated like criminals. The life in camps were hard. The prisoners were only privileged to bring a few needs. Forty-eight hours were all they was given to evacuate their houses. They lived in military like barracks and was forced to use public areas to wash, do laundry, and eat. Many of the prisoners died from the lack of medical treatment and emotional stress. Some of them were taken to camps in the desert areas and had to deal with extreme heat. The camps were guarded by armed soldiers, and the ones who misbehaved were sent to a facility. Public Proclamation number 21 became effective in January of 1945. This allowed prisoners to return to their homes. The imprisonment affected everyone who was involved. Some seen it necessary because of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Others saw it as a prison and unfair to the families. At the end of the war some citizens stayed in the United States and decided to rebuild the lives that they lost, others were furious and returned to their homeland in Japan. With the government’s decision on imprisoning Japanese Americans was a result in a negative fall in American history. The Executive Order 9066 took away the act of equality, it took over 200 years to authorize the rights to protect the citizens of America, but they were then were taken away, just like that.The treatment of the Japanese Americans in the camps were not fair and cruel. They were treated as if they were prisoners rather than American citizens being relocated under the safety of the military and government. The United States did wrong to the Japanese as Hitler did to the Jews. This historical event withheld the progress of freedom and equality for all. That is the reason why it is important for American citizens to learn about this and understand what the Japanese went through for this country. The U.S government introduced the fear and racism to the Japanese- Americans, which leaded to losing their rights. This decision not only affected the system but took away from the focus on WWII as well. It took a huge financial toll on the government with the labor of the camps and benefits to the prisoners. The internment of the Japanese Americans during WWII was a waste and questioned power of the U.S. constitution and rights of American citizens. The effect of the relocation of the Japanese Americans needs to remain on the minds of Americans so hopefully this type of event will not happen again.
This event played a large role in the history of our country. It molded the relationship between two races, and formed the United States into the country it is now. It was a hard time in U.S. history, and the event could have been avoided if the United States would have dealt with it differently. The loyalty shown by the Japanese was an obvious sign that they were no threat or meant to be any harm.