Alexis Fenster
27 October 2015
Efficiency Essay: Southland In 1942, the American fear of the unknown ripped thousands of Japanese-Americans living in the United States from their homes and into internment camps. After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans became fearful that the Japanese people living in their country participated in the attack and were planning more from “the inside.” It was only once they were needed during the war that the men were allowed out of the camps to fight as American soldiers. Revoyr writes, “Frank and his friends were such great American soldiers, ironically, because they were Japanese- because of their sense of duty, and integrity, and faith in each other” (116). The fact that any Japanese man would fight for the United States against Japan after having their families and themselves treated as livestock, proves that these people were true Americans. Frank and his friends might have been Japanese by heritage but their loyalty was to the United States and they thought of themselves as Americans. This commitment came from their Japanese heritage which puts a strong emphasis on the duty people have to protect their country, so much so that people who did not fight with America were shunned by other Japanese-Americans (116). The Japanese are not the only people who have wrongly been punished in consequence of American’s fear, the Muslim community has been looked down on and feared ever since 9/11. Similar to the American reaction to Pearl Harbor, people of the Muslim faith have experienced stereotypical discrimination. A larger problem in the American society is that we have a tendency to make rash judgment based on people’s race and ethnicity without giving them equal opportunity. The United States is supposed to be the land of opportunity and a proprietor of the American dream but due to judgment these privileges are only