The Impact of World War II on Japanese Americans - Report Example

The Impact of World War II on Japanese Americans The United s, since its inception, has always attracted people from far off and distant lands.Whether it was the early European settlers who came on the Mayflower, or later settlers who decided to immigrate to this land, people saw the United States as a land of opportunities, where they were free to pursue not only their own religion, but whatever occupation they wanted. The “land of opportunity” also attracted the Japanese, who migrated here to make a better living than they could in Japan. However, what sets them (and other Orientals as well) is that they were considered to be inferior from the other European settlers and were often discriminated against. This discrimination found its peak when after the attack on Pearl Harbor those of Japanese ancestry, even those who were born in the United States, were rounded up, uprooted on a mass scale, and placed in incarceration camps that were built especially for them. This paper attempts to look into the racial bigotry against the Japanese Americans before World War II, with a closer inspection on how they were treated during and after the said War. Most of the Japanese “arrived in the United States between 1885 and 1924” (Denshō). What set them apart from other immigrants to the US was that the Japanese issei (first generation) were not allowed to become US citizens. This put them in a precarious position, as they had effectively no voice in what went on in the country of their residence, and their children who were granted American citizenship by birth, were too young to help them raise such a voice or become politically active. They were classified as “aliens ineligible to citizenship” along with the Chinese. This made it possible for the law makers in many States, especially California, to discriminate against them without doing so openly: for instance, in California, a land law was passed that stated that it was prohibited for “aliens ineligible to citizenship,” which was of course only the Chinese and the Japanese, to hold land in the State. The fact that most of the Japanese who worked on the farms did so at a much lower cost than their white/Caucasian counterparts also made them unpopular with the latter. A lot of anger was directed at them as they were thought to be taking away jobs from the Caucasians along with lowering the standards of payment etc. Most of the States in the Western border, along with California, also pushed for a ban on all Japanese immigration. It is perhaps not surprising that some of the feelings of hatred were caused due to the prosperity of some of the Japanese land holders and farmers. This prosperity was also seen as further evidence of the Japanese stealing away from the “Americans,” thereby implying that the Japanese were not considered to be Americans, as the rest of the immigrants from other countries were, but were always considered to be foreign: Japanese. The already precarious social position of the Japanese Americans was made more insecure after December 7, 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese Imperial Army. The US media also helped perpetuate this racism by calling the loyalty of the Japanese Americans in question, along with often not distinguishing between Japanese Americans and Japanese Imperial soldiers, with one Los Angeles Times editorial stating that “[a] viper is nonetheless a viper wherever the egg is hatched” (Anderson qtd. in Denshō). Facing such open hatred and opposition, even from sources that were supposed to be unbiased, or had a duty to be just and fair, it was next to impossible for Japanese to be treated fairly. It is interesting to note that when the Military put forward the idea of creating incarceration camps, where the people of Japanese ancestry would be kept after being removed from the West Coast, the Department of Justice opposed it. However, roughly 3 months after the Pearl Harbor attack, on February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which effectively gave the military to carry out the subsequent mass removal, evacuation and incarceration of those of Japanese descent, even US citizens, from the West Coast. At first, the detainees were placed in “Assembly Centers,” as they were called, for around three months because the construction of the incarceration camps had not been completed. Some of the detainees who were placed at the Puyallup Assembly Centre mention how the place used to be the fairgrounds, with the detainees were made to live in stalls that were reserved for animals originally (Masao W.). The Japanese Americans faced very bad living conditions, in short, and they hoped that the camps that were being completed for them would be much better than their present living quarters, which they felt were demeaning. However, once the Army moved the Japanese Americans to the newly built incarceration camps, the latter realized that their lot had not improved much. The living quarters allocated to them did not afford much protection from the weather, as well as giving them little to no privacy, with whole families, and in some cases more than one family, being made to stay in one room, the biggest being 20 ft. by 25 ft. The food given out to them was bad, especially when compared to their diets before incarceration. Moreover, due to the bad living conditions as well as the close living of the detainees, often diseases like dysentery spread throughout the camp. There was no proper medical help available to the detainees, and that caused further problems. However, the Japanese Americans tried to make the best of their situation, and tried to live as normal a life as they could. With schools opening in camps, as well as dances and other social events being arranged, the detainees tried to hold on to a semblance of normality in their lives. Those Japanese who were nisei (second generation), and thus US citizens, tried to fight back when they were ordered to report for draft: some of them decided to join the army based on the idea that their doing so would prove to the rest of the US that they were, in fact, loyal to the US, while those opposing the draft did so because according to them it was not until the US government apologized for suspecting them and letting them lead their lives like normal US citizens that it could ask them to be drafted in the army. Both sides had a point, however, it remains that either way the Japanese Americans did have to prove their loyalty to the US, something that was not asked from any other ethnic group of Americans. Once the Second World War was over, the Japanese Americans and the issei were abruptly told to evacuate the incarceration camps and return to wherever they came from. With little to no money with them and their previous lives and livelihoods destroyed due to the incarceration, the Japanese Americans found themselves in a position just as precarious as they did when Pearl Harbor was attacked and there were ordered to be detained. Most of them returned to their previous homes, only to discover that much of what their properties had been destroyed, and had to be rebuilt. After the end of the WWII, some Japanese sought out redress from the US government (they were joined by others later), whereby the tried to get the US to compensate the discrimination that they had faced. They had a lot to deal with: some of them had to overcome the feelings of inferiority that had rooted in them due to the discrimination against them by the rest of the Americans, while others had to live with hatred and ridicule due to standing up for their rights and refusing to be drafted. Though it took a lot of time, in the end all three branches of the US government agreed with the Japanese need for redress; not only apologizing for what had been done to them, calling it unconstitutional and unfair, but also granting monetary redress to the Japanese Americans who were affected by the unfair policies of the US government. Though none of this can actually undo what was done to the Japanese Americans after WWII, however, these steps may help to ensure that such discrimination never occurs in the US in the future, thus protecting the future generations from discriminatory policies in direct opposition to the First Amendment of the US Constitution. Works Cited Denshō. Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project, 2010. Web. 4 May 2010. Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki, and James D. Houston. Farewell to Manzanar. New York, NY: Random House, Inc., 1973. Print. “Reading: Legacies of Incarceration: Redress.” Denshō. Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project, 2010. Web. 4 May 2010. “Reading: Prelude to Incarceration.” Denshō. Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project, 2010. Web. 4 May 2010. “Reading: The Incarceration Years.” Denshō. Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project, 2010. Web. 4 May 2010. “Reading: The Issei Immigrants and Civil Rights.” Denshō. Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project, 2010. Web. 4 May 2010. “Reading: The Question of Loyalty.” Denshō. Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project, 2010. Web. 4 May 2010. W., Masao. Interview. “Reading: The Incarceration Years.” Denshō. Denshō: The Japanese American Legacy Project, 2010. Web. 4 May 2010. Read More