Pre-war Anti-japanese Racism - Essay Example

Pre-war anti-Japanese racism My loved daughter, none in this world has a choice where toborn, raised or to be associated with. This world is diverse and there is a deliberate need to appreciate its diversity that lies within. Our pre-determined thought of appreciating what others have and their uniqueness is factor that has to be cultivated from the grass roots of family levels to the international community. This letter is dedicated to enlighten on the critical actions of poor political leadership, war hysteria and racial prejudice. This has been in the silence and has taken time to come to the light. I will skip the meticulousness and niceties and enlighten you what has happened in recent decades. In the better half of the 20th century, California in the United States of America experienced a heavy wave of anti-Japanese sentiment that the world has to live with the bitter truth up to date. It was estimated 90% of the Japanese immigrants, settled in California. At that time, there was great competition of labor in the farms. The competition of resources brought about by anti-Japanese sentiment, (Daniels p, 3). This slowly grew and infected the education sector. San Francisco education board made orders to the district learning institutions, to separate the Caucasian students from the Japanese students. Marriages were affected as well. Ethnicity was cultivated and outlawed marriages between Caucasian and people from East Asia could not be practiced any more. Use of terms like Mongolians started being a norm. This hate speech was to refer to Japanese and East Asian ancestry, in the year 1905. Later in 1924, Oriental law was passed. This was a great hindrance for the Japanese origin to attain citizenship either by naturalization with an aim to wipe off the Japanese ancestry, and preserve the ideology of American homogeneity, (Daniels p, 23). This also was imposed as to cut down on Eastern and Southern Europeans and among them the Jews who were at that time migrating in large numbers escaping the persecution in Russia and Poland. This was a tough time of all the immigrants and our fore fathers as well. Men and women had to abide by the laws of the land. Children going to schools were not spared either, (Daniels p, 25). The tension all around could be felt right left. The peace of mind that any human race would comfortably enjoy was no more. Skies were full of expectancy with little or no idea of what to expect the next day. At some point you might be in consternation as to why I have procrastinated on this burning issue. My daughter you have come of age now that you can now be in apposition to comprehend the issues that have happened to this generation, it has been a big burden to erode it to this generation and had opted to keep it silent, but talking it out would help heal the deep wounds. It all started in years 1939 to 1941. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) cited national security concern. They formed a Custodial Detention Index (CDI) on foreign nationals, citizens and enemy aliens, (Daniels p, 28). On the 28th of June 1940, alien registration act was then passed that required loyalty regulations implemented. The year after, Pearl Harbor was attacked on 7th December, 1941. The political leaders and the military personnel by then suspected that Imperial Japan was prepared to take a full control of the West Coast of United States of America. The hell broke loose. A loyalty concern over Japanese ancestry was brought to task, after the so called Niihau incident. The concerns were more on racial prejudice, (Daniels p, 32). There was no evidence of malfeasance. This was targeted to melt the Japanese ethnicity away as candle wax. It is a heart breaking narration that has to be expressed out in the broad day light. Life as political incarcerates in detention camps and heavily guarded by armed forces is totally unacceptable and should never happen again. Bearing in mind that there were no trials, no crimes what so ever were committed and with no conviction, (Daniels p, 39). The justification to all this mess is due to ethnicity that no one had a choice. Japanese Americans found themselves in this status, due to incompetent law and policy makers. Japanese ancestry became political prisoners of war. They were segregated, the rate of incarceration shot tremendously. The internment went on for decades. The dusk finally had to come to an end. There was a sense of relief in the year 1980, when President Carter Jimmy ordered an investigation to be carried out to determine the justification of having Japanese Americans in the camps, (Daniels p, 39). A commission was formed and gave out a report on its findings. There was little or no evidence on Japanese disloyalty as it was earlier claimed. The commission’s recommendation was the government to pay compensation to the survivors. The government owed survivors a big apology. The beginning of incandescent emotions over flew our hearts. More good news streamed in 1988 from President Ronald, he signed a legislation that was passed by the Congress apologizing to the interment acts. The legislation stated that the government acted on the basis of poor political leadership, war hysteria and racial prejudice, (Daniels p, 89). The compensation funds were released and disbursed to the affected Japanese American families. The need for healing and reconciliation was the prevailing factor at this point. The intergeneration unity was preached. To attain this, resources had to be consolidated and form rehabilitation centers to heal the emotional and psychological wounds that had been there for decades. The torture experienced did affect many generations, where the mental and physical torture would strain families and the society at large, (Daniels p, 90). The dire need to resort what has been left out, to feel accepted in the society had to be given utmost care and the attention it deserved. In the same year 1988, better news struck again. Civil Liberty Act was passed, giving more hopes on the government’s efforts the healing of Japanese Americans including the members of the native Aleutian Islands. Their main mission statement was to give an assurance that such an incident would never happen again, (Daniels p, 91). The violation of human injustices was discouraged and condemned. Their agenda was to restore ecclesiastical life. Funds were set aside to meet Public education. A lot of efforts were needed to ensure the entire nation on governments stand to bring back political sanity. The government had to have sincere and credible declarations on any violation human rights and lead as an example to other nations. These hard learnt lessons were not to be experienced by the United States against her own citizens, (Daniels p, 95). It has now been the bitter truth, which such a supreme powerful nation had to live with. The positive lesson learnt in the time was to be passed down from one generation to the other. It is for a fact that everyone has got his/her history, and the racial discrimination should be buried in the bottom lake of fire. Intercommunity cohesion is the key factor for any Nation to realize its full economic, political and social growth. Poor governance and political leaders can lead to one community coming against the other as it has been experienced in United States during the World War II. At this point it is evident that efforts have been made to cap reoccurrence of such events, but the trauma experienced in the barbed camps was a clear indication of total antagonism of our ethic roots. It would be the world and united bodies appeal, to ensure such hate speech and war against humanity is never cultivated again. In case of any conflict between communities the rule of law should always prevail, (Daniels p, 107). These historical injustices that happened should be guidance to a sober nation. Despite the efforts that the government sent compensation and apology letters to our Japanese Americans citizens the wounds are healed but the scars will still remain. The trauma from camps still run cold chills down our spines, for so many decades our generation had no guts to talk about it from the feeling it was too painful and heavy burden to share. But miraculous the more our generation talked about it, the more healing process was felt. Tensions were drastically eroded, of the imaginations that such a saddening event would ever evolve again. Sense of low esteem has slowly been washed away and truly time is a healer. Work Cited Daniels R. Prisoners without Trial: Japanese Americans in World War II. Publishing Company. Hill and Wang. New York 1993 Read More