Japanese Internment: Military Necessity or Racism?
Immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States committed one of the most deplorable acts in its brief history. Between 110,000 and 120,000 Japanese-Americans were forced out of their homes and into internment camps heavily guarded by military officials. The government argued that these acts were militarily necessary, but a closer examination reveals that racism and discrimination played a crucial role in the detainment of Japanese-Americans. With racism already a problem in America during the War, the government perpetuated the problem by singling out those of Japanese descent and separating them from the rest of society. Not only did this destroy many traditions of the Japanese family, but it also stripped Japanese-Americans from their homes and livelihoods. In John Okada's No-No Boy, the father believed that the benefits of America outweighed the drawback of racism. I was interested to find out if this belief was warranted, or whether the government was not fulfilling its promise of opportunity to Japanese-Americans because of their heritage. The internment of Japanese-Americans was provoked by a largely racist and discriminatory American society, which led to a direct violation of American ideals.
Although the American government attempted to defend its actions during World War II by claiming they were of military significance, it is clear that racism and discrimination were the main factors that attributed to the decision to force Japanese-Americans into internment camps. Because it was the government's decision to separate Japanese-Americans from other Americans, racism in the United States increased. Japanese internment was not militarily justified - it was not justified in any sense. Behind the motivation of racial discrimination, Japanese-Americans were forced to leave their homes and livelihoods creating one of the most extreme violations of rights in American history and disrupting the lives of thousands of people. Numerous museums and remembrances exist that try to prevent race-motivated actions like Japanese internment from reoccurring. The American government was wrong in its treatment of Japanese-Americans and its racist motivation made the situation worse. A Plaque at the Poston Relocation Center reads: "May it serve as a constant reminder of our past so that Americans in the future will never again be denied their constitutional rights and may the remembrance of that experience serve to advance the evolution of human spirit" (The Executive Order). It remains to be seen how American responds to the acts of September 11, but hopefully the experience of Japanese internment will be something we can look back on and learn from. Even after Japanese internment the United States is a place with extreme amounts of potential and possibility, but there are too many racial conflicts for this potential to be fully realized. The Civil Liberties Act of 1988, enacted by the United States' Congress on August 10, 1988, helped identify racism as a major reason for Japanese internment: "As the Commission documents, these actions were carried out without adequate security reasons and without any acts of espionage or sabotage documented by the Commission, and were motivated largely by racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a failure of political leadership" (Internment History). In this document, a government that once believed there was military cause for internment camps recognized that the more fundamental cause was discrimination. Unfortunately, Japanese families were torn apart and Japanese homes were left abandoned before anyone realized the atrocity that was occurring. In Executive Order No. 9066, the United States' government argued that internment camps were necessary for military purposes: "war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities" (The Executive Order). A direct quotation from the bill helps us understand Roosevelt's perspective: ernment of Japanese-Americans appears to be racially motivated because it was u
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1938
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)
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