Introduction
The Japanese attacked the Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, prompted the United States to immediately declare war against Japan. The Pearl Harbor assault and the eventual participation of the US in the Second World War have a widespread impact, and this includes a detrimental effect on the lives of the Japanese Americans in the United States. A few weeks after both countries declared war against each other, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, with the directive to designate some parts of the West Coast under military jurisdiction. The Executive Order did not specifically mention the internment of the Japanese Americans, but it nevertheless gave the military the power to exclude the Japanese from the area.
The Directive for Relocation
The Executive Order granted an extensive power to the Secretary of War and military officials who did not hesitate to use it according to their own prerogative. Further, it also gave the military the authority to evacuate the people given a reasonable justification. Thus, after the passage of the EO, the War Department administered the extraction of the Japanese Americans from the West Coast, according to what they referred to as the necessities of military wartime. Accordingly, the power of EO 9066 was used to exclude all people of Japanese ancestry from the entire region of the West Coast.
The reason for the eventual internment of people of Japanese ancestry can be traced from intelligence reports that was taken as an evidence of espionage activity among members of the Japanese community. While the report was said to be false, and was fabricated by people who have anti-Japanese sentiments, the Japanese remained to be the focus of the executive order. According to studies, some of the prejudices against the Japanese during that time were not generally related to the ongoing war. There were selfish reasons why the Japanese were singled out and interned; a portion of a letter sent to Congressman John Anderson indicated that white Americans thought that there is no way for the Japanese to assimilate with the white race. Some of them saw the war as an opportunity to eventually get rid of the Japanese, whom they thought as competitors in many aspects. Other primary documents indicated that some Americans did not like the Japanese and have hoped to get rid of them after the war. Nevertheless, some found it sensible to extract the Japanese Americans from the West Coast because of security risk should the Japanese military attack the American mainland.
Upon learning about the order to evacuate, many Japanese Americans sold their properties, and the urgency of the order resulted to massive economic loss on the part of families who were forced to sell their belongings at a much cheaper price. At first, the Japanese people were requested to voluntarily comply with the order, but the military leaders thought it better to be in full control and made the order compulsory. The Japanese men were rounded up by the military, while the women were forced to sell their properties in just a few days. Many of the Japanese stayed in temporary relocation sites until he completion of ten internment camps in the more remote places of the country.
Life at the Internment Camps
The life in the internment camps was difficult, as families were packed to share tar-papered barracks. The relocation was described as cruel and harsh; about four to five families share a barrack, and a common area for their necessities. Children comprised a large number of the interned population, and some would later recount how soldiers, with their rifles marched them towards the internment camps. There was insufficient medical care at the camps, and some of the internees died due to inadequate medical attention and the stressed associated with being camped and watched by the military. Moreover, the incarcerees did not only contend with the inadequate housing and facilities, but they also have to deal with the extreme climate in the relocation sites. While medical personnels were assigned in the camps, overcrowding and the unsanitary conditions contributed to the increased number of diseases among the internees.
While they were expected to live their lives normally, such as the demand to allow their children to go to school, it was difficult for the families to adjust to life in the internment camps. The American government expected the Japanese people to be self-sufficient, but starting life with little support and in an arid place like the relocation sites was not easy for the families who have nothing with them except a few basic possessions. Men were forced to accept menial tasks despite low wages, and women have to deal with the shame associated with sharing commodes that exposed them to others. The internment camp brought havoc to the traditional Japanese families, for example, family members no longer share their meals such that men shared meal times with other men while the mothers were left with the children. Sometime in 1943, the internees were required to prove their allegiance to the United States by requiring adults to answer the loyalty questionnaire. Those who were found to be disloyal were confined in separate a separate site in Tule Lake, in addition to other forms of discrimination.
Life After the Internment
It was in 1944 when the EO 9066 was finally rescinded, and those who were forced to confinement were to assimilate back into the society. Some Japanese Americans who felt resentment of their undue treatment relinquished their American citizenship, still others went back to integrate. Fresh from being confined and closely monitored by the military, the Japanese found it difficult to regain the economic loss associated with their more than two years of confinement. Moreover, it was found that it was only about more than ten years when the United States government started to provide reparation of the economic loss of the Japanese during their confinement. In 1988, President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act as an expression of apology to the internees.
Significance of the Internment
After many years of examination, it was found that the internment of the Japanese Americans during WWII was unjustifiable. For one, the allegation of Japanese espionage was never validated, and many of the internees were people who have already proven their allegiance to the country before the war. Nevertheless, the internment of the Japanese during that time shall serve as a lesson for all people and governments to ponder. Several studies were conducted to examine the merits of the forced confinement, and the compulsory internment of the Japanese Americans will serve as a basis to understand the roots, and consequences of such events.
