Japanese Internmant Essay, Research Paper

Who would believe that in the land of the free and the home of the brave that the government would imprison 120,000 of its own citizens against their will and for having committed no crime what so ever? One might say that the United States government has never and never would send its own citizens into internment camps against their will Well one would be wrong. The United States government has indeed done this.

Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which gave the military the express consent of the President to violate the constitutional rights of thousands of American citizens.

The order allowed among other things the “segregation” of Japanese Americans from certain areas as well as the imprisonment of 120,000 US citizens and legal aliens of Japanese heritage living in the United States. One third of those imprisoned were legitimate US citizens.

These Japanese Americans, many of whom were women and children, were imprisoned as long as 4 years, without ever seeing the inside of a courtroom. Simply locked up and forgotten about in these internment camps throughout the nation.

These Japanese Americans were given little or no time to prepare for this injustice, and allowed only to bring minimal luggage. Farmers were forced to leave their farms behind, shopkeepers were forced to leave their stores, and professionals were forced to leave their jobs. People, US citizens, were completely uprooted from their lives with no say in the matter. For these people life would never, ever, be the same. Never as good as it had been, and all for what?

While these were not death camps, they were by no means the Holiday Inn. There was inadequate food, medical supplies, and beds. Conditions were in no way acceptable. Many Japanese Americans died in these camps. If not from malnutrition or disease, maybe from a broken heart courtesy of the country that betrayed them.

How could something like this be allowed in a free country? Did other citizens sit idly buy and do nothing? Yes, they did. These acts were justified as necessary and for the safety of the country. These American citizens were in no way a threat to the country, yet nothing is clearly seen through the eyes of prejudice. Fueled by wartime hysteria and justified by the President of the United States, these actions were accepted.

It was not until nearly 50 years after the fact that congress passed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. This act acknowledged the wrong done by the country and issued a formal apology as well as payment of $2000 to each surviving American of the internment camps. $2000 for four years! $2000 for a lost father! A lost son, daughter or mother! An apology and $2000, this is too little too late.

An apology and $2000 can not bring back a lost family member. It can not replace the lost income that member might have made. It can not erase the memories and nightmares of the camps. An apology and $2000 can do NOTHING. This should never have been allowed to take place in this country in the 20th century. The United States is eternally in debt to those people whose lives are eternally ruined. The best apology is to do everything in the power of the state to make sure nothing like this ever happens again anywhere.