Japanese American Internment Camps

How would you feel if you were forced into an internment camp because of what other people of the same nationality did? From 1942-1945 numerous Japanese Americans were treated brutally because Americans turned their rage for a crime, which was the bombing of Pearl Harbor perpetrated by the Japanese. This action made the Americans loathe the Japanese.

Inevitably, after the bombing attack on Pearl Harbor, the United Stated was filled with panic. Residents, along the Pacific coast of the United States feared that there would be more Japanese attacks on their homes, cities, and businesses. Multiple people were scared and did not know who could be trusted. People were falsely saying that there were many Japanese spies spying for Japan, yet only
ten people, who were Caucasian were convicted of spying for Japan. “During the entire war only ten people were convicted of spying for Japan and these were all Caucasians.” That being said, an example of that is a girl whose best friend was Japanese was a spy along with her family, and a few days later the family was arrested for being spies. It says in (Source 6) “In face my mother lived in Kent and her best friend was Japanese. The family had a farm and fruit stand. The Monday after Pearl Harbor when the girl got off the school bus with my mom (yes, they all said the Pledge of Allegiance in class) spat in mothers face. The family was arrested three days later for being spies.”

Also, on the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States and Britain declared war on Japan.
Two months later, on February 19th, 1942, the lives of countless Japanese Americans were perilously changed when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. This forced all the Japanese Americans, regardless of citizenship or loyalty towards Americans, to depart the West coast. This order led to evacuation, assembly, and relocation of just about 122,000 of woman, men, and children of all Japanese Ancestry on the West coast of the United States. “America's fear of an on attack the West Coast of the U.S.A caused the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps.”

In addition to that, the signing of President Franklin D. Roosevelt caused some 120,000 people of Japanese descent that were living in the U.S.A were removed from their homes and were then placed in internment camps. “The US justified their action by claiming that there was a danger of those of Japanese descent spying for the Japanese.” In spite of that. more than two thirds of those who were interned were American citizens and half of them were only children. None of these Japanese people whatsoever had ever shown disloyalty to the
nation.

With this in mind, the internment camps were basically permanent detention camps that held internees from March 1942, until their closing in 1945 and 1946. Of course, the camp help captive people of many different origins, but the most common prisoners were Japanese-Americans. Ten different relocation centers were located across the United States during the war. Half of these Japanese-Americans were only children and were incarcerated for up to four years. These Japanese Americans were forced to leave their jobs and homes. “They were forced to evacuate their homes and leave their jobs; in some cases family members were separated and put into different camps.”

Indeed, life in the camps must have been very hard.
Internees were only allowed to bring with them a few possessions. They had 48 hours just to evacuate their homes. Families lost about everything, they were forced to sell shops, homes, furnishing, and even the clothes they could not carry with them. "It was really cruel and harsh. To pack and evacuate in forty-eight hours was an impossibility. Seeing mothers completely bewildered with children crying from want and peddlers taking advantage and offering prices next to robbery made me feel like murdering those responsible without the slightest compunction in my heart." Joseph Yoshisuke Kurihara speaking of the Terminal Island
evacuation.

The Japanese were housed in barracks and had to use communal areas for laundry washing, and eating. It was a sad and emotional time. "I remember the soldiers marching us to the Army tank and I looked at their rifles and I was just terrified because I could see this long knife at the end . . . I thought I wasimagining it as an adult much later . . . I thought it couldn't have been bayonets because we were just little kids." From "Children of the Camps"

As a matter of fact, countless Japanese Americans were killed by the military guards, for not following the orders or resisting the officers. Due to a lack of sufficient medical care and also, malnutrition, many Japanese died. “Some internees died from inadequate medical care and the high level of emotional stress they suffered. Those taken to camps in desert areas had to cope with extremes of temperature.”

Furthermore, when mentioning descriptions of the camps, Japanese-Americans would always mention dust storms. For example, a dust storm would blow, even sometimes for hours. Then, the inmates were given just a bowl of milk and a tin cup, the dust would form on top of the milk, and still were forced to drink it because it’s all they had. “The only things the government would provide for a barrack were the cot, the mattress, and the blankets.” Only these things were what the government would provide for the Japanese. Cots were close to each other with about only three to four feet in between them. At the concentration camps meals were only served in cafeteria style with lines commonly stretching out the doors into the hot sun.