You may remember them being called "internment camps," but let's call them what they were: "concentration camps." Here is my latest Story Time with Mr. Beat video. If you like it, please share.
I'm a teacher, musician, and filmmaker from Lawrence, Kansas https://twitter.com/beatmastermatt
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Tuesday, March 18, 2014
Japanese American Concentration Camps
What's backwards? My name is Mr. Beat. It's hard for me not to get angry, very angry, when I think about what the United States government did to nearly 120,000 people of Japanese heritage during World War 2. Here's the story of one of the biggest tragedies in American history- the Japanese American concentration camps.
Once upon a time, there was a nation state called The Empire of Japan. On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise military strike on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This attack directly led the United States to enter World War 2.
Consequently, it also caused anyone in the United States with Japanese heritage to be looked at suspiciously. Japanese Americans had already faced racism and discrimination for nearly 100 years. Now, many Americans thought that Japanese Americans might be more loyal to Japan than the United States. They were afraid of possible Japanese-American sabotage, or the act of destroying, damaging, or blocking something on purpose. Despite the fact there was absolutely no evidence for sabotage, many Americans simply did not trust Japanese Americans.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese persecution increased. Many non-governmental "Jap hunting licenses" were distributed throughout the country. Life magazine published an article describing how to tell a Japanese person from a Chinese person by the shape of the nose and stature of the body.
The hatred and paranoia toward the Japanese was particularly great along the West Coast of the United States. A barbershop in California advertised "free shaves for Japs," with the disclaimer, "not responsible for accidents." A funeral parlor advertised: "I'd rather do business with a Jap than an American."
Several people began talking about removing all Japanese Americans from western states. Two people who led the charge were California Attorney General Earl Warren and Lieutenant Colonel John L. DeWitt. If the name Earl Warren sounds familiar, it's because it's the same Earl Warren who later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. DeWitt deeply mistrusted Japanese Americans, and said, "It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen, he is still a Japanese. American citizenship does not necessarily determine loyalty...But we must worry about the Japanese all the time until he is wiped off the map. " DeWitt also irrationally argued that the fact that Japanese Americans had not yet committed sabotage proved that they were plotting to do it in the future.
In early 1942, Warren, DeWitt, and others pressured President Franklin Roosevelt to kick out all people of Japanese decent in western states, and then lock them up somewhere else. Roosevelt agreed. On February 19th, 1942, he signed Executive Order 9066. It ordered the round-up of 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry to one of 10 concentration camps, which were officially called "relocation centers." It also said that all people of Japanese ancestry were not allowed to be in the entire state of California and much of Oregon, Washington, and Arizona, except for those in concentration camps in those states.
Over 2/3 of the Japanese who were locked up were American citizens. The vast majority had never even been to Japan. Americans who were as little as 1/16 Japanese could be placed in concentration camps. Even Japanese-American veterans of World War I were forced to evacuate their homes. Ironically, most Japanese Americans in Hawaii were not forced to leave. The reason why? Powerful businessmen figured Hawaii's economy would be damaged if this large community of people were sent to concentration camps because most the carpenters, transportation workers, and agricultural laborers in the state were of Japanese heritage.
DeWitt was in charge of enforcing Roosevelt's executive order. He posted evacuation orders in Japanese American neighborhoods. They had little time to evacuate. Many were rushed out their homes, only allowed to bring what they could carry with them. Many tried to sell all their belongings before they left, because they could not be certain it would all be there when they got back. Because of the rush to sell, stuff was often sold a fraction of what it was actually worth.
Until the camps were finished, many of the Japanese Americans were held in temporary centers, such as stables at local racetracks. They generally had no idea where they were being sent. The ten camps were located in remote areas of California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas.
Once they made it to camp, they were assigned to poorly constructed, overcrowded barracks. The barracks were made of cheap material and had no plumbing or cooking facilities. In the winter they were too cold, and in the summer they were too hot.
Nearly all families were kept together, though some were accidentally sent to different camps. Families dined together at communal mess halls. The food quality was nothing to get excited about, and it was rationed out at a cost of about 45 cents a day. The United States government hoped the Japanese Americans could grow their own food, but usually the conditions were too poor for growing crops where the camps were located. The Japanese Americans in the camps had inadequate medical care.
Children, as many as 30,000 lived in the camps, were expected to attend the schools built for them there. Many of these children were traumatized by the whole experience. Adults could work if they wanted to, for a measly salary of $5 a day.
American-born Japanese often had more prestige in the camps than the older generation Japanese who were not native to the United States.
The Japanese Americans at these camps were not allowed to leave. The camps were surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. There are documented instances of guards shooting internees who reportedly tried to leave. However, some camp administrators did allow free movement outside the boundaries of the camps. Some internees even left the camps to live in different parts of the United States (not on the West Coast of course.) The U.S. government eventually allowed Japanese Americans a chance to permanently leave the concentration camps if they enlisted in the U.S. Army. Only about 1,200 Japanese Americans took the offer, and a few of these ended up fighting heroically in the war.
The majority of Japanese American families simply felt helpless living in these camps. They often had nobody fighting for them on the outside, and felt like they had lost all constitutional rights. It was difficult for them to have any hope.
A Japanese American named Fred Korematsu, who had become a fugitive and eventually arrested for refusing to go to a concentration camp, fought the United States government. He argued that Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 violated his fifth amendment rights because of his ancestry. His case, which became known as Korematsu v. United States, went to the Supreme Court. The Court sided with the United States government, ruling the order constitutional. The Court ruled the same thing in a similar case, Hirabayashi v. United States.
On January 2nd, 1945, Franklin Roosevelt cancelled Executive Order 9066. One by one the camps were shut down, but the last one remained open until early 1946, several months after the war was over. Finally, they were free. The freed Japanese Americans were given $25 and a train ticket to their former homes. Many returned home to find their belongings missing or destroyed.
To compensate their property losses, the United States Congress passed the American Japanese Claims Act, but in reality the law did not compensate much of what was lost.
In 1980, that's right, 35 years later, Congress finally decided to investigate whether or not the locking up of Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War 2 was a good idea. Their conclusion was that it was definitely not. They condemned it by saying it was unjust and motivated by racism and xenophobic ideas rather than real military necessity. In 1988, Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act, which formally apologized to the Japanese Americans affected and awarded payments of $20,000 to each camp survivor. The U.S. government eventually gave out more than $1.6 billion in reparations (a reparation is making amends for a past wrong), to 82,219 Japanese Americans who had been victims directly or indirectly.
The forced relocation of Japanese Americans to concentration camps during World War 2 is one of the most despicable acts by the U.S. government in American history. Today we remember it as a tragedy, but it's important to remember that most Americans accepted it or even encouraged it while it was happening. After all, a 1944 opinion poll found that 13 percent of Americans were in favor of killing all the Japanese.
Today, minorities of all kinds continue to be marginalized in society, but it's satisfying to know that now all Americans look back on the Japanese American concentration camps as a deplorable and awful mistake.
Once upon a time, there was a nation state called The Empire of Japan. On the morning of December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise military strike on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. This attack directly led the United States to enter World War 2.
Consequently, it also caused anyone in the United States with Japanese heritage to be looked at suspiciously. Japanese Americans had already faced racism and discrimination for nearly 100 years. Now, many Americans thought that Japanese Americans might be more loyal to Japan than the United States. They were afraid of possible Japanese-American sabotage, or the act of destroying, damaging, or blocking something on purpose. Despite the fact there was absolutely no evidence for sabotage, many Americans simply did not trust Japanese Americans.
Following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese persecution increased. Many non-governmental "Jap hunting licenses" were distributed throughout the country. Life magazine published an article describing how to tell a Japanese person from a Chinese person by the shape of the nose and stature of the body.
The hatred and paranoia toward the Japanese was particularly great along the West Coast of the United States. A barbershop in California advertised "free shaves for Japs," with the disclaimer, "not responsible for accidents." A funeral parlor advertised: "I'd rather do business with a Jap than an American."
Several people began talking about removing all Japanese Americans from western states. Two people who led the charge were California Attorney General Earl Warren and Lieutenant Colonel John L. DeWitt. If the name Earl Warren sounds familiar, it's because it's the same Earl Warren who later became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. DeWitt deeply mistrusted Japanese Americans, and said, "It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen, he is still a Japanese. American citizenship does not necessarily determine loyalty...But we must worry about the Japanese all the time until he is wiped off the map. " DeWitt also irrationally argued that the fact that Japanese Americans had not yet committed sabotage proved that they were plotting to do it in the future.In early 1942, Warren, DeWitt, and others pressured President Franklin Roosevelt to kick out all people of Japanese decent in western states, and then lock them up somewhere else. Roosevelt agreed. On February 19th, 1942, he signed Executive Order 9066. It ordered the round-up of 120,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry to one of 10 concentration camps, which were officially called "relocation centers." It also said that all people of Japanese ancestry were not allowed to be in the entire state of California and much of Oregon, Washington, and Arizona, except for those in concentration camps in those states.
Over 2/3 of the Japanese who were locked up were American citizens. The vast majority had never even been to Japan. Americans who were as little as 1/16 Japanese could be placed in concentration camps. Even Japanese-American veterans of World War I were forced to evacuate their homes. Ironically, most Japanese Americans in Hawaii were not forced to leave. The reason why? Powerful businessmen figured Hawaii's economy would be damaged if this large community of people were sent to concentration camps because most the carpenters, transportation workers, and agricultural laborers in the state were of Japanese heritage.
DeWitt was in charge of enforcing Roosevelt's executive order. He posted evacuation orders in Japanese American neighborhoods. They had little time to evacuate. Many were rushed out their homes, only allowed to bring what they could carry with them. Many tried to sell all their belongings before they left, because they could not be certain it would all be there when they got back. Because of the rush to sell, stuff was often sold a fraction of what it was actually worth.
Until the camps were finished, many of the Japanese Americans were held in temporary centers, such as stables at local racetracks. They generally had no idea where they were being sent. The ten camps were located in remote areas of California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, and Arkansas.
Once they made it to camp, they were assigned to poorly constructed, overcrowded barracks. The barracks were made of cheap material and had no plumbing or cooking facilities. In the winter they were too cold, and in the summer they were too hot.
Nearly all families were kept together, though some were accidentally sent to different camps. Families dined together at communal mess halls. The food quality was nothing to get excited about, and it was rationed out at a cost of about 45 cents a day. The United States government hoped the Japanese Americans could grow their own food, but usually the conditions were too poor for growing crops where the camps were located. The Japanese Americans in the camps had inadequate medical care.
Children, as many as 30,000 lived in the camps, were expected to attend the schools built for them there. Many of these children were traumatized by the whole experience. Adults could work if they wanted to, for a measly salary of $5 a day.
American-born Japanese often had more prestige in the camps than the older generation Japanese who were not native to the United States.
The Japanese Americans at these camps were not allowed to leave. The camps were surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards. There are documented instances of guards shooting internees who reportedly tried to leave. However, some camp administrators did allow free movement outside the boundaries of the camps. Some internees even left the camps to live in different parts of the United States (not on the West Coast of course.) The U.S. government eventually allowed Japanese Americans a chance to permanently leave the concentration camps if they enlisted in the U.S. Army. Only about 1,200 Japanese Americans took the offer, and a few of these ended up fighting heroically in the war.
The majority of Japanese American families simply felt helpless living in these camps. They often had nobody fighting for them on the outside, and felt like they had lost all constitutional rights. It was difficult for them to have any hope.
A Japanese American named Fred Korematsu, who had become a fugitive and eventually arrested for refusing to go to a concentration camp, fought the United States government. He argued that Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 violated his fifth amendment rights because of his ancestry. His case, which became known as Korematsu v. United States, went to the Supreme Court. The Court sided with the United States government, ruling the order constitutional. The Court ruled the same thing in a similar case, Hirabayashi v. United States.
On January 2nd, 1945, Franklin Roosevelt cancelled Executive Order 9066. One by one the camps were shut down, but the last one remained open until early 1946, several months after the war was over. Finally, they were free. The freed Japanese Americans were given $25 and a train ticket to their former homes. Many returned home to find their belongings missing or destroyed.
To compensate their property losses, the United States Congress passed the American Japanese Claims Act, but in reality the law did not compensate much of what was lost.
In 1980, that's right, 35 years later, Congress finally decided to investigate whether or not the locking up of Japanese Americans in concentration camps during World War 2 was a good idea. Their conclusion was that it was definitely not. They condemned it by saying it was unjust and motivated by racism and xenophobic ideas rather than real military necessity. In 1988, Congress passed the Civil Liberties Act, which formally apologized to the Japanese Americans affected and awarded payments of $20,000 to each camp survivor. The U.S. government eventually gave out more than $1.6 billion in reparations (a reparation is making amends for a past wrong), to 82,219 Japanese Americans who had been victims directly or indirectly.
The forced relocation of Japanese Americans to concentration camps during World War 2 is one of the most despicable acts by the U.S. government in American history. Today we remember it as a tragedy, but it's important to remember that most Americans accepted it or even encouraged it while it was happening. After all, a 1944 opinion poll found that 13 percent of Americans were in favor of killing all the Japanese.
Today, minorities of all kinds continue to be marginalized in society, but it's satisfying to know that now all Americans look back on the Japanese American concentration camps as a deplorable and awful mistake.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Tuesday, March 4, 2014
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