The United States and the Internment of Japanese-Americans in the U.S. during WWII.

THE United States and the Internment of Japanese-Americans in the US during WORLD WAR II

Introduction

During World War II (WWII , 120 ,000 Japanese Americans , US citizens or not , were forced out of the west coast after the attack of Pearl Harbor President Franklin D . Roosevelt issued Executive 9066 which allowed local military commanders to establish exclusion zones from which any or all persons may be excluded . Americans of Japanese descent were forcibly interned in different camps in the US . The military felt that this was a necessary action to prevent

any espionage and pro-Japanese actions in the west coast

Regardless of the mass evacuation , a number of Japanese Americans served in the military forces . In fact , the 442nd Regimental Combat Team (RCT ) is the most highly decorated unit in US military history

Asian discrimination

The discrimination against the Asians in the United States started even way before the incarceration of Japanese Americans in WWII . In the late 1900s , laws were passed that explicitly prohibited Japanese to become citizens of the US . They could not have a land of their own and were not allowed to marry outside their race . They could only buy homes in certain areas and were prohibited to work in certain industries . The Immigration Act of 1924 stated that aliens who were ineligible for citizenship would not be allowed to immigrate to the United States

When Japan had been establishing its colonial rule in the 20th century news of brutality of Japan came into the US . In particular , Japan 's colonization of China was widely condemned by the US government . As a result , prohibitions on oil and supplies were placed on Japan . The Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 further strengthened the anti-Japanese sentiment of the Americans especially when eyewitness reports of violence reached the country

The anti-Japanese sentiment reached its peak when the appalling attack on Pearl Harbor transpired on December 7 , 1941 . This impelled the United States to wage war against the Japanese Empire . This anger was further fuelled by how Japanese treated American and other western prisoners of war , the Bataan Death March , and the Kamikaze attacks on American ships

Internment

Executive 9066

Starting 1939 , the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI ) had been compiling information on prominent members of the Japanese community These data in the Custodial Detention Index (CDI ) were used to classify the persons according to their possible danger to the country

A few hours after the Pearl Harbor attack , the Attorney General , given a presidential blanket authority , announced that the FBI , using the information in the CDI , would be detaining "dangerous enemy aliens " who may put the security of the nation in jeopardy . Some believed that Japan would launch an attack on the west coast . Many officials doubted the loyalty of the Japanese residing in this area , their judgments mostly based on racial bias . They also feared a possible tampering of water system or arson . The distrust to the ethnic Japanese was more strengthened by the fact that many...