The Japanese American citizens were treated very poorly in the United States well before World War 2 and the Japanese American internment. Racial prejudice and unfair treatment toward the Japanese American citizens began in the late 1800's and steadily built over the next few decades. Japanese Americans were subjected to getting land in areas where no one else wanted to be such as near power lines and on dirt or soil where it was hard to build. The Japanese Americans were also held down in the farming and mining industries by often paranoid local American competitors. The Japanese bombed the United States in Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 which led to a national widespread fear of Japanese citizens, primarily on the west coast, carrying …show more content…
Racism towards Asian American immigrants began long before the actual internment itself. Some of the American people and media, specifically on the west coast, were paranoid the Japanese Americans might launch an attack inside the country to complement the Pearl Harbor attack. In a letter directed to the President's private secretary, James H. Rowe, Jr. mentioned this internment could be unconstitutional and based on public hysteria (“FDR and Japanese American Internment,” 1941-1942, p. 7) . The laws directed toward Asian American immigrants in the late 1800's, the hysteria that Japanese Americans were taking American citizens farmers' land and business and the paranoia that some Japanese Americans may launch an additional attack reached its climax when permission was given to relocate and closely monitor thousands of Japanese Americans against their …show more content…
California legislature enacted a 1913 law that prevented ownership of land by aliens ineligible for citizenship (Shaffer, 1999) . Japanese Americans couldn't buy land due to California law so they would have to lease land in areas that no one else wanted to buy or invest in (Clark, 1972). The Japanese Americans worked hard to maintain and build their land which made some Americans feel paranoid and even jealous. Powerful associations of white farmers openly admitted they wanted Japanese Americans out of California for "selfish reasons" and as much as for "military necessity" (Shaffer, 1999). The Japanese Americans were forced to make the best of what they had and often succeeded which increased racial tensions toward Japanese Americans n California. Threats toward Japanese Americans caused California Culbert Olsen to warn that the people may take things into their own hands (1988, p. 413). This recommendation was the result of racial tensions that had been building since the late 1800's and the Americans citizens wanted Japanese Americans out. American citizens in this area were now using the Pearl Harbor attack to justify possible attacks by Japanese Americans in California and wanted swift federal government action or they would take action into their own