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Japanese Internment

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The Internment of Japanese-American Citizens

World War II was a time of conscious hate among groups of innocent people who were used as scapegoats. After Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, suspicion and racial tensions were unfortunately raised towards those of Japanese descent. On February 19, 1492, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which authorized the internment of the Japanese within the United States. A few courageous Japanese citizens spoke against this order; an example was the Korematsu v. United States case. The Japanese were affected emotionally, physically, and mentally by the harsh conditions of the camps. Even after the internment camps were shut down, the Japanese suffered losses and uncontrollable …show more content…
In Korematsu v. United States, the Supreme Court held that the wartime internment of American citizens of Japanese descent was constitutional. The guarantee of freedom to petition for redress was violated when a few Japanese Americans exercised their citizen rights and demanded redress of grievances from the government (Ostgaard). During the court case, Justice Hugo Black claimed "when under conditions of modern warfare our shores are threatened by hostile forces, the power to protect must be commensurate with the threatened danger.” This proves that the internment was necessary in order to protect the United States from danger. In reality, the Supreme Court used the excuse of the internment to be a "military necessity" in order to unnecessarily perceive all Japanese Americans as threats. The internment violated Japanese-American's rights, and could not be made an …show more content…
Japanese were housed in barracks; sometimes entire families lived in one room cells (McGill). According to the War Relocation Authority, Japanese Americans were housed in "tarpaper-covered barracks of simple frame construction without plumbing or cooking facilities of any kind." This shows how crowded, harsh, and uncomfortable it was to live in the camps. These undesirable, unsanitary living conditions were not what they deserved, especially since most of the people were American citizens. Although this is true, the government allowed internees to leave the concentration camps if they enlisted in the U.S. Army. This allowed for a possible getaway from the camps. In anticipated contrast, the offer was not well received because only 1,200 internees chose to do so (Siasoco). All in all, it is easily said that the conditions Japanese Americans faced in the internment camps were severe and

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