The easiest explanation to any social injustice is racism.
Incidentally, the detainees were US citizens. Many of them
born in US and some of them had never been to Japan. The question arose, why a
country would treat its own citizens in such an atrocious way. Detainees were
not exactly the prisoners, as they were provided with basic necessities. They
had a normal life within the boundaries of their camps and occasionally some
detainees were even allowed to visit nearby villages. After a few months in the
camp, many detainees enrolled into US military and fought in the world war for
US in Europe, but not before they cleared a ‘loyalty test’.
One site of such intermittent camp was near the village of
Rohwer in Mississippi delta region of south east Arkansas. Famous Hollywood
actor George Takei was one of the detainees in that camp. Arkansas state
university as a part of revival of entire delta region and its heritage
invested in preserving the history in Arkansas. A museum was established in
McGehee, Arkansas around 13 miles from the actual site of the intermittent
camp. 
According to their visitors’ book, I was the first Indian to
visit the museum, quite obvious as I had no relation to that history or it
wasn’t a popular place. Most of the Arkansans I talked to didn’t even know
about this part of history or its connection to the natural state. The first
part of the museum had a movie depicting the history and experiences of the
inmates. The second part had an exhibit of quotes of the detainees,
photographs, artwork and other things used by them. The life was not easy. Each
family had a small room to live their life. They had limited rations, heavily
guarded camp and no social life except for within the camps. For detainees,
that time period was like two immigrations, one when the camps started as they
had to leave everything behind and another when the camps ended as they had to
restart their life again.
One of the detainees, Eiichi Kamiya, wrote about the Rohwer
camp:
“Far enough south to catch Gulf Coast hurricanes, far enough
north to catch the Midwestern tornadoes, close enough to the river to be
inundated by the Mississippi valley floods, and lush enough to be heaven for
every creepy, crawly creature and pesky insects in the world.”
And that was the best part of the camps.
Today, the only parts left of the camps are a guard tower
and a cemetery. I was completely unaware of this history. After visiting the
history in the museum, I drove to the actual fields of the camps, the corn
fields. Gorgeous weather, cool breeze and sun shine welcomed me. I felt chilly
not because of breeze, but I was visualizing the camp life in there; heavily
guarded fence, guard towers, armed sentries, small barracks, lines for rations
and yet peaceful Japanese Americans going about their life. The questions
flooded my mind. I talked to many people about it and the answer I received from
the most was racism. Was it just racism? Debatable. In fact, during the Clinton
administration, US government, in a special white house program, invited and
apologized to survivors of intermittent camps.
I have been in the US for last five years and I have seen
many sectarian divides and movements. Racism is being blamed for more time than
anything else. By blaming it on racism, every other underlying causes gets
undermined. Same was the case during the world war 2. Yes, there could have
been racism, but surely the US government was not driven by the racism. The
senate had representative from African American community since 1870, some 70
years before Japanese intermittent camp.
The bipartisan political system is the weakest of all
democratic political system I’ve seen. That could be the reason. Most of the
problems do not need political support or escalation, as election issues are
easy to find in a bipartisan system. Most of the time, just saying you hate the
other party has been enough to get you votes, as no third front exists to
challenge. During the decision of putting Japanese intermittent camp,
politically, stakes were very low. Forget about opposing, even educating about the
event was not considered important. Thus, many of the Americans are till day
unaware about Japanese intermittent camp.
On the other hand, it could have been a smart decision by
the Government. Japanese were about to attack on west coast or as was believed
by the people there. Being a paranoid society, the enmity was bound to increase
among Japanese Americans and other Americans. Japanese Americans would have
incurred heavy loss, as they were minority, if the riots were broken out. By
moving them to intermittent camps, the Government at lease ensured safety of
their lives. While fighting a world war, stability at home was of the utmost
importance. By moving Japanese Americans out of the west coast and away from
other Americans, the US government not only ensured their safety but also the
stability at home to focus on the war. Smart!
The last part, German Americans were not treated the same
way. True, because the real perceived fear was from Japan and racially Japanese
were easy to discriminate. Racism in the society played part in the discrimination,
but I do not believe the US government was driven by the racism. The Japs, as
they were called, from the camps were allowed to visit nearby villages. A group
of youths visited a nearby town, probably Rohwer, but I’m not sure. They
boarded a bus. Segregation was a reality at that time, and so white people
travelled in the front of the bus, while black people occupied the rear. Being
wary of the white people, the Japanese youth instinctively walked to rear to
sit with blacks. The driver instructed them to sit in the middle creating a
third sect. Yes, that was racism, but no different than anywhere else in the
universe. More so, that was a lack of education and awareness. They had never
seen a Japanese person and did not know how to react. They were not beaten up.
The Japanese were just discriminated out of unawareness and lack of education
more than racism.
All being said, most of the Americans who know about
Japanese American camps, today believe that was a bad fruit of their glorious
history. I am taking the blame away from Racism, because I believe blaming the
racism is an easy way out and undermine other issues. In addition, I have
travelled to the interiors of the US. I have travelled to the places
notoriously perceived as racist. Nevertheless, I have never been racially
discriminated.
In the end, a quote from Ray Johnston, the project director
of the Rohwer camps, glorifies the response of Japanese Americans and how civilized
they were. Yes, they were Americans and they loved their country, US:
“I was very agreeably surprised throughout the life of the
Center at the excellent conduct of practically all evacuees. I do not believe
that any other similar-sized segment of our population would have behaved
themselves as well under similar circumstances. I feel that a group of average
Americans, under similar conditions, would have been continually causing
turmoil, strikes, and so on, and that administering such a Center would have
been unbearable."
Thank you Arkansas State University for preserving the history.
(http://rohwer.astate.edu)
