The easiest explanation to any social injustice is racism.
During the world war 2, after the attack on Pearl Harbor,
Japanese were about to attack on the west coast of US. The Japanese never attacked,
but the fear was high. Meanwhile, the US government rounded up all Japanese
Americans living in cities, towns, villages on the west coast and put them into
detention. Yes, shocking as it was, it happened. The Japanese Americans, mainly
in California and Oregon, were given short notices to vacate and report. Most
of them were not able to sell anything and were put into concentration camps
for few days. After few weeks to few days, they were transported on trains
going to one of the twelve intermittent camps in undisclosed locations in US.
These detainees were then released after three years.
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’.
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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.
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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.
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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)