During World War II, Japanese-Americans, including American citizens, were forcibly detained in internment camps due to fear and hate towards Japan. The conditions were poor, and many lost their property. In 1944, the Supreme Court ruled it violated civil rights. In 1988, Congress paid reparations of $20,000 to each person interned.
Japanese-American internment refers to the forced detention of Japanese residents of the United States – about two-thirds of them American citizens and born on American soil – that occurred after the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II. Many modern historians and even political officials of the time condemned this action – called Executive Order 9066 – which was signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1942. It immediately ordered most Japanese Americans into what were termed prison camps , internment camps, or even concentration camps (Roosevelt called them the latter), because many officials feared that American citizens of Japanese descent might also attempt hostile acts against the United States.
Although President Roosevelt’s first inaugural address included the famous quote that “there is nothing to fear but fear itself,” most argue that the internment of Japanese-Americans was motivated by fear and the rise of hate for the Japanese country during WWII. Although there were a few incidents in which Japanese Americans turned against the United States, most of those interned were law-abiding citizens, and government reports studying the matter have since concluded that inhumation was unnecessary since military or security point of view of the country.
Once the Japanese-American internment was authorized, the Japanese-American citizens were almost immediately evacuated to military-controlled camps. This required many of them to abandon property they had worked hard to obtain, and few citizens, even if they had relatives who served in the US military, were exempt. Many have lost their rights to their property forever. In some cases, neighbors of those imprisoned kept and worked farms and other businesses until they were released from the camps.
In all, approximately 112,000 people were officially held in internment camps throughout the United States from 1943 to 1945. In December 1944, the United States Supreme Court ruled that Japanese-American internment violated citizens’ civil rights. The internees were mainly released in January 1945, receiving US$25 and a train ticket back to their former homes, if they were still theirs. This enforced captivity created anti-American feelings for some, but for others, they were just glad to be released.
Conditions in the Japanese-American internment camps were generally poor. People were not always prepared for climatic differences and families were sometimes separated. As there was little time to prepare for captivity, many suffered in not warm enough clothing and lived in shelters that did nothing to keep out the cold. Food could be scarce, and support for each person in most camps was limited to about 45 cents a day. Depending on the camp, some people were allowed to go out to work or attend school, while other camps had more restrictions and curfews. There were also internment camps for Germans and Italians, although these were less numerous.
In 1988, after many years of debate, the US Congress agreed to pay $20,000 USD to every person who had been interned, even if they were no longer US citizens. It may surprise some to learn that reparations payments were strongly opposed by some members of Congress, who argued that the Japanese were better off being interned. This view was clearly not shared by the majority of Congress or by the Japanese who suffered this fate simply by being Japanese.
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