Japanese Internment Camps Justified?

[Ryan Miller]

What were the Japanese Internment Camps?​

     During 1942, the US has just recently entered World War 2 after the Japanese have launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) on December 7, 1941. In response, the US declared war on Japan the day after. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt (President of the United States at the time) signed Executive Order 9066 stating that the Secretary of War could place Japanese in America (many of which were citizens of the US) in selected military zones. Simply put, Japanese Americans were put in camps simply because of their Japanese ancestry.

Conditions in the Camps​

     The conditions in the camps were terrible. Often, camps were overcrowded and had terrible living conditions. The camps where the Japanese lived were like barracks where there was no plumbing or cooking facilities there. Not to mention that food was rationed between the people to save enough food. The Government however allowed internees to leave to camp if they decided to join the US military. Other than that, life was awful.

Arguments​

     To some, the Japanese Interment Camps were justified because it would ensure security of the United States and not get in the way of the US war effort. Another reason as to why they were justified is due to the fact that conditions in the camps were much better than what you'd see from the enemy. What that means is that the way the US government treated the Japanese internees wasn't as terrible as those seen from the axis where captive allied civilians and prisoners of war would be slaves and often be executed.

     On the other hand, the Japanese Interment Camps weren't justified as it was a violation of the 5th amendment due process (a right given in the Bill of Rights where citizens of the United States are to be given fair treatment by the Judicial System), especially if most of the Japanese internees were American citizens. Furthermore, Japanese Americans in the US were often forced to leave their homes and way of life. This sometimes meant having to lose your business, home, etc. for many of those internees. In addition, living conditions were terrible inside the internment camps. Lastly, death was often a punishment for those trying to escape the camps, refusing orders, or committing treason.

In December 17, 1944, President Roosevelt had ended the internment of Japanese in the US. In 1988, President Reagan (US president at the time) gave reparations for over 100,000 Japanese who were in these camps. These reparations would give $20,000 surviving victim. Some say that this wasn't enough to compensate for how much the Japanese in the camps have lost as a result. This is one of those examples in history where liberty is being traded for security. It's what makes historical moments so controversial. What do you think? Do you think that the interment of Japanese living in the US was justified? Why or why not?

Spoiler

Edit: Changed the word "were" to "where" in one of the sentence

 

[Sargun]

I would not say it was justified because empirical evidence at the time did not point to a japanese american threat, no.

 

[Dabawss]

What were the Japanese Internment Camps?​

     During 1942, the US has just recently entered World War 2 after the Japanese have launched a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor (Hawaii) on December 7, 1941. In response, the US declared war on Japan the day after. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt (President of the United States at the time) signed Executive Order 9066 stating that the Secretary of War could place Japanese in America (many of which were citizens of the US) in selected military zones. Simply put, Japanese Americans were put in camps simply because of their Japanese ancestry.

Conditions in the Camps​

     The conditions in the camps were terrible. Often, camps were overcrowded and had terrible living conditions. The camps where the Japanese lived were like barracks where there was no plumbing or cooking facilities there. Not to mention that food was rationed between the people to save enough food. The Government however allowed internees to leave to camp if they decided to join the US military. Other than that, life was awful.

Arguments​

     To some, the Japanese Interment Camps were justified because it would ensure security of the United States and not get in the way of the US war effort. Another reason as to why they were justified is due to the fact that conditions in the camps were much better than what you'd see from the enemy. What that means is that the way the US government treated the Japanese internees wasn't as terrible as those seen from the axis where captive allied civilians and prisoners of war would be slaves and often be executed.

     On the other hand, the Japanese Interment Camps weren't justified as it was a violation of the 5th amendment due process (a right given in the Bill of Rights where citizens of the United States are to be given fair treatment by the Judicial System), especially if most of the Japanese internees were American citizens. Furthermore, Japanese Americans in the US were often forced to leave their homes and way of life. This sometimes meant having to lose your business, home, etc. for many of those internees. In addition, living conditions were terrible inside the internment camps. Lastly, death was often a punishment for those trying to escape the camps, refusing orders, or committing treason.

In December 17, 1944, President Roosevelt had ended the internment of Japanese in the US. In 1988, President Reagan (US president at the time) gave reparations for over 100,000 Japanese who were in these camps. These reparations would give $20,000 surviving victim. Some say that this wasn't enough to compensate for how much the Japanese in the camps have lost as a result. This is one of those examples in history where liberty is being traded for security. It's what makes historical moments so controversial. What do you think? Do you think that the interment of Japanese living in the US was justified? Why or why not?

Spoiler

Edit: Changed the word "were" to "where" in one of the sentence

The whole thing was an affront to everything the US was supposed to stand for, freedom. There's a lot that isn't mentioned in the history books but the US even before they entered WW II, took an aggressive and antagonizing stance against Japan. The Japanese people were VERY patient but as with any peoples, they could only take so much.

many believe that the US knew in advance of the attack on Pearl harbor and knew when it was coming and how it would happen, and the US government LET the attack happen so they would have the CB to enter the VERY unpopular WW II, and the US KNEW that the people would rally behind a retaliatory entry into the war but they would NOT stand quiet if the US just threw in...

That said, the internment camps preyed upon this very mindset to instill the fear that every J-A was an enemy, much the way McCartyism saw a commie under every bed.

 

[Rin]

In today's more liberal climate, it looked a lot like racism. And we can't say it worked because nothing happened.

But we had something similar go on in Malaya. Shortly after WW2, Malaya picked up the communist bug. Most of it was by Chinese immigrants, because the other races didn't take too well to the atheism requirement.

So when guerilla fighters started shooting at them, the British chose to round up all Chinese and put them in "New Villages". The villages also had poor living conditions, but the rushed nature these things were set up means there was no other way. The technique was very effective in stopping communism in the region and starved off guerrilla support of supplies. After the communist emergency, the villages later grew into notable housing districts.

Maybe a bit different because the British tried to make them as comfortable as possible to win over the hearts of communist sympathizers.

 

[Woot]

No, but that's with hindsight and emotional distance, which make it easy to give that answer.

Think about how you felt on 9/11, imagine it was the start of a total war that would last years and have as many casualties every week, and imagine that one of the hijackers escaped and was immediately sheltered by Arab-Americans who joined his cause and helped him destroy intelligence and shoot people. Imagine that and maybe it takes you 5% of the way there to understanding the feelings of the time and the intensity of them.

Even the Supreme Court wasn't willing to stand in the way of the internment, and essentially ruled that the constitution could be ignored when it conflicted with war necessity. Principles go down the toilet in a big enough crisis, that's human nature, modern Americans are no superior to Americans of the 1940s in that respect.

 

[Keegoz]

I know in Australia, the push to have these camps was also on the notion to protect the Japanese. They knew that it was likely they would be targetted by the public when the war broke out.