December 7, 1941. This was a preventative action taken by Japan in order to stop the United
States from interfering with the plans that the Empire of Japan had against the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the United States as well. The following day, December 8, was when the
United States declared war. The events leading up to this war made major impacts on the lives of
Japanese Americans. Relocation as well as the incarceration of people with any trace of Japanese ancestry, also referred to as “Nikkei” by many Japanese American organizations in reference to second generation Japanese Americans and “Issei” for those of which were first generation
Japanese Americans, …show more content…
Due to the inability for people to separate the wrongdoings of others from one’s race disguised and justified as
“military necessity,” Japanese Americans were severely affected in their every day lives for the rest of their lives by the retaliation of America and it is shown in how they were placed in internment camps, had inadequate healthcare, forced to run the camp and maintain facilities for minimal pay, poor education for the youth, the idea that Japanese Americans had to be instilled with “American rhetoric,” the feelings of not belonging, the post-traumatic stress the internees were left even years after being released, the act of compensation given to internees for living in the camps, and so much more. The act and its effect on those in the medical field alone was a major event. Many Nikkei were licensed practitioners, dentists, nurses, optometrists, pharmacists, and nurses were forced to abandon their careers as well as she down their offices in order to be placed and work in the camp. This resulted in them being paid less than $20 a month (which was at least more than …show more content…
While by law it was required for there to be a certain amount of medical personnel per amount of internees- in order to keep up the pretense that everything about the camp was moral and ethical- which was “one physician per every 1,000 inmates” as well as “one nurse per every 200,” and there were many seminars to be prepared for
“adequate healthcare,” the War Relocation Authority (WRA for short) could not prevent the fact that close proximity of so many people creates the perfect environment for widespread of infectious disease. In fact, many internees were constantly sick with dengue fever, tuberculosis, and many others, which was definitely a hassle to the WRA since the means to cater to so many sick people were inevitably and constantly lacking with nothing to do but let the people die
(Densho Encyclopedia). No matter how prepared the WRA believed that they had been before the internment camps were finally functioning, they continued to be under-staffed and constantly lacking basic medical supplies, which automatically put any internee in need of medical attention at risk. There was never any proper sterilization equipment available, which is absolutely necessary for