When reading about the history of America, one shall find stories of racism, fear, and hatred. These three factors were present during the time of the civil rights movement with African-Americans, and it had become sequentially present in the time of World War II towards Japanese-Americans. It was December 7th, 1941 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. There were over two-thousand casualties and the Americans were scarred by what happened. Americans had not witnessed an attack on their soil in a very long time. Fear and shock naturally played their role within the hearts of Americans when this attack occurred. From this event, the Executive Order 9066 was born. This order was issued due to the fear of another Japanese-based terrorist attack.
…show more content…
The attack on Pearl Harbor was indeed a tragedy, but it was this tragedy that caused America to engage in horrible and heinous acts. “For the safety of American lives,” America issued Executive Order 9066. This Executive Order authorized special military sites to become concentration camps for people of Japanese descent, living in America. This view of minorities engendering havoc and chaos upon the majority was believed by many Americans. This very belief was America’s own justification for throwing men, women, and children of Japanese descent into putrid and abhorrent concentration camps. Henry McLemore, a writer for the Seattle Times explicitly asseverates his opinion on the internment of the Japanese-Americans in his article, “This Is War! Stop Worrying About Hurting Jap Feelings”. McLemore spoke of situation stating “this would work an unjustified hardship on 80 per cent or 90 per cent of the California Japanese. But the remaining 10 or 20 per cent have it in their power to do damage--great damage--to the American people.” McLemore clearly understands that majority of the Japanese-Americans are innocent and will have to face the consequences for crimes they did not commit. This small minority has the ability of causing terror on Americans. Americans were fearful and thought there was no other way to keep themselves safe from Japanese spies and terrorists but to pass …show more content…
In the late 1890’s, Japanese workers were granted immigration to America. As time elapsed, the number of Japanese workers had increased. For America, this was the initiation of a prolonged and unsympathetic relationship with Japan. The American workers believed the Japanese immigrants were ruining economy for many reasons. One of them being, the Japanese “offer higher land prices and higher rents than the white man can pay for land. They undersell the white man in the markets.” (Grodzins). This theorization of economy being a key factor that is responsible for Japanese internment is very insubstantial. America’s has had a mixed economy in where we allow the collaboration between private and public businesses if wanted. The interaction with the Japanese market is not mandatory for the white labor workers. The San Francisco Chronicle issued an article called “Japanese Cheap Labor: It Is Not Needed Here and Should Not Be Admitted” in which they state, “The mercantile class [will] fear injury to their trade with Japan.” A statement like this is, yet again, illogical due to the fact that white labor workers don’t need to collaborate with the Japanese market because of America’s mixed economic system. This economy argument, started by the chafed and doltish white labor workers, was highly counterfactual and
The attack on Pearl Harbor was indeed a tragedy, but it was this tragedy that caused America to engage in horrible and heinous acts. “For the safety of American lives,” America issued Executive Order 9066. This Executive Order authorized special military sites to become concentration camps for people of Japanese descent, living in America. This view of minorities engendering havoc and chaos upon the majority was believed by many Americans. This very belief was America’s own justification for throwing men, women, and children of Japanese descent into putrid and abhorrent concentration camps. Henry McLemore, a writer for the Seattle Times explicitly asseverates his opinion on the internment of the Japanese-Americans in his article, “This Is War! Stop Worrying About Hurting Jap Feelings”. McLemore spoke of situation stating “this would work an unjustified hardship on 80 per cent or 90 per cent of the California Japanese. But the remaining 10 or 20 per cent have it in their power to do damage--great damage--to the American people.” McLemore clearly understands that majority of the Japanese-Americans are innocent and will have to face the consequences for crimes they did not commit. This small minority has the ability of causing terror on Americans. Americans were fearful and thought there was no other way to keep themselves safe from Japanese spies and terrorists but to pass …show more content…
In the late 1890’s, Japanese workers were granted immigration to America. As time elapsed, the number of Japanese workers had increased. For America, this was the initiation of a prolonged and unsympathetic relationship with Japan. The American workers believed the Japanese immigrants were ruining economy for many reasons. One of them being, the Japanese “offer higher land prices and higher rents than the white man can pay for land. They undersell the white man in the markets.” (Grodzins). This theorization of economy being a key factor that is responsible for Japanese internment is very insubstantial. America’s has had a mixed economy in where we allow the collaboration between private and public businesses if wanted. The interaction with the Japanese market is not mandatory for the white labor workers. The San Francisco Chronicle issued an article called “Japanese Cheap Labor: It Is Not Needed Here and Should Not Be Admitted” in which they state, “The mercantile class [will] fear injury to their trade with Japan.” A statement like this is, yet again, illogical due to the fact that white labor workers don’t need to collaborate with the Japanese market because of America’s mixed economic system. This economy argument, started by the chafed and doltish white labor workers, was highly counterfactual and