A history of hatred toward Japanese-Americans.

Daniel Jacob Hill

American Civilizations
History 1700

Sunday, December 7, 1941 The Empire of Japan attacked Pear Harbor by naval
and air forces. This event forced the United States of America to participate in World
War 2, this attack also launched a strike on Japanese-Americans1 . The bombing of
Pearl Harbor started a war at home. February 19, 1942, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and
The United States Government were about to begin one of the largest migrations in
history. President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which drove people of
Japanese descent out of their homes and into interment camps2 also forbidding them
from becoming American citizens.3
The idea to strike out the enemy in our own land was brilliant, in theory; however
there was no enemy in America at that time. The citizens of the United States and it's
government was driven by fear which lead to the relocation of Japanese-Americans, but
their fear and discrimination was prevalent for some Japanese-Americans before the
bombing of Pearl Harbor. The Japanese bombing American soil was a mere excuse to
intern thousands of Japanese-Americans. The American Government had a reason to
carry out their discrimination towards the Japanese which was slowly building up since
1900. Dr Edward Alsworth Ross, a professor of sociology at Stanford wrote of Japanese
people as early as 1900, stating, 1. They are unassimilable. 2. They work for low
wages and thereby undermine the existing work standards of American workman. 3.
Their standards of living are much lower than American workman. 4. They lack a proper
1

I use the term Japanese-American for first, second, and third generations of Japanese descent.

People may use the term Concentration Camps instead of interment camps, however using the term
concentration camps reminds people of the Nazis vision of a concentration camp. Using the same
terminology is unfair and unjust because the treatment of Japanese-Americans in the United States
versus the treatment of Jewish people in Nazi Germany are incomparable and each should be
represented differently and both circumstances should be respected in there own terminology.
3

Relocation of Japanese Americans. War Relocation Authority. Washington D.C. May 1942

political feeling for American democratic institutions. In 1900 the Japanese population
in America was 24,326 people.
In 1913 the American Government passed a bill called the Alien Land Bill, which
prevented Japanese aliens from owning land in California.4 In 1924 The Immigration Act
limited the amount of immigrants to enter the country. These acts and bills created
prohibitions on land ownership and citizenship for immigrants, particularly those from
Japan.
The denial of citizenship for Japanese-Americans began with Takao Ozawa, a
Berkley High School graduate and student at University of California. This case reached
the Supreme Court in November 1922, the justices stated that he was not a free white
person and was ineligible for American citizenship. This decision broke out tension
between The Empire of Japan and the American Government.5 At this point the
Japanese population was roughly 111,010 about 81,383 were alien and the remainder
29,672 were native.6
With the Issei7 unable to own property in California, obtain citizenship, or be a
free person this was a recipe for the perfect storm. After the singing of Executive Order
9066 people of Japanese descent endured the harassment of the FBI (Federal Bureau

4Houston,

Jeanne Wakatsuki., and James D. Houston. Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of

Japanese American Experience during and after the World War II Internment. Boston: Houghton Mifflin,
1973. p xiii.
5Reeves,

Richard. Infamy The Shocking Story of The Japanese American Interment in World War
2. New York City, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2015. p 5-6.
6

Daniels, Roger. Concentration Camps, North America: Japanese in the United States and Canada
during World War II. Malabar, FL: R.E. Krieger Pub., 1971. p 21.
7Issei

meaning a first generation person born in Japan. Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki., and James D.
Houston. Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of Japanese American Experience during and after the
World War II Internment. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1973.p xv
3

of Investigation) and/or the War Relocation Authority. There were a lot of JapaneseAmericans who were very cooperative, Yoshiko Uchida was one of those people. She
allowed for her father to be arrested and cooperated when her and her family had to
relocate by force to the interment camps. They viewed themselves as good, honest
American citizens, and they would do whatever they needed to do for their country.
Regardless if the government would or would not recognize them as American citizens.
The fear of the American Government did not stop at sending JapaneseAmericans to interment camps. There were military officers, particularly in the Western
Defense Command and the Fourth Army (WDC) that wanted to stop and remove all
forms of Japanese journalism in American. One war officer wrote that, they
"recommended that these [Japanese] papers be allowed to go out of business and thus
remove a possible source of transmitting Japanese propaganda hidden in the complex
Japanese language.8 Doing such actions was an attack on the Constitutions freedom
of speech, however it did not stop the FBI from raiding and arresting JapaneseAmerican publishers and editors.
On April 11,1942 Lawerence Smith, chief of the Special Defense Unit of the
Justice Department complied a bill called The Foreign Language Newspaper Act. The
bill was defined poorly and broadly, stating, [to] prohibit the publication by foreign
language newspapers of propaganda inimical to the best interests of the United States.
The term "enemy propaganda line" was used and defined broadly meaning "the
fundamental themes of statements made by the government of any country with which
the United States is at war, or officers thereof, or persons or agencies situated in and
8Mizuno,

Takeya. "The Federal Government's Decisions in Suppressing the Japanese-Language Press,

1941-42." Journalism History, 2007, p .16.
4

controlled by any such country, with a view to influencing the views or conduct of the
government of the United States or of any portion of the people of the United States.9
Any persons found guilty against this act could be fined up to $5,000 and also could be
imprisoned for up to five years. Before taking this bill to Congress it was denied by
members stating, it was undesirable to legislate a law against foreign press due to
current circumstances.10
Lieutenant General John Dewitt starting using the term Jap and embraced it, he
viewed that there is no way to tell a difference between a loyal and disloyal JapaneseAmerican, saying A Jap is a Jap. Citizens of the United States started to use the slang
term Jap for Japanese-Americans. People would taunt Japanese-Americans saying
slurs like Look at that little Jap.
With the American Government trying to restrict the enemy by any and all
means, American citizens were acting out as well. Some citizens of the United States
treated Japanese-Americans as the enemy. Yoshiko Uchida recalls people asking her,
Did you have any idea that the attack on Pearl Harbor was coming?. Once the
Japanese-Americans were being released from the interment camps some would return
to their home to find graffiti on their homes saying NO JAPS WANTED. Although there
were some good American citizens who would help preserve the home of a JapaneseAmerican family who were sent to war or to the interment camps. The Nakatani family
were one of the lucky ones who had support.

9Mizuno,

Takeya. "The Federal Government's Decisions in Suppressing the Japanese-Language Press,

1941-42." Journalism History, 2007, p 19.
10Mizuno,

Takeya. "The Federal Government's Decisions in Suppressing the Japanese-Language

Press, 1941-42." Journalism History, 2007, p 20.
5

The Nakatani family were proud Americans they named their children and
grandchildren more traditional American names, because they did not want their family
to suffer the ways that they did. Even later in their lives the Nakatanis did not like to
discuss their experience of being in the interment camps. They spoke of how proud they
were to serve in the military after they were released from the Granda (Amache)
interment camp in Colorado. Even though they held onto their Japanese traditions they
self identified as American citizens. They were a fortunate family because they were
able to return home to most of their possessions, they were able to put most of their
belongs in storage before being sent off to Granda.
Other families like Jeanne Wakatsukis were not as lucky as the Nakatani's and
would return to nothing, because of Executive Order 9066 the Wakatsukis had to sell all
or most of their possessions very quickly, they had a week to settle up their belongs
before being sent off to the camps. They didnt know how long they were going to be
away from home, so they sold possessions, gave away their pets, lost their jobs, they
had to rebuild their entire life once released from the internment camp.
In such a terrible time its a comfort to know that there were a select few good
people who helped rebuild Japanese-Americans lives. The Nakatanis and Uchidas had
churches, neighbors, and friends who assisted them rebuild once released from the
interment camps.
These personal stories show how before, during, and after World War 2 there
was prejudice against people of Japanese descent. They were discriminated against for
being immigrants, having a different culture, or being blamed for the actions of the
Japanese government. In 1987 Ronald Regan signed H.R. 442 with provided $20,000

to every Japanese-American who were sent to interment camps. Over 40 years later
and the American government did the best they could to make up for the discriminatory
treatment of the interment camps.

Bibliography:
Daniels, Roger. Concentration Camps, North America: Japanese in the United States and
Canada during World War II. Malabar, FL: R.E. Krieger Pub., 1971.
H.R.442 - Civil Liberties Act of 1987 (1987).
"Kevin Nakatani Interview." Interview by Daniel Hill. July 8, 2016.
Houston, Jeanne Wakatsuki., and James D. Houston. Farewell to Manzanar: A True Story of
Japanese American Experience during and after the World War II Internment. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1973.
Mizuno, Takeya. "The Federal Government's Decisions in Suppressing the Japanese-Language
Press, 1941-42." Journalism History, 2007, 14-23.
Personal Justice Denied: Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of
Civilians. Washington, D.C.: Commission, 1983.
Reeves, Richard. Infamy The Shocking Story of The Japanese American Interment in World War
2. New York City, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2015.
United States of America. War Relocation Authority. Relocation of Japanese-Americans.
Washington, D.C.n, 1943. 1-11 https://dp.la/primary-source-sets/sources/1276 (accessed
July 15, 2016).
Uchida, Yoshiko. Desert Exile: The Uprooting of a Japanese American Family. Seattle:
University of Washington Press, 1982.