Japanese Internment Camps free essay sample

People argued that the Japanese aliens in the United States posed as a threat but in reality â€Å"more than two-thirds of the Japanese who were interned in the spring of 1942 were citizens of the United States† (Ross). The Nikkei had the same rights as any other American citizen, yet they were still interned. The public skipped to the conclusion that all people of Japanese ancestry were saboteurs which heightened racial prejudices. Furthermore, the accusation of disloyalty among Japanese Americans caused the state department to send Agent Curtis B. Munson to investigate this issue among the Japanese Americans; he concluded â€Å"there is no Japanese problem on the west coast†¦a remarkable, even extraordinary degree of loyalty among this generally suspect ethnic group† (Chronology). Munson’s report stated that there was no military necessity for mass incarceration of these people, yet the government ignored and kept the report a secret. Munson’s report could have also calmed the public’s fears, but since government decided not to release it, the people remained quite neurotic. We will write a custom essay sample on Japanese Internment Camps or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The public continued to assume that all Nikkei were disloyal ecause of their racial background. This racial prejudice resulted in the relocation of thousands of innocent people. Public hysteria and racism influenced the government’s actions towards the Japanese Americans since â€Å"the general public believed, erroneously, that there were Japanese saboteurs active along the Pacific Coast† (Hata). This fear of sabotage from the Nikkei caused the urge for government to issue Executive Order 9066 to pacify the anti-Japanese public groups, although the Munson report stated to react otherwise. Since the government needed a legitimate excuse rather than discrimination, the order was based on a false claim of military necessity (Hata). If only the government exposed Munson’s report and was not greatly influenced by the public, there would have been no need to evacuate the wrongly-accused Japanese Americans. The internment of Japanese Americans unlawfully took away their unconditional rights as citizens. In the cases of Hirabayashi and Korematsu v. United States, â€Å"the defendants argued that their Fifth Amendment rights were violated by the U. S. government because of their ancestry† (Ross). Their right to â€Å"due process of law† had been taken away. The Japanese-American ethnic group was forced out of their homes without a stated crime. In addition, government broke the fourth amendment, the right to a speedy and public trial, when â€Å"Japanese Americans were deprived of their liberty and property by being forcibly removed†¦ without the required statement of charges and trial by jury† (LegiSchool). First they were not informed of their misdeed, and then they were not given the right to a trial. The Nikkei’s rights were stripped away at once with no concrete evidence to support their so-called crime. Furthermore, in Article I Section 9 of the constitutional articles, Habeas Corpus gave citizens the right to be brought before a court, yet â€Å"Japanese Americans were denied the right as detainees to be brought before a court at a stated time and place to challenge the legality of their imprisonment† (LegiSchool). The Nikkei had lost their right to one of the oldest common laws in history. Even as American citizens, they were denied this basic right. Their right to equal protection under law from Section 9 was also taken away because â€Å"the government acted solely on the basis of race and ‘national ancestry’ when identifying persons to be excluded from designated ‘military areas’† (LegiSchool). The public accused the Japanese Americans because of their ancestry, and the government incarcerated them for the public. This proves that the U. S. government acted solely on the public’s discriminatory opinions. The Nikkei was never a real threat to the United States during the war. Every citizen regardless of race or color attains unconditional rights from the U. S. Constitution, yet these rights were abruptly taken away from the Japanese Americans. Executive Order 9066 caused a wasteful attentiveness toward internal issues rather than the external problems of WWII. The internment led to a financial loss for the American government. For example, â€Å"In 1988, the U. S. Congress passed legislation which awarded formal payments of $20,000 each to the surviving internees- $60,000† (Ross). Years after the order was passed, President Reagan was forced to call on congress to budget for this compensation given to the survivors. The money that was given to these survivors could have gone to greater needs if it were not for the relocation action. Furthermore, the economy in the course of WWII was strained with the addition of the establishment of ten internment camps. The â€Å"cost to build [Topaz] was $3,929,000† (Japanese). The total amount to build all ten camps would have been ten times that sum. The barrack-like structures were never even used after WWII, so it was a waste of resources and money. Also, much was wasted on unnecessary consumption, â€Å"28,790,221 meals were served to internees at Manzanar from March 1942, until November 1945, at a cost of $3,384,749. 02† (Manzanar). The internees were forced to rely on the food given to them by the government in the camps although they were capable to buy their own. The system wasted money to feed people that were able to easily feed themselves, if it were not for their internment. This money came from the American citizens’ taxes outside of the internment camps. So in reality, the public that called for internment of the Nikkei, paid for the Japanese American’s meals and other essentials. Lastly, soldiers that could be used for the war effort in the European or Pacific theaters were forced to guard the relocation centers. For example, the Japanese Americans were â€Å"incarcerated for up to four years in prison camps surrounded by barbed wire and guards†(Japanese). This caused there to be less man power in the actual war. The troops that suffered during the war lacked men because those soldiers had to guard fellow Americans. Ironically, the Americans aimed guns at other Americans during the war. The government’s decision to intern Japanese Americans resulted in a negative lapse in American history. It was a step back from equality for all due to the Executive Order 9066 because â€Å"Japanese Americans were deprived of their liberty and property by the State, when forced from their jobs, homes, and communities into barbed wire, guarded centers and camps† (LegiSchool). It took over 200 years to establish the rights and laws to protect American citizens, yet they were taken away instantly. The hardships from struggles over freedom and equality were for nothing at this point in time. In addition, the case of Korematsu vs. United States: â€Å"remains the best known constitutional challenge brought on by Asian Americans as well as the most important source of the standard known as ‘strict scrutiny,’ which marks the constitutional limits of public use of racial classifications and private use of racial generalization† (Randall). It argued that racism affected the better judgment of the rights that the U. S. constitution guaranteed to all citizens. This questioned the power of the constitution over American citizens. Since it did not protect the rights of the Nikkei from discrimination, then it cannot protect any other citizen’s rights. It revealed a flaw in the document. Lastly, the treatment of the Japanese Americans in the camps were unfair and harsh where â€Å"row upon row foundations showed how more than ten thousand people squeezed in one square mile, surrounded by barbed wire, searchlights, and armed guards† (Kleffman). These people were treated like prisoners rather than relocated citizens under the protection of the government. The United States had wronged the Nikkei as Hitler had wronged the Jews; although they were extremely different levels of prejudice, it was still the same objective. This halted American progress of freedom and equality for all. The internment of the Japanese Americans during WWII was a wasteful and avoidable task that also questioned the power of the U. S. constitution and the rights of American citizens. The government submitted to the public’s fear and racism toward the Nikkei, which ultimately led to the loss of their rights. This decision not only affected the Japanese American citizens, but the system itself. It took an economic toll on the government from the toils of the camps and pensions to the internees. These actions took away from the needed focus on WWI, too. The impact of the unjust relocation of the Japanese Americans needs to remain fresh in the minds of all Americans so this type of event will never happen again. After all, the relocation policy was neither helpful nor productive, if anything it was pernicious to the country. Works Cited Hata, Donald T. , and Nadine Ishitani Hata.