Rationalization of Japanese Internment Camps in The United States When the second World War occurred the United States wanted no part in it, they wanted peace. Everyone was traumatised and frightened from the first World War, which only happened years prior, they weren’t prepared for what was to come with the second one. Though they were pushed into it without say when the Japanese army bombed American ships and planes at the Pearl Harbor military base in Hawaii (DeWitt 1). The United States people and military knew they had to take charge and fight for what the Japanese took from them.
The Japanese stole the United States state of mind, they stole the freedom for the Japanese people which were living in America. They caused this, the United States simply took action to protect what is theirs. Down to the core Japan caused what most people classify as an “unjust cruel punishment” when internment camps were completely justified during this time. The camps could be justified at any time if the threat is troubling to one’s country in a dangerous manner, sometimes there’s only so much some people can do before the problem needs to come to action and be resolved.
The United States was justified as they need to protect U. S. citizens, the Japanese were the “enemy” to the U. S. (the main direct threat), the U. S. was scared and rightfully so. The United States had to do what was best for the whole country, even if it meant locking up a whole race. Even if it was one person in the whole 110,442+ people, that one person can hurt, and even kill a lot of people “In each Naval District there are about 250 to 300 suspects under surveillance… Privately, they believe that only 50 to 60 in each district can be classified as really dangerous” (Munson 2).
Though quite a few of the Japanese weren’t considered dangerous there were roughly more than one hundred that were, those one hundred people could easily corrupt the American society and kill millions. If the internment camps weren’t there the whole country would have been in danger. Alongside that the Japanese people who were loyal to America were completely understanding and willing to go to the camps “All citizens alike, both in and out of uniform, feel the impact of war in greater or lesser measure” (Black 4). This quote from document D clearly states that throughout time of war all people will suffer and make sacrifice.
It’s just a matter of who has a larger sacrifice to make, though none the less it affects all people. Everything done will affect every single person in one way or another, it’s just a matter of when and what. If the United States hadn’t put the Japanese into internment camps there’s no saying of what America could be today, we were potentially saved when they made the decision of putting the Japanese into camps. Alongside that the Japanese were known as the enemy. The United States had no proof to show that the Japanese residing in the United States were loyal, and not just there to spy for their country.
They were the enemy in the America’s eyes, anyone of the Japanese people which were in America could have been dangerous and secretly working with the other side “Their loyalties were unknown and time was of the essence” (DeWitt 1). At the time they couldn’t risk the severity of harm that could have happened if the camps weren’t to be established. The Japanese people that resided in America had unknown loyalties, no one knew what they could have been up to. Though it was only a chance that the Japanese in America were dangerous, it was a chance that could have held awful corruption upon our country.
The Germans and Italians were also a threat to America, which people argue why shouldn’t they have been in camps “But the American government has not taken any such high-handed action against Germans and Italians- and their American born descendants-” (Howard 3). Yes, the Germans and Italians were a large threat to everyone during the war, but they had not yet taken a direct hit towards America. Which the Japanese had done, which would very much so thrown everyone out of the balance throughout everyday life. It made them question the loyalties of the Japanese-Americans, which was rightfully understandable.
Furthermore, the United States was scared. They had no idea what could have happened, they just knew that they had to fight before they got destroyed and quite frankly when they needed to fight the Japanese-Americans sadly had to go into internment camps. The internment camps for the Japanese was an insurance, if the United States had done nothing on the matter they would have been considered weak. They could have been in chaos, they had to do something for their safety “Evidence against them, were excluded, removed and detained by the United States during World War II” (Personal Justice Denied 5).
No evidence was needed, the United States was scared; scared for the people, and for their country. There shouldn’t be question, there isn’t evidence needed to rightfully protect your country and the people within the country. If evidence was needed to protect a country from people within it there wouldn’t be war. Fear is something that everyone has and nothing is wrong with it, nor how you handle it if you’re protecting something or someone “Military authorities feared an invasion of our West Coast-” (Black 4).
Even the military were fearful of what could have been ahead of them, not only the government were frightened of this. War is a terrible thing and no matter how much one says to deny fear they would be completely lying, no one is fearless when it comes to war. War is a nasty thing in which sadly some people need to make sacrifices which help their country, no matter what, some things are inevitable. Many people throughout history believe that the internment camps for the Japanese were strongly unjustified due to racism, though the United States did lock the Japanese-Americans into camps for the well being of their country.
It was not racism, racism is the thought and action of having superiority over another race. The Americans during this time showed no sign of that, they put the Japanese into camps to keep their people safe, the Japanese were considered the enemy, and they were scared for their country. It never once proved within the documents that the Americans were being racist towards the Japanese, if the Germans or Italians were to directly attack America, the United States would have most definitely put them into internment camps as well.
The Japanese opposed a direct threat towards America when they wanted no part in the war. Racism is an excuse, every slightest thing is considered “racist”, if someone were to pass another person on the street and not say hello people would consider that racist. Yes, the Japanese were put into internment camps for their characteristic traits, but that isn’t racism, “Color seems to be the only possible reason why thousands of American citizens of Japanese ancestry are in concentration camps” that is simply the observation of race (Howard 3).
There’s not much the United States could have done to prove the Japanese-Americans had Japanese ancestry other than observing their facial features and traits “The broad historical causes which shaped these decisions were race prejudice-” (Personal Justice Denied 5). That is not racism, the United States never stated that they were superior in any way to the Japanese-Americans. They simply did what they thought was best for their country.