Japanese-American Internment and Lessons That Are Still To Be Learned

Bigotry has unfortunately been part of the history of our country, and it has

reappeared over and over again despite differing circumstances. One can trace its roots all the way back the days of the Witch trials in Massachusetts, where many times women would be falsely accused of practicing witchcraft and be sentenced to death. It was present in the South where African-Americans would be enslaved and mistreated for hundreds of years. The mistreatment continued even after the Emancipation Proclamation, which dictated that neither African-Americans nor anyone else could be enslaved unless it was punishment for a crime. In the Jim Crow South African-Americans would be denied access to good education, healthcare, and land. Bigotry was present even after the Second World War. As the threat of Communism grew larger the American public became more and more suspicious of Communist infiltration into American institutions. These suspicions were only encouraged even more by the anti-Communist ideas of Senator Joseph McCarthy, a politician that had risen to popularity in America after he accused many members of the House of Representatives, and even the Army, of participating in a Communist agenda. Historically many Americans have been afraid of new ideas and new groups of people. These fears have inevitably led to unjustified behavior and persecutions. One of the most notable examples was the internment of Japanese-Americans. It was the only time in our history where a group of foreign individuals was systematically monitored and thrown into restricted areas. It is also an example of bigotry that we tend to forget about.

Intolerance against Asian immigrants had already been seen in the United

States for a long time, even before the beginning of the Second World War. During the 1800s California witnessed an anti-Asian immigrant hysteria that had started with the attacks on the Chinese. There were also Alien land laws that prevented Japanese immigrants from acquiring land. Ultimately, the 1924 Immigration Act had put a definite end to Japanese immigration into the United States. All of these laws clearly show that anti-Japanese sentiment was already present in the United States long before the attack on Pearl Harbor took place. The attack only made things worse of Japanese-Americans, specifically because the bigotry and the fear that existed throughout the entire country soon became a panic. Suddenly many law-abiding  Japanese-Americans were being suspected of sabotage and treason, even though most accusations were false. Such behavior can seem to be quite irrational to us. Nevertheless, at the time this behavior seemed to be perfectly acceptable to most Americans. They believed that taking Japanese-Americans and placing them at internment camps was the right thing to do. This only made the Japanese-Americans feel unwanted, and nativists continued to question the loyalty and the commitment that the Japanese had towards the United States. Ironically Hawaii was the state where the Japanese-American immigrants suffered the least amount of discrimination. Therefore, one can say that the internment of Japanese-Americans was not only the response towards the attack that the Japanese carried out on Pearl Harbor. It was the culmination of the many decades of harsh treatment of Asian immigrants in California and in other parts of the country. The case of Korematsu v. United States only reiterated the fact that intolerance against Asian immigrants had hit an all-time high. In the minds of Americans the Japanese were just a group of saboteurs that had to be supervised.

Fred Korematsu In Front of the US Supreme Court

Ultimately the topic of bigotry is a topic that will continue to exist in our

country. The most recent example of bigotry that can come to our minds is the wave of intolerance that followed after the attacks that were perpetrated on 9/11. Immediately after the attacks President Bush had to embark on his War on Terror. Part of the program was the detainment of almost 2,000 individuals who at the time were suspects. After intense investigations almost none of the suspects were charged for any crimes. Only four were arrested for their support for terrorist and extremist attacks. It was only a preview of what was to come for the next few years. More and more people would be questioned and the United States would see itself forced to intensify its investigations on terrorism. Many suspects would be detained, while some of them would be imprisoned. Unfortunately, at times the United States would also commit serious violations of human rights along the way.

All in all, the United States has been known for a long time as the champion of

human rights and freedoms. However, our country has also made the mistake of rejecting or fearing others. Such irrational fears have had negative effects on our country, and even though many times we have shown that we have learned from our mistakes we have also shown that we tend to commit the same mistake over and over again.