Internment Camps
World War II America was a time of great distress and uncertainty. It was a time which saw the American economy booming, and the workforce of America returning to duty, effectively ending the repercussions of the Great Depression. However, this time also saw malevolent happenings: the bombing of Nagasaki and the internment of the people of Japanese descent in camps. The latter, however, was quite unfair and unjust to those it involved, and was a cause of much controversy and dispute among American citizens.
General John L. Dewitt said, “The very fact that no sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such action will be taken.” It was because of people like him that it came to the signing of Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942 where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were forced into internment camps in their own country, and had their rights as Americans taken from them. The Japanese felt this was a grave injustice, but were forced into the camps anyway. Although we now see that this was probably the wrong move to make, at the time there was a great anti-Japanese mentality sweeping the nation, and therefore it is plausible that it was in the Japanese people’s best interest to be kept in internment for a while. Ron Fowler even said that a man with whom he worked hated the Japanese Americans so much that he vowed to “shoot ‘em if he saw ‘em.”
Some Japanese-Americans were taken from their homes to be put into internment camps. Soon after being taken, on March 18 the War Relocation Authority was created. Their job was to assist any persons who may need to relocate. The War Relocation Authority played a crucial role in the creation of relocation centers spacious enough to be 
occupied by thousands of internees. The War Relocation Authority also gave all the internees a questionnaire that would be used to determine loyalty. However, this questionnaire was unfair to the internees. For example, question 27 asked whether one would volunteer for the US army, and question 28 asked if one would pledge allegiance to the US and renounce their allegiance to Japan. As one can assume many issei and nissei (first generation and second generation Japanese) answered no to these questions. Unfortunately for them this meant that they would be separated from their friends and family and sent to a segregation camp such as Tule Lake, in northern California, which was, for two months, after a riot of internees, completely under the control of the military, and even occupied by tanks.
Life in the camps was, to say the least, hard. Firstly, health care was abysmal, and if sick, one might have to just wait out the sickness. Also, many of the internees did not eat properly, as a long line was to be expected almost every day. This caused many people to become weak and sick. Secondly, the majority of the Japanese in these camps were taken from their homes without much notice. This meant that many of the internees did not have time to pack, so on top of terrible nutrition, many only had the shirt on their back and whatever was in their pockets. In fact, many of the “arresting officers” told the Japanese Americans that they could only take what they could carry in their hands. Next, the provided shelter for the internees was meager, if provided at all. “Many families lived in horse stalls with unsanitary conditions, often near open sewers. Others occupied hastily constructed barracks. Toilet and bathing facilities were communal and devoid of privacy” ("Japanese American Internment."). Lastly, if one wanted to escape it would have been very difficult. The borders of the camps were constantly under surveillance by guards in towers who would not hesitate to shoot one of the internees. For example, on March 13, 1942, Ichiro Shimoda was shot and killed for trying to escape from a camp at Fort Sill. Many people of Japanese descent had their rights as Americans violated when they were put into camps.
Much like the extermination of the Jews, at the time many Americans had no idea that this internment was even happening, and did not find out until after it was over. For example, Ron Fowler stated, “I didn’t know about it (Japanese internment) until 1955.”
There were many results of the period of internment. First of all, over 5,000 Japanese Americans filed to not be citizens of the United States anymore. Of those 5,000, over 1,000 were then accepted to live in Japan. By the end of 1945 most of the American 
public saw the error in the practice of internment camps, including California Attorney General Earl Warren who stated, “I have since deeply regretted the removal order and my own testimony advocating it, because it was not in keeping with our American concept of freedom and the rights of citizens. Whenever I thought of the innocent little children who were torn from home, school friends and congenial surroundings, I was conscience-stricken.” However, the remaining “inmates” had not received any pension for the mistreatment they endured. Also, many of the Japanese internees had their land and homes confiscated or bought for pennies on the dollar. Furthermore, since the Japanese Americans were in internment camps they were unable to till their farms or work their jobs. On top of being in an internment camp the Japanese were making no money and letting their land go to waste.
In addition to all the financial issues, the internees were forced to deal with post internment health problems. Gwendolyn M. Jensen stated in her article The Experience of Injustice: Health Consequences of the Japanese American Internment, "Long-term health consequences included psychological anguish as well as increased cardiovascular disease. Survey information found former internees had a 2.1 greater risk of cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular mortality, and premature death than did a non-interned counterpart." Most of these heinous happenings could be traced back to the incredible amount of trauma that the interned Japanese Americans were forced to endure.
Finally, in 1988 the reparations came, in the way of 20,000 dollars to every surviving internee: the end of a long and arduous journey detailing a difficult time in American history.
Works Cited
Carnes, Mark C., and John A. Garraty. The American Nation a History of the United States. 11th ed. New York: Longman, 2002. 742-743.
"Japanese American Internment." Asian American Media. 2002. National Asian American Telecommunications Association. 20 Apr. 2006 http://www.asianamericanmedia.org/jainternment/.
Yu, John C. "Race, Racism, and the Law." 14 Apr. 2006. Dayton University. 20 Apr. 2006 http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/intern01.htm.
Graebner, William, and Leonard Richards. The American Record. 4th ed. Boston: McGrawHill, 2001. 237-252.
"Children of the Camps: the Documentary." PBS Online. 1999. Satsuki Ina. 20 Apr. 2006 http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/.
"Japanese American Internment." Wikipedia. 25 Apr. 2006. 25 Apr. 2006 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_internment.
Webb, Roy. "Japanese-Americans Internment Camps." Utah University. 25 Apr. 2006 http://www.lib.utah.edu/spc/photo/9066/9066.htm.
"The Internment of Japanese Americans." World War II Multimedia Database. 2005. 26 Apr. 2006 http://www.worldwar2database.com/html/intern.htm.
"RELOCATION of Japanese Americans." The Virtual Museum of the City of San Francisco. San Francisco Museum. 26 Apr. 2006 http://www.sfmuseum.org/hist10/relocbook.html.
"EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 9066." College of Behavioural and Social Sciences. 19 Feb. 1942. San Francisco St. U. 26 Apr. 2006 http://bss.sfsu.edu/internment/executiorder9066.html.
Fowler, Ronald R. Personal interview. 30 Apr. 2006.
By: Ben Deitch