Questions
The Japanese Internment took place during the early 1940s in the USA, a period of extreme suspicion toward Japanese Americans. Do you think the Japanese Internment can be justified given the circumstances of this particular period? Why or why not? How would you have approached national security concerns on the western coast of the USA during this period?
The Japanese Internment
America is one of the few countries in the world today that has a rich history compared to other countries. However, it is worth noting that not all of this history that has positively reflected on America. One of these black years in American history occurred in the early 1940s and is widely regarded as the Japanese-American internment. According to history, during this period, Japanese-Americans were forced to relocate by the US government to detention camps. This relocation is substantially attributed to the federal government’s long history of racism and discrimination against Asian immigrants. According to history, this relocation was unconstitutional and unjustified as the government felt that Japanese-Americans might act as saboteurs after the pearl harbor by the Japanese government (Hayashi, 2010). History shows that this detention was unjustified considering that these were innocent Americans who had nothing to do with the war and were loyal to the American government. History shows that the power struggle between the U.S department of justice and department of war only made things worse for these innocent citizens.
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Given the opportunity, I would have approached national security concerns differently to ensure that these Japanese-Americans remain loyal to the government and avoid a revolt. Rather than mistreating these innocent people, I would have rather pulled them closer home to ensure that the country could count on their loyalty during the war and long after the war. Giving them protection and ensuring that they go on with their lives normally would not the only have improved their loyalty, but would have rather motivate them to join the American army as they felt that America was their home (Houston & Houston, 2012). Therefore, detaining them and mistreating them only made things worse than intended and the only way was to treat them equally as the rest of Americans.
References
Hayashi, B. M. (2010). Democratizing the Enemy: The Japanese American Internment. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Houston, J. W., & Houston, J. D. (2012). Farewell to Manzanar: A true story of Japanese American experience during and after the World War II internment. New York: Ember.
