WWII Bullet 4

Treatment of Japanese Americans, Japanese Canadians, and Japanese Latin-Americans 

Japanese Americans:

  • Munson report 1941: NOT a threat “there is no japanese problem on the west coast” - there were about 50 in each district that are concerning but they are under military supervision 

  • Backlash after Pearl Harbor: bricks were thrown into japanese businesses, Japanese Americans were assaulted

  • Executive Order #9066 (February 1942): The west coast is a military zone and therefore they can throw out anyone who they deem as a threat 

  • May 1942: War Relocation Authority deportations begin to assembly centers 

  • March - October 194: Ten large facilities are opened (Topaz UT, Manzanar CA, Heart Mountain WY)

  • Affects about 110,000 people and ⅔ - about 66% were native born 

  • Dispossession of property and belongings - property was seized by the US 

  • Conditions in the camps?

    • Fairly well stocked and families stayed together - limited to no labour was involved 

    • Volunteer based labour - camouflage nets - Japanese Americans wanted to do anything to demonstrate their loyalty  

    • School districts gave teachers to camps and educated them as if they were a part of their own district 

    • Fed by the US government 

  • Resistance: There were limited acts of defiance but many were 

  • Fred Korematsu vs US 1944 - supreme court case where Fred Korematsu argued that it is unconstitutional. US argues that they belong to an enemy race and that any enemies in direct military zones could compromise US safety 

  • Compensated decades later $20,000 in 1988 ($1.2B total)

  • Japanese Canadians 

    • Internment order comes in January 1942, affects 23,000

    • Separated families - men to one camp, women and children to others 

    • Largest mass exodus in Canadian history 

    • Much worse conditions that US camp - freezing cold in the camps, no education, they were not fed by government, responsible for building their own housing 

    • Banned from West Coast until April 1949 

    • Compensated $21000 in 1988

  • Japanese Latin Americans  

    • Deported from Latin America (Peru) and interned in US

    • Camps run by INS (ICE)

    • 3,000 internees - 70% were Japanese born 

    • US wanted them as leverage for exchange for POWs

    • Conditions were better than in WRA camps (Crystal City, TX and Seagoville KY)