National Security: How Far Is Too Far?

National Security: How far is too far?

Tina Webber

Thesis Statement:

Decades of Anti-Asian sentiment led to removal of Japanese Americans to internment camps. The relocation of Japanese-Americans during World War II was unfair and unjustified to the Japanese living in America and their living conditions were harsh and sometimes even lead to death.

Internment was brought about by a justifiable fear for the security of the nation. Japan had pulled off an attack on Pearl Harbor, which no one had thought was conceivable. With the thought that Japan may attack the West Coast of the United States, while the US military was in shock, was on everyone’s mind.

Secondly, it was caused by racism. Anti-Asian prejudices, especially in California, began as anti-Chinese feelings. Chinese immigration to the U.S. began about the same time as the California gold rush of 1849. During the initial phases of the economic boom that accompanied the gold rush, Chinese labor was needed and welcomed. However, soon white workingmen began to consider the Chinese, who in 1870 comprised about 10 percent of California's population, as competitors. This economic competition increased after the completion of the trans-continental Union-Central Pacific Railroad in 1869, which had employed around 10,000 Chinese laborers. Chinese labor was cheap labor, and this economic grievance became an ideology of Asian inferiority like existing American racial prejudices. Discrimination became legislated at both the state and federal level, including a Chinese immigration exclusion bill passed in 1882 by the U.S. Congress.

Anti-Japanese sentiment first appeared in the United States starting with Japan's sound victory over Russia in the Russo-Japanese War. After their victory, the Japanese began to build an empire in the Pacific. This led to a conflict of interests with the United States for resources. Historians have written extensively on the disproportionate racism toward Japanese Americans throughout World War II. Anti-Japanese movements began shortly after Japanese immigration began, arising from existing anti-Asian prejudices. However, the anti-Japanese movement became widespread around 1905, due both to increasing immigration and the Japanese victory over Russia, the first defeat of a western nation by an Asian nation in modern times. Both the Issei and Japan began to be perceived as threats. Discrimination included the formation of anti-Japanese organizations, such as the Asiatic Exclusion League, attempts at school segregation (which eventually affected Nisei under the doctrine of "separate but equal"), and a growing number of violent attacks upon individuals and businesses.

It goes back to 1924, years before the Japanese Internment Act. The U.S. Congress had closed the golden door to freedom in the United States. The Japanese population was mostly the Issei group, which means the first generation. Immigration had been halted from many countries including Japan. The Japanese were segregated against in American territory.

The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, ("The Immigration Act of 1924 (The Johnson-Reed Act)". U.S Department of State Office of the Historian. Retrieved 2017-04-02), including the National Origins Act, and Asian Exclusion Act (Pub. L. 68–139, 43 Stat. 153, enacted May 26, 1924), was a United States federal law that limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted from any country to 2% of the number of people from that country who were already living in the United States as of the 1890 census, down from the 3% cap set by the Emergency Quota Act of 1921, which used the Census of 1910. The law was primarily aimed at further restricting immigration of Southern Europeans and Eastern Europeans, especially Italians and Eastern European Jews. In addition, it severely restricted the immigration of Africans and outright banned the immigration of Arabs and Asians. Per the U.S. Department of State; Office of the Historian; the purpose of the act was "to preserve the ideal of American homogeneity". However, the Act aimed at preserving American racial homogeneity, it set no limits on immigration from other countries of the Americas. Congressional opposition was minimal.

After receiving advice from his Military advisors, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 authorized the zoning of certain areas as military zones, effectively enforcing the evacuation of those deemed a threat to national security on February 19, 1942. This executive order specifically targeted Japanese Americans. Japanese Americans, both the Issei and the Nisei, first and second generation Japanese immigrants were suspected of being spies along with collaborating with the enemy of the United States.

Evacuation orders were posted in Japanese-American communities, giving instructions on how to comply with the executive order. Many families sold their homes, their stores, and most of their valuables. Due to the mad rush to sell, properties and assets were often sold at a fraction of their true value. (Executive Order 1942)

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