Ah, yes. The Japanese internments during WWII. I've heard about that. I'm sure most people read about it in school. In fact, this is the truth that we've been taught in schools for years. Tens of thousands of Japanese were sent to detention camps, many of very poor quality, resulting in many Japanese Americans dying in those camps during the war.(2) This is the story we've been told, and apparently, we're sticking to it.
But, have you ever stopped to question what you've been told? Just how much of it is true?
I asked this question when I read Spring's statements because not too many weeks prior, I read a news article that the Texas Board of Education passed an amendment to their curriculum to include information about the internment of German and Italian Americans during WWII as well as Japanese internment.(3) This curriculum change would indicate that the major reason for internment was war-time activity, not so much racial prejudice as Spring claims.
On the opposite side, the Texas Board ruling has drawn flak claiming that they are twisting history to fit their own views.(4) So I asked the question, who's twisting history?
Huge numbers of Japanese Americans were relocated during World War II. This relocation effort started after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Through the extent of the war, about 110 thousand Japanese were relocated.(5)
Also during the war were intern camps that housed German and Italian Americans. Though the numbers were not as high for these other nationalities, their numbers were still significant. About fifteen thousand German and Italians were interned during the course of the war.(6) Not all of those held in intern camps had been in the United States. Some were from Latin America. However, these intern camps were not dedicated to only Japanese, they were shared by descendants of the enemy Axis powers.(7) We even have stories of Germans and Italians who were interned during the war.(8) It is obvious that the treatment of the Japanese in America during World War II was not limited to the Japanese. One article also points out the difference between the Japanese that were relocated and those who were actually placed in intern camps (which were different). According to that estimate, the number of Japanese who were actually interned was much closer to the number of Germans, even though many more Japanese were relocated.(9)
Even so, it may do us good to take a look at the numbers for the Japanese and some of the reasons that they were relocated or interned.
Numbers can lie, and we don't want to fall into that trap. Wes Injerd has done extensive study regarding the Japanese Americans during World War II. He gives details regarding the figures of Japanese who were relocated. Many Japanese Americans were not relocated at all. Of the 110 thousand relocated, seventy-two thousand were U.S. citizens and over half of the citizens were minors. The significance here is that many children who were U.S. citizens had parents who were first-generation immigrants (and thus would be more likely to be connected with Japan). Also, around thirteen thousand of the Japanese Americans joined the military, thousands of others were not at the relocation camps very much either because of seasonal leave for work, and other gone to colleges and universities.(10)
Several other things may be interesting to note in discerning the racial discrimination against the Japanese. If the discrimination were again Asians or Orientals in general, why were Japanese the only Asian nationality treated as they were during the war? Other nationalities, like Chinese (China was an ally) served alongside other Americans in the military and other functions and were not forced to relocate or placed in intern camps.
Injerd points out that many of the Japanese relocated willingly or volunteered to relocate, that there were no escape attempts from the relocation camps (he also confirms the distinction between the relocation camps that were very lenient and housed most Japanese, and the internment camps that were more like prison camps for people who had been arrested for various reasons), that the living conditions, though poor, were similar to or better than what many of them had before.(11)
Also, as I've already pointed out, and as Injern emphasizes in his work, Japanese relocation came as a result (or immediate effect) of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Japanese had invaded U.S. soil and there was a lot of legitimate fear that they would try to invade the west coast. And why fear Japanese Americans? For one, there were several Japanese organizations and clubs in the west coast area that were very anti-U.S (and would thus pose a security threat).(12) The truth is, there were loyalists among all of the Axis nationalities in the Unites States. The sad part of any war is that many who are innocent will suffer with the guilty.
Was there racism? Yes. Racism is always a problem. There were Americans of many nationalities (even Japanese) that were prejudiced against the Japanese. But was racism the cause of the massive Japanese relocation during World War II? After my research, I don't think so. Excuse me, Mr. Spring, but I think you need to do a little more research before making statements that are false. When I study, I would like to be studying the truth.
So what do you think? Do you believe the stories of extreme racism that prompted the relocation of so many Japanese Americans during the war? Or might it have been mostly an attempt to protect ourselves against all of our enemy nations?
Who's lying to who? Who are the ones trying to contort history?
References
(1) Spring, Joel. (2008). American Education (13th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
(2) Kareem, Nandra. (2010, March 18). Texas Board of Education's Controversial New Curriculum. Retrieved May 4, 2010, from http://racerelations.about
(3) New York Times. (2010, March 12). Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change. Retrieved May 4, 2010, from http://www.nytimes.com/201
(4) Kareem, 2010; New York Times, 2010.
(5) Truman Library. (n.d.). The War Relocation Authority and The Incarceration of Japanese-Americans During World War II. Retrieved May 4, 2010, from http://www.trumanlibrary.o
(6) Everything2.com. (2001, September 7). German Internment Camps in World War II. Retrieved May 4, 2010, from http://everything2.com/tit
(7) Brosveen, Emily. (n.d.). WORLD WAR II INTERNMENT CAMPS. Handbook of Texas Online. Retrieved May 4, 2010, from http://www.tshaonline.org/
(8) Davies, David. (n.d.). Germans Interned in Texas during WWII. Texas Public Radio. Retrieved May 4, 2010, from http://www.tpr.org/news/20
(9) Everything2.com.
(10) Injerd, Wes. (n.d.). The Preservation of a People: A Look at the Evacuation and Relocation of the People of Japanese Ancestry in the United States during World War II. Retrieved May 4, 2010, from http://home.comcast.net/~e
(11) Injerd, Wes. (n.d.).
(12) Injerd, Wes. (n.d.).
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