Essay On Japanese Internment Camps

Words: 2082
Pages: 9

Japanese Internment Camps “As far as I'm concerned, I was born here, and according to the Constitution that I studied in school, that I had the Bill of Rights that should have backed me up. And until the very minute I got onto the evacuation train, I says, 'It can't be'. I says, 'How can they do that to an American citizen?'” (Kashiwagi 1) Over 110,000 Japanese Americans were force out of their homes and sent to concentration camps because of U.S. suspicions. The oldest Japanese immigrants, also known as Issei, were considered the biggest threat and were arrested by the FBI soon after Pearl Harbor was bombed (Nagata 1). The offspring of the first generation, called Nisei, were taken under government control as well. Although the Japanese internment camps were considered a safety precaution for the United States, innocent people were denied social participation and human rights. Before the …show more content…
If one were to disobey the laws of the War Relocation Authority Policy, then they would be arrested and tried to treason against the United States. For example, Gordon Hirabayashi was arrested for disobeying evacuation orders and curfew (Brown 1). Something so small as missing curfew because that person believed their rights were more important than the rules unethically bestowed upon them was against another law. “The violation of human personality is the violation of the most sacred thing which man owns. This order for the mass evacuation of all persons of Japanese descent denies them the right to live...I must maintain my Christian principles. I consider it my duty to maintain the democratic standards for which this nation lives. Therefore I must refuse this order of evacuation.” (Hirahayashi 1) Most residents of the camps did not find these rules as a suitable way to live, but it was the only way they would