Relocation of Japanese Americans
Shortly after the suprise attack launched by Japan on the United States' naval base Pearl Harbor, President Truman issued the Executive Order 9066, demanding the relocation of Japanese Americans from the west coast to designated locations. More than 100,000 Japanese Americans were relocated and lost everything: their homes, jobs, belongings, and property. Furthermore, around two thirds of the relocated Japanese Americans were born in America. The relocation camps were harsh and in poor condition and many camps were placed on farms or race tracks, encompassed in barbed wire. Small rooms were provided for large families, and communal bathrooms were shared between hundreds of people. The rooms were harsh and not insulated, exposing the families to sweltering and freezing temperatures (Renteln 618-621).
Published by the United States
According to the booklet by the War Relocation Authority, in 1942, the United States Government initiated the evacuation of 110,000 Japanese Americans from their homes in California due to the possibility of an attack on the west coast. The War Relocation Authority was created to facilitate the evacuation of Japanese Americans. According to the War Relocation Authority, the relocation centers are not and were not meant to resemble concentration camps. They were created as communities for evacuees to live and work, preparing them for reintegration into American society. The evacuees were provided with 20 by 25 foot rooms containing army cots, blankets, and a heating stove. A single building for bathing, using the bathroom, and laundry was shared among more than 250 evacuees. Medical care was offered to evacuees. The communities contained a variety of jobs averaging 16 dollars a month. Children were offered education all the way through high school (War Relocation Authority 1943).
Not Published by the United States
The evacuation of Japanese Americans was justified as a military necessity and a necessary measure of safety. The physical statement of the evacuation order contained racial prejudice, labeling "all persons of Japanese lineage" as a racial group, and referred to American Citizens as "Japanese." Lieutenant General John L., who established the evacuation order, stated "It makes no difference whether the Japanese is theoretically a citizen. He is still a Japanese. Giving him a scrap of paper won't change him. I don't care what they do with the Japs so long as they don't send them back here". Prior to the evacuation order, members of the government and military released racist and discriminatory statements regarding Japanese Americans. Henry Lemore, Hearst columnist, stated "I am for the immediate removal of every Japanese on the West Coast to a point deep in the interior. I don't mean a nice part of the interior, either... Let em' be pinched, hurt, hungry, and dead up against it... Personally I hate the Japanese. And that goes for all of them". The relocation was covered up and romanticized by the United States. What the War Relocation Authority omitted from their booklet was the awful conditions, prison-like treatment, and isolation from American society causing physical and psychological damage to many individuals and families. For example, Japanese American student wrote "It is evident that the average American has such prejudice against those of yellow skin that we can never hope to be placed on a parity with the so-called fellow Americans. But we are loyal in spite of being deprived of friendship and tolerance" (Foote 1943).