The Japanese Internment Camps
Are the Americans Really Innocent?
What are Japanese Internment Camps, and What Group of People Were Targeted?
The camps were designed under an executive order stated by President Roosevelt. He believed that any American who had a Japanese decent were a threat. The camps were located in the Western United States and only in remote areas. It was mandatory that the children still attended school, and the adults could work for only five dollars per day. The camps were so isolated, that the only source of food was the food the "criminals" farmed themselves.A total of 127,000 Japanese-Americans were captured and forced to go to these internment camps. The American public believed that the Japanese were a threat, since the Bombing of Pearl Harbor, which brought the United States into World War Two in 1942.
The Influence from the Media
The media has been around ever since the first newspaper was published. It covered everything from the latest stock market crisis all the way to the war. At this time, the newspaper and radio companies soared at the Internment Camps held in America. Newspapers described the event as " An Act of Hitler". The Radio casters broadcasted the news by saying " The Americans are fighting back. You kill our citizens, we will capture and torture yours."
The Story is Always Changing
Both the radio and the newspapers left out some key information. They forgot to state that the Japanese captured, were not from Japan. Rather they are citizens of the United States , but just had the Japanese heritage. Another bias was the fact that neither constitute described what was going through the President's mind when he was making his decision.
Everybody is a Critic
Historical Criticism is being used since it happened back in 1942; the midst of World War Two. Another criticism being portrayed in Cultural Criticism. People are assuming that all people who have the Japanese features or heritage are threats to the United States. Ultimately, many innocent Japanese citizens lost their lives while living in these camps.
Is it Too Soon?
Racism was always a touchy topic in regards to the American citizens. From the Klu Klux Klan, to now the Japanese, race will never fade away. I believe that the camps were set up for one main purpose: We were scared. Before World War Two even happened, the Japanese citizens were undercover. Just every day, normal citizens. All of a sudden.. BAM! They are being forced into camps because their nationality is causing a major threat on the United States. The camps kept a sense of security to the other citizens residing in the United States. The real question is, why would the "Most Powerful Nation In the World" be threatened by a small island off of the coast of Asia?
internment camps sully brown