Japanese Internment Camps

Did you know that during WWII Americans put tons of citizens of Japanese ancestry in concentration camps? This is very true and it happened in 1942. Japanese Internment Camps were not justified because, the Government was imprisoning tons of Japanese humans in America, who had all the constitutional rights, without “concrete evidence”, they were making life harder for lots of people, and they were putting the economy in debt. The Japanese Internment Camps were basically rows of big buildings with lots of rooms to hold the Japanese. They were surrounded by tall, barb wire fences and were guarded by lots of officers so they couldn’t escape.

Life in the camps was rough, with boring, bland, and sometimes gross meals and small, cramped rooms. You had to work with fewer resources than home but they didn’t do anything bad to you. The cause of the camps, although I can not say for sure, was the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The Government was suspecting spies among the citizens and made the camps. This was just to protect America but was taken to far.

Most of these Japanese Americans were legal citizens with all the Constitutional rights but were imprisoned without “concrete evidence” of anything other than being Japanese. President Roosevelt had no evidence for imprisoning all Japanese including children and the elderly, “Succumbing to bad advice and popular opinion, President Roosevelt signed an executive order… ordering the relocation of all Americans of Japanese ancestry…”(1) In other words, he was being put under pressure and couldn’t say no because the people were scared. Okay, so they were imprisoned, but all American citizens have the right to legal counsel, which means they can hire a lawyer in their defense. In this case, the “Japanese Americans were not told of their crime or the charges against them.”(7) Also, freedom of religion, “Japanese American’s religious freedoms were violated with respect to the practice of..

.religious beliefs.”(7) Buddhism, one of the main Japanese religions, was highly restricted in the camps. WWII was hard on everyone, but this was especially true for the Japanese because of a hard life in the internment camps. In 1942, at the start of the internment camps, life was really hard “families sold their homes,..

.stores,…and most assets… often sold at a fraction of their true value.

“(4) Japanese Americans and their families were put in debt for having to sell their property for so little money. Thus began harder living in our country. But life just got worse from there on, “Until the camps were completed many of the evacuees were held in temporary centers, such as stables at local racetracks.”(1) After getting out of the camps, “United States citizens..

.who had been incarcerated had lost their personal liberties, and many also lost their homes, businesses, property, and savings.”(6) The Government put the economy in debt because Japanese had to sell their homes and stores for less money which latter, was not enough to spend for stores and they had nothing to trade. At the camps “Professionals were paid $19 per month, skilled workers received $16, and non-skilled workers got $12.”(4) which means that the Japanese families were put in even more debt. This may just seem like these families were put in debt, but it doesn’t work that way.

The economy runs on a cycle, and this cycle was messed up when the Japanese were gone. It starts with a store- in which there were less of because of the camps, then there’s the everyday consumer- there was less because they were in camps, and we can’t forget the employees- there were also less, which meant that those companies and stores made less money putting more people and more companies in debt. I hope by now it’s clear to you why the internment camps of WWII were not justified. The Constitution was violated, they caused debt and hard lives. No one is meant to go through hard times like the Japanese did, but that’s what sin did to this world.

So if you grow up and become President, don’t let anything like this happen to our country again!