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On December 7, 1941, Japan executed a surprise attack on the United
States by bombing. The naval fleet stationed at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
It was a major blow to the United States military and inflicted many
casualties.
Soon after this event,
the United States joined World War II against Japan, Germany, and
Italy. Rumors started circulating about Japanese living in Hawaii and
on the west coast leaking information to Japan. With the fear of
sabotage and espionage in the mix, the government decided to take some
drastic measures. FBI agents carried out raids rounding up 1,212
first-generation Japanese immigrants (born in Japan) from Hawaii and the
mainland. These new prisoners were taken to internment camps in New
Mexico, North Dakota, Texas, and Montana.[1]
Within a few days,
restrictions on traveling, working, and social gathering were forced on
German, Italian, and even second-generation Japanese (born in the United
States). The government found these nationalities to be dangerous due
to their somewhat close connection to the enemy countries; they were
even labeled “enemy alien”. On February 19, 1942 Executive Order 9066
was signed by Franklin D. Roosevelt and put into action. This order
allowed the army to evacuate the Japanese from the west coast of the
United States. Over the span of eight months (March 24-November 3,
1942) over 120,000 Japanese of all ages were removed from the West Coast
and taken to internment camps. They were only allowed to bring what they
could carry, and with lack of notification, many families lost
practically everything they owned.[2]
The internment camps were surrounded by barbed wire and under close watch of armed guards and had confined, very poor living conditions. These innocent Japanese Americans were treated like criminals for years in these internment camps. They were treated like criminals for the sole reason that they shared the same heritage and physical features of those who attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor. They were unjustly punished for crimes they did not commit by a country they thought was their home.[3]
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