By: Rahul Natarajan Vihang Patel Period 2 WORLD WAR II THE TREATMENT OF JAPANESE AMERICANS AND JAPANESE CANADIANS

THE TREATMENT OF THE JAPANESE The Japanese were not treated fairly because of their forced removal and relocation during World War II. Americans used harsh terms, such as “japs,” to address the Japanese. The bombing of Pear Harbor in 1941 created resentment towards all Japanese people, citizens and noncitizens alike. The Japanese advocated for rights and racial equality. Even though these individuals and groups were limited in power and influence, they were an important contribution. This eventually forced the Canadian and American governments to reconsider the treatment of the Japanese in North America, and the issue of racial discrimination, as a whole.

AMERICAN FEARS About 110,000 Japanese Americans along the Pacific Coast were victims due to the effects of World War II. As Japan was part of the Axis powers, America feared that Japanese Americans would act as support for their native country in case of an invasion. The government forcibly relocated them in concentration camps even though two-thirds of them were American citizens born in the U.S.A. This was very unfair and cruel, but the bombing of Pearl Harbor and anti-Japanese prejudice caused Americans to lose their sense of justice. Japanese Americans in the military were kicked out and sent along with the rest of their kind to camps. Noncitizen Japanese immigrants, along with the Germans and Italians, became known as “enemy aliens”

AMERICAN FEARS (CONT.) These groups were required to register with authorities of the country and obtain a Certificate of Identification. As the racial discrimination against the Japanese increased, the isolation of the Japanese Americans became apparent.

RELOCATION CAMPS Japanese American communities in western United States were rounded up and sent to "internment camps," prisons run by the Justice Department. Within three months, everyone else of Japanese ancestry who remained on the West Coast was sent first to an assembly center and then to a camp administered by a new civilian agency. Within just ten "relocation camps," more than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry, noncitizens and citizens alike, were interned for three years. Locations: Poston in Arizona along the Colorado River, Gila River in central Arizona, Minidoka in Idaho, Amache in Colorado, Heart Mountain in Wyoming, Tule Lake in northern California, and Topaz in the salt flats of Utah. Jerome and Rohwer were in the swampy delta of the Mississippi River in Arkansas.

RELOCATION CAMPS (CONT.) Conditions of the camps: Heart Mountain had strong winds and temperatures well below zero much of the winter. Gila River and Poston both reached over 100 degrees much of the summer. All of the camps had poisonous snakes: in the West, mainly rattlers; in Arkansas, four kinds of poisonous snake were in the high grasses. In all the camps the barracks in which the internees had lived had been removed after the war. The removal and detention of Japanese Americans during World War II deprived them of their dignity and basic civil rights.

ORGANIZATIONS The Cooperative Committee for Japanese Canadians (CCJC) was a group that was concerned with protecting the human rights and freedoms of Japanese Canadians during and after WWII. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) led the offensive in the U.S. through legal challenges in the Supreme Court. Additionally, groups other than the CCJC and the ACLU advocated for the fair treatment of the Japanese. These organizations assaulted the relocation and deportation policies (in Canada) toward the Japanese. This portrayed the growing interest in egalitarian rights which had already begun to emerge during WWII and began to influence the importance of human rights in Canada.

THE ACTIONS OF JAPANESE CANADIANS A diverse number of church leaders and religious groups in Canada furthered their opposition to the policies of deportation in These groups denounced discrimination that was based upon racial prejudice. The Canadian Christian groups’ actions of bringing justice to the Japanese Canadians continued when the CCJC supported the idea of taking the matter of the offensive Orders- in-Council to the Privy Council. When the Privy Council ruled in favor of the federal government’s policies in 1946, the churches and religious organizations still continued to support the CCJC in their efforts to oppose deportation.

THE ACTIONS OF JAPANESE AMERICANS When compared to the Japanese Canadians, the leadership of the American churches were not as politically active in desiring a change in government. The American Peace churches were the only exceptions. In particular, the Society of Friends (Quakers) attracted attention and gained support in the relocation camps. Even though the American churches provided opposition to the removal policy in 1942, they were relatively quiet. American churches were more interested in resettlement and in implementing the government's policies in that regard.

(CONT.) Japanese Americans received permission from President Roosevelt to participate in an all volunteer, segregated Japanese American unit for combat in the European Theater. They wanted to prove themselves as not “aliens.” This unit was known as the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. 13,000 served in Europe and 3,000 served in the Asian Pacific Theater.

CONCLUSION The campaign for justice for the Japanese thus began long before the end of the war, and wound up long after war's end. It was not until about four decades later that the American government apologized for its actions and gave reparations of $20,000 to each camp survivor. The belief that human rights also needed to be defended was evoked from the treatment of the Japanese ancestry. The fair treatment of the Japanese Canadians can be derived from the religion, faith, and principles of many Christian leaders. The mistreatment of the Japanese Americans can be derived from the event of Pearl Harbor and Japan being an Axis Power.

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HOW DID YOU DO? Origin: The U.S. government resented the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This would create hostility towards the Japanese ancestry in North America as they are a minority group with no rights. Purpose: The purpose of this picture is to show the mass number of people that were being forced to relocate due to suspicions of the U.S. government. Value: This picture emphasizes the fact that families had to abandon their homes and property. In this case, they could not afford to bring their belongings with them. Much like the Nazi view upon Jews but not to the extreme, America had no mercy upon the rights of the Japanese. Limitations: America had a good reason for deporting many people of Japanese ancestry. It is normal to fear a group who is related to the criminals. As the American government is viewed as cruel, there is no view emphasizing how the government did this to protect America. The pic only takes one side.

WORKS CITED Bangarth, Stephanie D. "Religious Organizations and the ‘Relocation’ of Persons of Japanese Ancestry in North America: Evaluating Advocacy." American Review of Canadian Studies 34.3 (2004): Questia School. Web. 5 Nov Kennedy, David M., Lizabeth Cohen, and Thomas Andrew Bailey. The American Pageant: A History of the Republic. 13th ed. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage Learning, Print. Okihiro, Gary Y. Whispered Silences: Japanese Americans and World War II. Seattle: University of Washington, Questia School. Web. 5 Nov