From: IYI4DTN@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Gann Matsuda)
Subject: Re: internment camps
Date: 11 Nov 92 05:02:05 PST

In article <1dq3mrINNs7n@agate.berkeley.edu>, on 11 Nov 1992 04:54:51 GMT,
robohen@ocf.berkeley.edu (Henry Robertson) writes:

>
>Japanese Americans were interned for their own protection from lynchings.
>The proof lies in the fact that in Hawaii, where the climate was more tolerant,
>Japanese Americans were left in normal standing.  Asian American authors
>like to convey a message that they encountered unique prejudices, but the
>fact is that during WW I & II, Italian- and German-Americans were kept
>under surveillance or otherwise jailed as well, upon suspicion of contributing
>to the enemy.  This Asian American literature is the dying throes of a
>small demographic group, no more than a million, headed for extinction as
>each generation passes.  So I do not consider it worthy of literary clasification.
>By following the way Asian American authors think, Serbs and Croats would
>be justfied to kill each other until not a single one of them was left.
>
>
Henry--

Your "proof," referring to Hawaii is entirely off-base.  The reason
that only 2500 Japanese Americans from Hawaii were interned, either in
camps on Oahu or in mainland camps is that Japanese Americans made up
more than 35% of the territory's economy.  Imprisoning them all would
have destroyed the economy.  The dichotomy between the mass
imprisonment on the mainland and the fact that no such incarceration
took place in Hawaii, despite the fact that more than 10 vital military
installations were located on the island of Oahu alone, is damning
evidence that the internment was not because of "military necessity."

You say that the camps were for the protection of Japanese Americans.
Well, if that is so, then tell me...why were the tips of the barbed
wire fences pointed inward?  Why were the searchlights and machine guns
pointed inward?  If these camps were for the protection of those
inside, shouldn't the guards be looking for intruders from OUTSIDE
the camp?  Shouldn't the tips of fences have been pointed outward, to
prevent people from climbing the fences to enter the camps?  Clearly,
protection of those interned was not the purpose of these camps.

Again, if the camps were for the protection of the internees, why were
some shot without warning and killed because they were too close to the
fence?

Besides, in this country, one does not imprison those it wishes to
protect.  Instead, the attacker is detained and punished.  It should
not have been different 50 years ago.

You also say that German and Italian Americans were also detained.  In
a few cases, this is true.  But there is a HUGE difference.  German and
Italian Americans who were suspected of espionage, sabotage or
subversive activities were investigated by the FBI and if evidence
warranted, individuals were arrested, they received a court hearing in
which evidence was presented and in which they were allowed to defend
themselves.  If convicted, they were imprisoned in a Justice Department
Internment Camp such as the one at Crystal City, Texas, but in a
separate area from Japanese Americans.

Do you see the difference?  German and Italian Americans received all
the rights, including due process of law, a speedy trial by a jury of
their peers, etc.  Japanese Americans received no such rights.  No
charges were filed.  No evidence ever warranted such treatment.  No
trials were held.  They were simply incarcerated against their will
because of their ethnic origin.

In addition, German and Italian Americans were treated as individual
cases, unlike Japanese Americans, who were locked up en masse.  Again,
a HUGE difference.

So...Asian Americans are going to be extinct, huh?  I bet you can't
wait for that to happen!

Before you go and make yourself look more foolish, you might want to
get the facts next time.  And if reading about this from non-Asian
authors would make this more believable for you, try reading PERSONAL
JUSTICE DENIED, the report of the Federal Commission on Wartime
Relocation and Internment of Civilians.  You should be able to find a
copy at any good university library.  I know copies exist at UC
Berkeley.

Gann Matsuda
Newsgroups: soc.culture.japan,talk.politics.guns