Racism Ran Rampant Throughout World War II
By: Danielle Gibson
Tags: Japan, History, Culture, USA, Racism

Racism Ran Rampant Throughout World War II

Exploring the racist origins of the World War II Japanese internment camps.

Photo of the Manzanar Japanese internment camp from July 3, 1942. — Image courtesy of WikiMedia Commons

World War II illustrated some of the most blatant racial hatred, prejudice, and discrimination the world has ever known. Under the orders of Adolf Hitler, two-thirds of Europe’s Jewish population were murdered by means of gas chambers, mass shootings, and starvation.

At a minimum, six million European Jews were executed in the Holocaust. The cruel reality of the Holocaust is a story American school children are quite familiar with. In our American society, we like to shine a light on the racial prejudice, discrimination, and mass murder experienced by white European Jews at the hands of Nazi Germany throughout the course of World War II.

This is not a discussion about the horrors of Hitler and Nazi Germany. The mass murders of the European Jewish population during the Holocaust are nothing short of a tragedy. However, while shining a light on the racial prejudices and discrimination displayed by Nazi Germany, the racial discrimination carried out on American soil during World War II is often swiftly swept under the rug.

Just adding another skeleton to the closet

While Nazi Germany was rounding up millions of European Jews and throwing them into concentration camps, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was rounding up thousands of individuals of Japanese descent and sticking them in internment camps around the United States. In total, there were ten different internment camps created in the U.S. during World War II with their main purpose being to house Japanese Americans.

Over 120,000 individuals of Japanese ancestry, mostly those living on the west coast, were relocated to inland internment camps. The order to forcefully remove Japanese Americans from the west coast was issued by FDR on February 19, 1942, in Executive Order 9066.

Executive instructions posted at First and Front Streets in San Francisco to all persons of Japanese Ancestry on April 1, 1942. — Image courtesy of WikiMedia Commons

After the Japanese Empire bombed the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, the United States formally entered into the Second World War. The war in Europe had already been raging for two years before the United States got involved. However, after the Japanese Empire attacked the United States, there was little choice left for the U.S. but to join the Allied powers.

However, what the United States did not have to do, was treat every individual of Japanese descent living on American soil as enemy aliens. Yet, that is how the story ultimately played out. The United States has plenty of ugly skeletons in its closet. The implementation of Japanese internment camps during World War II is just one of many.

Relocating over 100,000 Issei and Nisei

The Japanese internment camps in the United States and the Nazi concentration camps in Europe cannot truly be compared in terms of devastation. However, the link between the two is simply that in both scenarios, innocent individuals were unjustly taken from their homes and forced into prison camps on the basis of race and heritage.

During World War II, the U.S. government ordered troops off to Europe with one of the goals being that of freeing European Jews from the clutches of Nazi terror. Interestingly enough, these orders were being carried out at the same time the U.S. government was violating the rights of their own citizens on home soil.

Japanese American family awaiting an evacuation bus in Hayward, California. — Image courtesy of WikiMedia Commons

From 1942 through 1946, the U.S. government forcefully relocated over 100,000 Japanese Immigrants or Issei and their children into internment camps without a trial or hearing. The United States cited that the removal of individuals of Japanese ancestry from the west coast was for national security purposes.

The government even went as far as to say that forced removal was for the safety of Issei and Nisei individuals. However, eight decades later, it’s abundantly clear that the implementation of Japanese internment camps lies in racist origins.

The racist origins of internment

Throughout the midst of World War II, the United States and the Allied powers were at war with Germany, Italy, and Japan. Despite being at war with all three nations, only Americans of Japanese ancestry were heavily targeted by the U.S. government.

In comparison to the 120,000 individuals of Japanese descent that were forced into internment camps, just a little over 10,000 individuals of German ancestry and a few thousand individuals of Italian ancestry were forced to leave the coastal region of the United States and were taken into custody and detained under wartime restriction. It is important to note that most of the Germans and Italians that were interned were single or married immigrant males. In comparison, all individuals of Japanese ancestry, regardless of age or gender, were targeted.

A photo of First-graders, many of Japanese ancestry, pledging allegiance to the United States flag at the Weill Public School in San Francisco, California. The photo was taken in 1942, prior to the implementation of Japanese internment. — Image courtesy of WikiMedia Commons

There’s no doubt Italian and German Americans were treated unfairly throughout World War II by the United States government. First-generation immigrants and their families were heavily monitored by the government and faced multiple restrictions. There is no debate that these individuals experienced unjust hardships. However, the treatment of Italian and German American populations in the United States was nothing like the discrimination placed upon Japanese Americans.

A journey back to the 1800s is required to truly understand the treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II. While many Italian and German immigrants were treated as enemy aliens during World War II, these immigrants could also become naturalized U.S. citizens. The Italian and German immigrants who experienced the most hardships during the Second World War were those who had not gone through the citizenship process. Ultimately, the struggle among individuals of Japanese descent was much higher, as they were simply not allowed to obtain citizenship at this point in American history.

The inability of Issei to obtain U.S. citizenship stems from the United States’ long history of racist and discriminatory treatment of both Asian immigrants and their descendants. The restrictive immigration policies against individuals of Asian ancestry began in the late 1800s.

A photo of a grandfather and grandson at the Manzanar internment camp taken by Dorothea Lange on July 2, 1942. — Image courtesy of WikiMedia Commons

The Naturalization Act of 1790 restricted naturalized U.S. citizenship to “free white persons.” Following the Civil War, an amendment was granted in 1870 that extended the naturalization process to individuals of African origin or descent. However, Japanese immigrants, as well as immigrants of any other Asian origin, were excluded from obtaining U.S. citizenship. Individuals of Japanese ancestry in World War II America were simply treated as the enemy without a fair chance to prove their loyalty.

While war hysteria and national security are often cited as the explanation for the implementation of Japanese internment camps during World War II, the deep-seated racial prejudice held towards individuals of Asian ancestry in America should not be overlooked. The long racial discrimination experienced by those of Asian heritage is what ultimately led to the internment of individuals of Japanese ancestry during World War II.

Asian immigrants were treated as suspicious parties that showed no allegiance to the United States and simply could not be trusted. However, in actuality, as the government spoke of Japanese immigrants’ inability to be loyal to the United States, they simply forbade them an opportunity to actually become citizens of the country.

Painful histories must be shared

The racist origins of the United States are real. Japanese internment camps are just one of many examples in U.S. history that illustrate the recurring belief that those who are not white are somehow not human. Racism is a principle that has continually been woven into the fabric of American culture and has, consequently, created the society that exists today.

Understanding the origins of racial hatred and discriminatory behavior of the past is the key to dismantling the systems that are still at work today. Turning a blind eye to our history or adopting the notion that the past has not created our present reality is not a sensible option.

In the end, the implementation of Japanese internment camps during World War II is simply just one more example of the unnecessary hardships minorities must endure in this country simply because their skin is not white. To build a better tomorrow for future generations of individuals of every race, gender, and creed, we must embrace these uncomfortable stories and learn from the past transgressions of our country.