Was the U.S. Justified to Put Japanese Americans In Internment Camps?

[CSolarstorm]

they all do.

The only reason why people are saying this is racially insensitive (EVEN THOUGH IT HAS NOTHING TO DO ABOUT RACISM) is because we did this to a minority that ISNT WHITE. they did this stuff to white people, but was that racailly insensitive? no

I wanted to give you props for your opinion. But I must also point out your argument "other countries have done much worse than we have" is a two wrongs make a right fallacy. Nobody said that other countries should be allowed to keep American prisoners of war - everyone understands that is unacceptable. They merely said that we shouldn't stoop to their level. You are creating this false "We're making our enemies out to be BETTER than we are" argument, when in reality, we're just holding ourselves accountable to the principles of our constitution. It's not a guilt trip in any manner. It is our way of disciplining ourselves, to make sure we don't become the very tyrants that we celebrate freeing ourselves from every Independence Day.

Technically, there is no such thing as a Japanese American, or a White American, everyone is equally an American and entitled to the rights laid out in the Bill of Rights. However, one could argue that in times of war, practicality needs to be observed and the Bill of Rights is an abstract notion that is second to the need to survive. But that's judging the value of the constitution, and a lot of people are sensitive about that.

All I'm saying is, if every "White" American was rounded up and put in an internment camp...you bet there would be a ruckus. That would be obviously racist and unacceptable, the moral still stands, regardless of what our neighboring countries across the Pacific decide to do with their American immigrants.

As long as one specific race is targeted within the U.S., where it is illegal to do such a thing - this will be considered racially insensitive. There's no reason to see it as not.

 

[ChronaMew]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ckvmc_486U

^ Kenji by Fort Minor. It's a song detailing the internment camps and all, just think it's relevant to the conversation.

Anyhow, I feel it was wrong. It spread a lot of prejudice among the non-Japanese against them, which is something I haven't seen brought up in this debate anymore. Say you're living next door to a Japanese person after the Pearl Harbor attacks. If they stay there then you know that there was no evidence against them - You can talk to them about it, how wrong it was to kill all those people, etc. Most of the time, they'll share your views. However, if your neighbour is sent off to camp, in your mind you're probably thinking "He must be just like THOSE Japanese, which is why they're imprisoning him" and stuff.

I'd add some more but I have to start getting ready for school so...maybe later :3

 

[J.T.]

@ JT: yes, lets point out the bad things americans did in my post, and not the bad things the Japanese did.

And let's ignore every single point I make when I already did talk about what the Japanese did.

I know what the Japanese government did. That does not justify **** about forcing your own civilians of Japanese descent into internment camps against their will. Face it, the Japanese forced SOLDIERS of ANOTHER country into their camps. America forced CIVILIANS of THEIR OWN country into their camps.

"But they're doing worse to our soldiers! We're just locking up innocent people who happen to be of their descent! We're better than them!" Not by much, if at all. As someone already made the "they pulled out all our nails, we just pulled out the toenails, we're better people" analogy, I think you get the point.

And talking about the things America did in a debate about whether or not something America did was justified? What a concept!

this being true, there were still spies, and people loyal to the home country. im sorry If I sound like a biggot, but this just needed to happen, FOR ALL JAPANESE. we were VERY leniant on them

Yeah, might want to actually read my post again. If the government got less than half the Japanese Americans in the country and we still had no problem from the others, hold on, there's something up.

Dont even play the racist card. unless, your going to place it FAR worse on Japan and Germany and the phillipines.

What in god's name makes you think I wouldn't? You can't pull the "well I'm not racist, because THEY'RE more racist!" cop-out. No one is supporting what the Axis powers did.

Because of there treatment? why the hell should they be disgusted?? they got food, and not just bread. THEY didnt have to work in fields, or get beaten or tortured. they didnt have to do nothing. most of them played games, and had a good time.

All while shoved into a crowded camp against their will. Did you even read my post before complaining that I never mentioned what Japan did? They did not have the choice to say "but I like my land, I wanna stay here". As soon as you're forced to go somewhere against your will, there's a problem. It doesn't matter if they had their dreams come true. If they didn't want to go there, they shouldn't have had to.

Blame Japan, not America.

Yeah, let's blame Japan for what America did!

but hey, chinese people gotten treated worse still, before the war, even though america didnt ever fight them.

Somehow someone getting treated worse justifies the internment? What the hell?

but looking at a buyers point of view, THIS IS GOLDEN. buying houses pennies for the dollar, making lots of money merching, buying and re-selling, this is like bill gates handing out millions free.

This is almost screaming "now that those Japs are off the land...".

Holy crap, now it's justified to kick them off their land and force them into camps against their will because other non-Japanese Americans can get it for cheap? Are you for real? Would Hitler's Holocaust have been justified if people could buy the mansions that rich Jews used to own?

It wasnt racist, it was fair. At least its better than the president issuing a command to rape/kill/ steal from the japanese at there own pleasure without getting in trouble. I mean, Thats what hitler did to the Jews

Jesus of freaking Christland, you are not listening. I. Don't. Care. What. The. Axis. Powers. Did. (in the context of this debate; they were serious crimes, but they're irrelevant in this debate. Seriously, don't take that comment out of context.) It does not justify what we did to the Japanese American (or Japanese Canadian - Canada ended up doing a similar internment) civilians who have no relation to the Japanese government.

 

[LedZeppelin1]

Well another reason why this was done to Japanese, and not Germans was the Japanese culture. Back then their culture had a strong sense of loyalty to Japan. Honor for Japan was a biggie. In Japan failure was often met with suicide. This is why our biggest threat in our own country was the Japanese from within. Even though the American Japanese didn't necessarily have this same loyalty that people in Japan did, it was still a risk that could have had disastrous results for America.

 

[GaZsTiC]

^^They aren't Muslim terrorists from Afghanistan. They are Muslim terrorists that are hiding in Afghanistan.

So, in a way, what you are saying is a generalisation of media and your own beliefs. Back in the time of WW1, you have to remember that the people weren't as educated or brought up in a multi-cultural background. So, if America generalised that anyone of Japanese descent/ethnicity COULD be a spy for the Germans/Japanese.

So in a way, what they were doing would be seen as something quite racist today, but back then they would have seen it differently. Plus, the conditions they got weren't anything bad. AND also, just to say, America had not entered the war until the last year, so the Japanese would not have been kept in there for an extremely long length of time.

So, my answer is that they were justified. Even though if it happened today, I would disagree with it.

 

[LedZeppelin1]

^^They aren't Muslim terrorists from Afghanistan. They are Muslim terrorists that are hiding in Afghanistan.

So, in a way, what you are saying is a generalisation of media and your own beliefs. Back in the time of WW1, you have to remember that the people weren't as educated or brought up in a multi-cultural background. So, if America generalised that anyone of Japanese descent/ethnicity COULD be a spy for the Germans/Japanese.

So in a way, what they were doing would be seen as something quite racist today, but back then they would have seen it differently. Plus, the conditions they got weren't anything bad. AND also, just to say, America had not entered the war until the last year, so the Japanese would not have been kept in there for an extremely long length of time.

So, my answer is that they were justified. Even though if it happened today, I would disagree with it.

America entered in 1941. The war ended 1945. It's WWI where we didn't enter until the last six months, but I do see what you're saying. That today's standards and 1940 standards aren't the same thing.

 

[denizenofevil]

I wanted to give you props for your opinion. But I must also point out your argument "other countries have done much worse than we have" is a two wrongs make a right fallacy. Nobody said that other countries should be allowed to keep American prisoners of war - everyone understands that is unacceptable. They merely said that we shouldn't stoop to their level. You are creating this false "We're making our enemies out to be BETTER than we are" argument, when in reality, we're just holding ourselves accountable to the principles of our constitution. It's not a guilt trip in any manner. It is our way of disciplining ourselves, to make sure we don't become the very tyrants that we celebrate freeing ourselves from every Independence Day.

Technically, there is no such thing as a Japanese American, or a White American, everyone is equally an American and entitled to the rights laid out in the Bill of Rights. However, one could argue that in times of war, practicality needs to be observed and the Bill of Rights is an abstract notion that is second to the need to survive. But that's judging the value of the constitution, and a lot of people are sensitive about that.

All I'm saying is, if every "White" American was rounded up and put in an internment camp...you bet there would be a ruckus. That would be obviously racist and unacceptable, the moral still stands, regardless of what our neighboring countries across the Pacific decide to do with their American immigrants.

As long as one specific race is targeted within the U.S., where it is illegal to do such a thing - this will be considered racially insensitive. There's no reason to see it as not.

Exactly! Just because they had black hair instead of blonde or brown doesn't make them any less American. They were fellow Americans and should have been treated as such.

 

[Ipwnyou]

the conditions were the same as ghetto peoples homes.. well not that bad.
They had roofs over there heads, and food. mind you not just a crust of bread. BUT, heres a good thing about the japanese. BECAUSE of there attack, (which turned out to backfire alot) America...
a) got out of the depression
b) Got lots more Jobs
c) united further into a nation, and Hawaii Joined us, which I guess is good.

wo hoho
It was definetely much worse than that. -_-

they got food, and not just bread. THEY didnt have to work in fields, or get beaten or tortured. they didnt have to do nothing. most of them played games, and had a good time.

Why is everyone here acting like it was some kind of summer camp?

And why are people acting as if there was any legitimate reason to suspect these people of remaining loyal to the japanese government? There wasn't one, other than them being japanese. Many of them weren't even born in japan.
And why do you guys keep trying to downgrade how bad it was? People in America tend to complain about their civil rights, everytime there taxes go up, or someone else get's an unfair pay raise, or when they get evicted.
But when those darned foreigners get rounded up in prison camps then it's just a necessary sacrifice.
As long as it's not happening to you that is.

The only reason why people are saying this is racially insensitive (EVEN THOUGH IT HAS NOTHING TO DO ABOUT RACISM) is because we did this to a minority that ISNT WHITE. they did this stuff to white people, but was that racailly insensitive? no

Of course it has to do with racism! People were rounded up into internment concentration camps based on their race.
Nobody is denying that the Japanese did plenty of horrible things to their prisoners during WW2 but that is irrelevant to this discussion BECAUSE IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH IT. and yes the japanese attacks on other nations, like most of WW2, were racially motivated.
The people imprisoned weren't imprisoned because they had some connection to war but because of their race.
Pointing out something worse that happened doesn't nullify that...
Now what I would like to know is why no Americans with German ancestry were arrested, or had their businesses and homes taken away. In europe we saw many people who found any amount of german ancestry wuickly turn against their countries and become Nazi's. Why didn't we do anything about them?

 

[Bill Nye the Sneasel Guy]

And why are people acting as if there was any legitimate reason to suspect these people of remaining loyal to the japanese government? There wasn't one, other than them being japanese. Many of them weren't even born in japan.

Please remember that the world was different then. I don't like what happened, but you have to keep it in context of the times. Pearl Harbor had been attacked, there were Japanese spy rings about, the Ni'ihau incident especially lent reasons for people to distrust the Japanese people. Japan was a powerful military force, disliked America, and given the issues above, I'm glad that a 1940's mindset in a war went for only imprisoning them in facilities that, for the time, were quite hospitable. Certainly other countries demonstrated far more extreme options, and though this system wasn't the best that could be implemented, at least it didn't involve genocide and torture.

Pointing out something worse that happened doesn't nullify that...
Now what I would like to know is why no Americans with German ancestry were arrested, or had their businesses and homes taken away. In europe we saw many people who found any amount of german ancestry wuickly turn against their countries and become Nazi's. Why didn't we do anything about them?

German Americans actually did suffer a fair amount of discrimination during WWII, just as they did in WWI. There's just the thing about them being pretty a massive ethnic group, which helped to protect them. But German immigrants were actually detained and interred, same as with Italians. Some German citizens of the USA had the same occur to them. But locking up, what, a quarter or fifth or so of the population in camps during a war is probably not all that bright of an idea, hence why the German citizens typically were not interred, (although as above I said, some were.) though immigrants were essentially fair game.

Also, remember that the USA was more against Japan than Germany and Italy. The Axis Powers weren't liked, sure, we helped in the effort against them, but Japan was the main focus for the USA.

 

[CSolarstorm]

The United States has a fundamentally different nature than other countries; its government was created to serve and respect the people, not the other way around. This idea that you have to respect your government, trust them and show your stripes is ironically the exact opposite of the support our founding fathers fought for us to have. To support America is to constantly question and have healthy doubts about it. I like what my debate teacher told me: Is not argument the ultimate expression of love?