one executive order away from the collapse
|
On 12/7/1941, Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, during World War II. The United States had avoided direct involvement with the war until then. That attack led to the US becoming a major player. It also led to an atrocity in US history called internment. More than 100,000 people were living in the US then who had Japanese ancestry. All of those people became suspected of espionage and possible betrayal based on the Pearl Harbor attack.
Calls came for them to be expelled from the country, even those who had been born here. They were demonized, excluded, and assaulted. Not a single one was convicted of any crime, but they were all still treated like criminals. Then it got worse. On 2/19/1942, then President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive order 9066, which gave the Army the authority to remove anyone with more than 1/6th Japanese ancestry to internment camps. The relocations started immediately. Most were taken to California and Washington. There were also camps in Oregon, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New York. What caused people to hate their neighbors so much? Part of it was caused by previous competitions. The rest was caused by unjust laws that no longer exist. Chinese laborers were discriminated against as far back as 1882, when everyone was involved in the gold rush. Asian people were disliked and believed to be inferior. Then the Japanese immigrants began arriving and the feelings grew stronger. In 1905, The Japanese secured a victory over Russia, proving that they were a powerhouse and dangerous. Many legal cases and bills happened during this time period, such as the Alien Land Law in 1913 that forbade the ownership of agricultural land by aliens ineligible to citizenship. In 1920, a stronger version of that law went into effect, also forbidding leasing and sharecropping. The immigration act of 1924 stopped all further Japanese immigration. All of the hatred and discrimination that came before the war added to the ease with which the government decided that interning those people was the right decision. Those who weren’t relocated were taken in the draft to fight on behalf of the US government, forced to kill other Japanese men. The events that led to the internment was the cause of internment. Without the bombing of Pearl Harbor, it wouldn't have happened. Without the Japanese attack on US servicemen, internment wouldn't have happened. Without the US government allowing that attack to take place so the public would support their involvement in the war, internment wouldn't have happened. Without WWII, internment wouldn't have happened. All of the events caused internment. Jump forward eight decades and we had COVID. People were scared of their neighbors. They wanted their neighbors to get vaccinated and to prove it. The people who didn't want to take the shot were considered a threat to the safety of society. There were calls for those people to be locked up. Parts of society shut them out and refused to allow the unvaxed to participate or even to enter. Stores barred them. Doctor’s offices refused to treat them. Employers fired them. There were even proposals in government to relocate the unvaxed to internment camps, so they didn't endanger everyone else. History was repeating once again. This is a dangerous mentality that runs rampant in the human herd. We get scared and then we react. Often, we react before we consider the implications. Removing the freedoms this country stands for has become an awful habit that we keep repeating when fear is involved. We got lucky that no executive order came out during COVID, but until there is a law that prevents it from happening, there will always be the possibility that we'll repeat that mistake. Anyone can be kidnapped and relocated, drafted and forced to kill others. Freedom is a myth we tell our children, much like the tooth fairy. We are always one executive order away from the collapse of our republic. |
Vocabulary List The Draft: The kidnapping of citizens by the government, often to force those people to fight in forever wars. Internment: The imprisonment of a person or group of people without the benefit of a trial or the commission of a crime. Relocation: The forceable removal of people from their homes to another place for an undetermined amount of time. Executive Order: An order signed by a president that makes, bypasses, or changes laws. Unvaxed: Those who refused to take the experimental COVID vaccine. 
|
Reflection Section
The Library of Congress had actual pictures from that awful time in our history. The signs that were posted, guard stations, and the prisoners are all represented. It clearly showed what life was like for those people. This source was credible because the photos were genuine. The National Archives contained copies and actual documents used during the time period to remove those people from their homes and put them into relocation centers. One example is Executive order #9066, which authorized it. This site is credible because it shows the documents that were actually used to allow this travesty.
The Court Said.org gave me a recap of the events leading up to the executive order, and what came afterward. The article gave verifiable links and information. The United States House of Representatives History, Art, and Archives site is a government site with details about the events and what has happened since to prevent it from ever happening again. The National Park Service site gave a recap of everything that happened and provided links to verifiable information. Unlike the other sites, this one actually provided more details of the locations people were sent to instead of concentrating on just one place.
The primary and secondary sources were the same in that they gave the basic details of the event and what led up to it. They were different in that they showed it in different formats. Some of the structures were just photos, while some were just documents. Some used both. The secondary sources were mainly articles with links that verified the information they provided. I knew the sources were credible because they were government sites or they gave unquestionable information, such as first-hand accounts and photographs.
The tone was the same among all of them, but the language varied. The government site has more complex words and sentences, while the articles were written in simple language that anyone could understand. The point of view was unbiased in all of the sources. It simply related the events, what led up to the events, and what happened afterward in some cases. The media back then was a lot less biased than what we have now, in my opinion. All of the sources were useful because they gave me different formats. One site had articles from the government. One site had copies of the documents and signs that were used. One site had photos that showed what I was looking for.
Sources Section
“Library of Congress”, Japanese American Internment https://www.loc.gov/classroom-materials/japanese-american-internment/
“National Archives”, Executive Order 9066: Resulting in Japanese-American Incarceration (1942) https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/executive-order-9066
“The Court Said”, Korematsu v. United States: The Internment of Japanese Americans and Its Lessons https://thecourtsaid.org/korematsu-v-united-states-the-internment-of-japanese-americans-and-its-lessons/
“The United States House of Representatives History, Art, and Archives”, Japanese Internment and Redress https://history.house.gov/Education/NHD/NHD-2025/NHD-Internment/
“National Park Service”, A Brief History of Japanese American Relocation During World War II https://www.nps.gov/articles/historyinternment.htm
Photos and Chart
Adams, Ansel, photographer. Mess line, noon, Manzanar Relocation Center, California / photograph by Ansel Adams. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2002695984/>.
Adams, Ansel, photographer. Detail of work-offer board, Manzanar Relocation Center, California / photograph by Ansel Adams. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2002695982/>.
Japanese-American camp, war emergency relocation, Tule Lake Relocation Center, Newell, Calif. or 1943. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2017878794/>.
Arellano-Bover J. Displacement, Diversity, and Mobility: Career Impacts of Japanese American Internment. The Journal of Economic History. 2022;82(1):126-174. doi:10.1017/S0022050721000565
