We have discussed the social justice issues that arose during World War One and The Great Depression, there is so much more to say actually; but let’s move on to World War Two. I’ll try to stay in chronological order with these facts; but many of them flow in and out of each other.
Before we start, I still have one last thought on those earlier subjects; I can’t help but compare some of the things that happened during The Great Depression to some of the things that are happening in our current society right now with the onslaught of COVID-19. The parallels haunt me as I continue this study and move on to the times of the history of World War Two.
Another world war had begun.
At the very beginning for America; it was all about the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.
Shortly after that horrible day in December, there came the spring of 1942. Most of the world was still trying to wrap their minds around the fact that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor and The United States had officially entered World War Two.
For many Japanese families living on the west coast of California; there was more than that to worry about.
Two-thirds of these people I refer to were natural-born Americans, and many of them had young children that were also American-born citizens. However; feelings toward the Japanese were very tense.
Their innocence in the situation was pretty evident; but these Japanese/American families were all now being told to evacuate their homes along the coastline. Most of them had established successful and thriving businesses; but they were told to abandon their livelihoods and leave the areas where they had lived, worked and played for many years now.
I’ve mentioned in previous articles how literature, art, drama and photography came to the front of the culture beginning with World War One and The Great Depression. It all became even more prevalent during World War Two.
Three great photographers emerged from this time period, and they recorded amazing photos of these times. They were Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange and Toyo Miyataki.
Several of the photos showed Japanese people carrying luggage containing their earthly possessions onto buses that were loading from the busy and hustling, bustling city streets. Other citizens were going casually about their business while the dislocated citizens stood looking confused and dismayed at the process they were having to endure. No one else seemed concerned or bothered.
I couldn’t help but think how unfeeling they all looked; just going to restaurants and movies and shops or hurrying off to their normal jobs as the others were being issued out of their homes and livlihoods into the unknown.
Dorothea Lange’s photos were so haunting that the government locked them up and hid them away. Toyo Miyataki was hiding his camera inside a wooden box, as he was imprisoned inside the camps with the others. As time wore on; he was caught but then allowed to continue to take photos.
This relocation of citizens was an executive order straight from the presidency. Those who did not walk away from their lives within the designated time were then sent to internment camps. Many had no where to go. One count numbered the total internment to be 120,000 stunned men, women and children.
What exactly was their crime?
They were not told.
The only thing they all had in common was the fact that their parents were all natives of Japan.
How long would they be detained in such a way?
There were no answers.
Can you imagine what a state of shock these people went through?
President Roosevelt had signed Executive Order 9066 which gave the military the power to pick out and use any land along the coastline for establishing new military bases for military defense of the country. Anyone who seemed to be a threat to the existence of these military bases would no longer be allowed to live in the area.
Certain people groups were perceived to be a threat simply because of the land of their birth. Whether they had obtained citizenship or not did not matter. No mercy was shown to them.
Public Proclamation No. 1 was given.
This proclamation excluded all “suspected enemies of war” from the military areas which were eventually extended even further into parts of Washington, Oregon, California and Arizona. Anyone who was of Japanese, German or Italian descent was automatically suspected to be an enemy. The Germans and the Italians blended in easier than the Japanese.
These military land claims were later extended to include even more areas in Idaho, Montana, Nevada and Utah. They all became military base areas and no trace of any suspects of the enemy could be tolerated in close proximity with these bases.
Executive Order 9102 then created the War Relocation Authority.
This authority designated that it was a federal crime for people of certain nationalities not to be totally evacuated from the areas being taken and used for new military bases. The people of ethnicity who could not stay and who had nowhere to go and no means to leave were all rounded up and sent to government control areas.
Here the relocated people were detained in make-shift living quarters set up in local fairgrounds and/or horse racing tracks. The race tracks had rows of horse stalls. These horse stalls became the new homes of those who were being relocated.
One room had been used for storing grain and the joining room had been previously used for housing and feeding the horses. These stalls had been whitewashed but they were not cleaned properly first and there were horsehairs, straw and mud underneath the whitewashed walls.
The floors in some stalls were mud. There was no proper water facilities or toilets and no good places for changing diapers or washing clothes.
Meals were served from large barrels, one course of not-so-tasty food for each meal served in a common area. Everyone had limited times to eat their food before they had to make way for other hungry people to have room to eat.
From the containment camps these dislocated were eventually shipped to “control stations” which had been set up like prisons or internment camps in old wooden barracks that were not fit or sanitary for human living.
Ten of these camps were scattered throughout the United States and the victims were shipped away from their families, neighbors and any lifestyle they might have previously lived. They were held hostage for about three and one-half years; until the war was ended.
When the victims of these camps were finally released, they had to begin to form their lives all over again, starting with nothing and building slowly until they could find a way to exist on their own again. It was very hard and they faced many struggles.
It wasn’t until 1988 that President Reagan signed the Reparations Act which acknowledged the United State’s responsibility for the injustice that was done to these people.
There are so many amazing reasons why I am proud to be an American. I will argue every day that the goodness of the country out-weighs all of its faults. However; this particular incident of history is not one of those things. My heart hurts to know that my own country could have turned on it’s own citizens in such a way.
Was the war so chaotic that no one was able to give this situation any attention?
Hind sight is always 20/20. I suppose that contributed to the facts; but there were citizens who knew exactly what was going on and no one tried to help or stop the situation. For these things most American hearts looking back on history today are deeply troubled and ashamed to face the bitter facts that what happened was definitely wrong.
When reparation was finally made, all living detainees of these containment camps of the past were promised payments from the government as an apology and recognition of their suffering.
Historically, in these types of national situations where national security is an important issue, it seems that all civil liberties (right or wrong) often seem to go by the wayside. What was unthinkable one moment before that time in history becomes plausible in the next moment of history.
It has often been a repeated historical pattern. Suddenly the whole world relates to collective guilt and profiling. Certain people become suspects based solely upon their national origin.
Technically, all of the above was very unconstitutional and civil rights were violated by the government that advertised them.
This was only one small atrocity that came of World War Two. Can we think of more?
Yes; there are many more.
How then are we to think of these instances in relation to our own freedom and how we live today?
One thing we can do is to ponder certain “what if” situations and try to come up with new and better answers that are fair and just.
For instance imagine a “what if” where you lived in one of these containment camps as a young Japanese child.
How would you have coped?
What would have been your hopes?
Would you have stopped dreaming and planning your life altogether?
Would life have been only about staying alive and surviving from moment to moment?
How does this relate in terms of the true meaning of freedom?
How was freedom defined for MOST American citizens of that time period, and why were these treated so very different?
Eventually there were reparations made to those who survived; but how could things have been handled different and in a way which would have prevented the whole situation from ever happening in the first place?
How do you label or explain what did happen as we look back from today and see the injustices that were done?
What was the major cause of these actions?
What would have been fairer?
Should one executive be allowed to ever make such a decision on his own without consulting or cooperating with other leaders in the government? Do you think this happened behind the scenes?
What dangers can you see in this type of governing?
In contrast to the imaginary child that we are considering in our “what if” situation; how do you think other children in America were living their lives out during those times? Did this executive order have any effect whatsoever on their lives?
If so; how?
When we stop to consider these injustices of the past; how likely do we think it will be in the future, if well educated, better informed, more reflective citizens exist who value their constitutional rights and civil liberties for all people? How will the future citizens of our country decide to act in similar situations as we go on throughout the rest of human history?
Was what happened here constitutional, civil or democratic in nature?
How important is it for each of us to understand the reasons for democratic principles to be in place in our future society?
How well do we even know our own constitution and bill of rights? Could these rights already be in place yet were they not enforced?
If the constitution had been followed in those days; would there have been better social justice for these victims that we have studied?
Why do you think all of the common, every day citizens just went on about their lives when these things didn’t directly affect them?
How important is it in today’s society that we all be looking out for one another, whether we ourselves are affected or not?
Well; that was just the tip of the iceberg when we look back into the injustice that happened during World War Two. There is so much more to discuss. We will cover more of those things in the next article from this series on the subject of social justice.
In the meantime; should you be a stranger to this shameful story of our nation’s history; you can read a more complete version of it in a book called Farewall To Manzanar by Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston.