Did You Know? A Quick AAPI History Written By: Chloe O (7th)

As we continue learning about Asian American history, during the month of May, below are quick facts about the Japanese Internment Camps during World War II. Please make sure to scroll all the way down for a beautiful poem written by a Japanese American Internee.

• The Japanese Internment camps were established during World War II by President Roosevelt after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Order 9066 allowed the government to prevent espionage by any means possible, allowing the government to forcibly evict Japanese Americans from their homes; this affected 120,000 Japanese Americans that were mostly American citizens.
• Even before the order, the government arrested 1291 Japanese American leaders for really no good reason, and searched their houses up and down the coast, as well as seizing items like radios that became a contraband to prevent espionage.
• The Japanese Americans were forcibly moved to assembly centers, including some from Alameda, CA. Those relocated included several thousand disabled/elderly and more than 17,000 children. These centers were in remote areas, and usually places not meant for human habitation, such as horse stalls and empty barns or stables.
• There were 10 different prison camps, known to the general populace as ‘relocation centers’ throughout America. Two of them were in the middle of Native American Reservations, despite the extreme disagreements and protests of the tribe leaders. 
• Each camp became its own ‘town’, that included post offices, houses, schools and places of work such as farmland and ranches. But each of the so-called ‘towns’ were surrounded by guard towers and barbed wire, and some even with military tanks. At the camps, violence was common, and often unprovoked and against people who couldn’t help themselves.
• The case of Korematsu vs The United States said that order 9066 violated the fifth amendment. He lost his case, but his facts were correct.
• The camps were closed in 1946. The Civil Liberties Act in 1988 gifted those who were incarcerated $20,000, but due to many complications, some internees did not receive theirs. Hundreds of lives were affected, and many families had to start over.

We would like to end this informational post with a beautiful poem by Iku Uchida (who wrote under the name Yukari) about the sadness and strength of the Japanese Internment Camp Evacuees.

Plate in hand,

I stand in line,

Losing my resolve

To hide my tears.

I see my mother

In the aged woman who comes,

And I yield to her,

My place in line.

Four months have passed,

And at last I learn

To call this horse stall

My family’s home.