“Even mentioned US concentration camps for the Japanese here.”
Total horseshit propaganda. They were -interned- were only for Japanese in the west coast states. They were not abused and tortured. Families were kept together AS families. They were not used as slave labor etc.
Japanese in Hawaii were not interned because the entire islands were under martial law.
Nobody ever hears about the Nihau incident.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ni%CA%BBihau_incident
A Zero damaged over Pearl Harbor landed on Nihau in Hawaii. hey had no radio and did not know of the attack. The pilot was injured but survived in good shape. The puzzled Hawaiians then sent for Yoshio Harada, who was born in Hawaii of Japanese ancestry, and his wife Irene (born Umeno Tanaka on Kauai), who constituted the remainder of the Niʻihau population of Japanese ancestry.
They spoke in Japanese to the pilot who told them of the attack and asked for their help.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ni%CA%BBihau_incident
Harada and his wife didn’t tell the locals about the attack and conspired with him to get his papers and arm him. Harada and his wife and the pilot joined him and got him a gun.
The pilot Nishikaichi unsuccessfully attempted to make contact with the Japanese military using the downed aircraft’s radio. With the help of Harada and one of their Hawaiian captives, Nishikaichi removed at least one of the plane’s two 7.7 mm machine guns with some ammunition, torched the plane, and proceeded to Kaleohano’s house, setting it ablaze in the early morning hours in a final effort to destroy Nishikaichi’s papers, which included maps, radio codes, and Pearl Harbor attack plans
After a confrontation some big Hawaiian body slammed the pilot on a stone wall and broke his back and killed him with a rock. Then Harada, the Japanese descent Hawaiian born guy killed himself.
Our military leaders and DC were horrified that someone of Japanese descent but born here, and no political training etc immediately joined the enemy. That was a huge motivation for the Internment.
By the way, internment is common between nations at war. It is even provided for in our constitution.
Most Japanese arrived on the west coast Between 1901 and 1908, a time of unrestricted immigration, 127,000 Japanese entered the U.S..
These were not long term Americans and many were born in the old country and grew up there.
The equivalent today is if we were in an existential war with Iran, with Islam in general, or with Venezuela, would we intern the ones who flooded into America illegally in the last two decades? If we were scared we might.
The Pacific fleet laid in ruins. The west coast was almost undefended. Aircraft factories in the Burbank and LA were heavily camouflaged, we moved all the Army we could up to the coast. They believed it enough that we built a fleet of blimps and bases all up and down the west coast and had the coast artillery manned. A Jap sub shelled the coast artillery at the month of the Columba River. The commanded didn’t fire back because he considered it reconnaissance and did not want to give away his strength and position. Another sub shelled targets in the Santa Barbara Area.
We were very vulnerable with the Army and its planes in the Philippines gone. The Army and Navy in Hawaii in ruins, the Nihau incident, and subs prowling the coast and shelling and probing.
Only a third of them were US citizens when interned...usually children born here. They were released in December of 1944, and allowed to return to the Pacific coast in January of 45.
The fable of American “concentration camps” need to die.
Also, nobody mentions Italian Americans, some of whom were US Citizens were interned.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Italian_Americans
Interesting story, thanks.
Good account. Thank you.
All of that is good context.
One other interesting detail is not there—and that is exactly how the government determined who was of Japanese ancestry and where they were.
There was total silence for decades on this topic—as far as I can tell nobody even asked the question much less answered it.
But—some obscure scholar research in dusty archives found out what happened:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/confirmed-the-us-census-b/
The Japanese internment is one of the worst government overreaches by one of the worst leftists presidents. You should hold it up as a warning of what happens when liberals run the country, not defend it.
“The equivalent today is if we were in an existential war with Iran, with Islam in general, or with Venezuela, would we intern the ones who flooded into America illegally in the last two decades?”
Of the 120,000 Japanese interned, a large majority, about 80,000 were US citizens, born in the US. Not illegals, not immigrants, US citizens who lost their homes and businesses and were dragged out into desert camps. It is not equivalent to rounding up illegal Venezuelans.
“Also, nobody mentions Italian Americans,”
Approx 1,200 Italians were interned, almost entirely Italian citizens. Estimates are about a dozen Italian-American citizens were interned, mostly by accident. No one talks about it because it was not a big deal, not a violation of the constitution. Totally normal during war time. This is the correct comparison to your Venezuela hypothetical.
There is to reason to defend Roosevelt. The whole thing was big government abuse at its worst. The most you might do is have some understanding for why Roosevelt overreacted given the anger and horror about Pearl Harbor, but it is wrong to defend it.
Many Germans, among other Europeans, were in POW camps here in Texas during WWII.
Camp Hearne is a few hours away and my dad’s family grew up in Hearne.