論文：5.引用文献

5. Works cited

 

Burton, Jeffery F., Mary M. Farrell, Florence B. Lord, and Richard W. Lord. Confinement and ethnicity: an overview of World War II Japanese American relocation sites. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2002. Print.

Daniels, Roger. Incarceration of the Japanese Americans: a sixty-year perspective. May 2002. Web. 20 November 2010.

“Densho, the Japanese American Legacy Project.” Causes of incarceration. n.d. Web. 20 November 2010.

Gruenewald, Mary Matsuda. Looking like the enemy: my story of imprisonment in Japanese American internment camps. Troutdale: New Sage Press, 2005. Print.

“incarcerate.” Pocket Oxford American dictionary and thesaurus. 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.

“intern.” Pocket Oxford American dictionary and thesaurus. 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.

Ito, Robert. “Mother Jones.” Concentration camp or summer camp? 15 September 1998. Web. 20 November 2010.

“Japanese American.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 November 2010. Web. 20 November 2010.

“Japanese American internment.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 November 2010. Web. 20 November 2010.

Japanese American National Museum “Past Exhibition” America’s concentration camps. n.d. Web. 20 November 2010.

New York Times. Words for suffering. 10 March 1998. Web. 20 November 2010.

Ng, Wendy L. Japanese American internment during World War II. Westport: Greenwood Press, 2002. Print.

“prisoner.” Pocket Oxford American dictionary and thesaurus. 3rd edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print.

“Racial segregation in the United States” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 20 November 2010. Web. 20 November 2010.

Robinson, Greg. A tragedy of democracy. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. Print.

Roxworthy, Emily. The spectacle of Japanese American trauma. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2008. Print.

tenBroek, Jacobus, Edward N. Barnhart, and Floyd W. Matson. Prejudice, war and the Constitution. 5th Printing. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975. Print.

論文：4.差別

4. Discrimination

 

The first contention is about race (or ethnicity). Racial prejudice against people of color was widespread in early 20th century in the United States. Racial segregation in public facilities (school, bathroom and water fountain etc), or ‘separate but equal’ doctrine, was legal till 1954 (“Densho, the Japanese American Legacy Project”). Marriage between white and non-white persons had been prohibited by law in some states till 1963 (“Racial segregation in the United States”). Counter to the justification of the internment as a necessary evil, one could cite the fact that the U.S. was also at war with Germany and Italy, but the mass exclusion from the designated area was done for only Japanese Americans. For national security, it must have been enough to imprison only supporters and spies of Japan, as was so for Germans and Italians. It appears that the U.S. government thought that Japanese Americans were disloyal to the nation because of the race, on the basis of unexamined assumption (Robinson 7-58). Some white Americans seemed to think that rapid development of Japan reflected the ability of Japanese to superficially imitate the western civilization while keeping their own culture (Roxworthy 19-56). Americans of Japanese ancestry were not thought to be fully American, but thought to be still Japanese, or foreign, at heart.

The second contention is about class. Isseis were in the lowest class because they could not speak English fluently. Even for Niseis who were American citizens and fluent in English it was difficult to find jobs because of racial prejudice (Gruenewald 13). Most Japanese Americans were engaged in agriculture in the West Coast. Their success threatened the white competitors, which might have become the social background of the racial prejudice (“Densho, the Japanese American Legacy Project”). Although some Japanese Americans succeeded in their business, they were still in the lowest class of the society because they did not have political power. There was no influential politician among Japanese Americans at that time. According to “Japanese American” in Wikipedia, the first member of the Congress among Japanese Americans was Daniel Inouye in Hawaii (in the House of Representatives from 1959 to 1963 and in the Senate thereafter). The first member of the Congress from mainland U.S. was Norman Mineta from California (in the House of Representatives from 1975 to 1995), who sponsored the pass of the redress act in 1988.

Japanese Americans did not fight against the decision of the U.S. government. Some Sanseis, the third generation of Japanese Americans who were born after World War II, asked Mary Matsuda Gruenewald, “Why did you go like sheep to be slaughtered without any resistance?” (220-221). It was just not possible. It was far from the reality of race and class of Japanese Americans at that time. The white neighbors of the Matsuda family and a white teacher of Mary were all good people. They did not discriminate the family, but they did not protest the government either. It appears that the internment of Japanese Americans was a ‘spectacle’ for the ordinary ‘good’ white Americans as a passive spectator (Roxworthy 57-99). Contrary to kindness shown by their neighbors, the family saw the caricatures of Japanese soldiers looking like crazed monkeys on covers, and the word ‘Japs’ in articles, of such widely circulated magazines as Time (Gruenewald 10). The family was at the bottom of the society, almost overwhelmed by the hostility shown by the government and the U.S. society in general.

Intersectionality between race and class has been obvious in the U.S. society; race and class have been traditionally and deeply interrelated. White Protestants of Anglo-Saxon ancestry (‘WASP’) are in the highest class and people of color are in the lowest class. It has been so from the time of Declaration of Independence in 1848, which mentioned ‘the merciless Indian Savages’, through Emancipation Proclamation for the freedom of slaves in 1862, to nowadays. Racial prejudice drove U.S. government to decide the internment of Japanese Americans. The low class status of Japanese Americans at the bottom of society and without political power, could not allow them to resist the government. So, race and class interacted to cause the serious violation of the basic human right. In conclusion, internment of Japanese Americans during World War II was wrong because it was rooted in racial prejudice and exploited low class status of the minority.

論文：3.強制収容は誤りであった

3.The internment was unjust

 

As we saw above, the internees were not criminals. The 62% of them were American citizens, who were children (Nisei) of the first-generation immigrants (Issei). Isseis had not been allowed to become American citizens since the Immigration Act of 1924 was in effect (“Japanese American internment”). In the U.S. legal system, anyone born in the U.S. was a citizen (birthright citizenship or jus solis, Ng 5). Niseis were called ‘non-aliens’ by U.S. government, although most of them were American citizens (Daniels; Gruenewald 32). Japanese Americans, both Issei and Nisei, irrespective of their legal status whether they were non-citizens (aliens) or citizens (‘non-aliens’), were deprived of basic human right, or freedom to live where they choose. This violation of human right inevitably resulted in loss of properties. Many of Japanese Americans were engaged in agriculture. Before the internment, many farmers had to sell their properties, usually at great financial losses, because they didn’t have enough time to prepare the deal. Others had to stop their business because of the internment, which also resulted in the loss of properties. Mary Matsuda Gruenewald, who is a Nisei Japanese American and was a 17 years-old girl in 1942, wrote that her family had only eight days left at home when they realized that they have to leave their home for the internment (31).

The internment was also against the Constitution of the United Sates. The Fifth Amendment states, “No person…shall be deprived of life, liberty or property, without due process of law.” Article 1, Section 9 does not explicitly state but does imply that habeas corpus (legal action for internment) must be decided by the Congress. However, the internment was actually ordered by President Franklin Roosevelt by signing Executive Order 9066, and was not decided by the Congress. There was a controversy between War Department, demanding the mass removal based on military necessity, and Department of Justice, which generally considered it unnecessary. The former persuaded the latter, and in the end both Departments recommended the internment to the President (tenBroek, Barnhart, and Matson 99-112). After the end of the war, it turned out that Americans working in the occupation of Japan could not find any evidence that Japanese Americans helped Japan (Robinson 57).

Thus, we can conclude that the internment was unjust because it was a violation of human right and because it was against the U.S. Constitution. However, one could argue that the internment was a necessary evil for the national security, just like atomic bombs were necessary to end the war. Alternatively, one could still argue that the internment was wrong because it was caused by discrimination. So, the question is now as follows. Can the internment be justified? There are two contentions related to discrimination of race and class.