PBS: Asian Americans Episode 2
In episode two of PBS’s weekly series on Asian Americans, the documentary talks about America’s treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII.
When the US was plunged into war against Japan, America’s suspicion of Japanese Americans grew worse.
However, the discrimination against Japanese worsened after Pearl Harbor. After this, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order that rounded up hundreds of thousands of Japanese Americans and placed them into detainment facilities.
Despite this treatment, many Japanese Americans truly loved the United States as this was the place that a lot them grew up in. However, their detainment did not involve any due process.
“The government framed it as an issue of loyalty, but there had never been a question of loyalty in the Japanese American community” (19:42)
For one example, the American Government attempted to deport one inmate, the father of a well-known Japanese reporter who reported propaganda news in Japan. However, they could not deport him because he swore his allegiance to the United States.
Despite the treatment that many Japanese Americans have felt, and the Asian community has felt in whole, they truly loved their country. This lead to the Asian Community joining the war to prove their loyalty to the United States.
Thousands of Chinese joined the war. After Pearl Harbor, Half of the male Filipino population in California joined the war. As well, many Japanese Americans who were in prison camps joined the war for their own freedom.
“They knew this was their birth country, and they are Americans, and they should join the service.”
The War Department realized that it would be a smart decision to bring in Japanese American soldiers for two reasons. The first is that they needed more manpower, and the second is that they believed that by having Japanese American soldiers, they can prove to the world that they were not a racist nation.
Decades after the war ended, many Japanese people spoke about their experience in the prison camps. One woman, Amy Uno, wanted to tell people the story of the camps.
“Now, I look back and I say, ‘Could it have it actually happened – is it for real? Would my children believe me if I tried to explain it to them?’” she said. A lot of other Japanese Americans were outspoken in the 1980s about the horrible conditions and horrible treatment they endured in the camps.
In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberty Act. This Act gave a formal apologize to the Japanese Americans that were incarcerated in the war, and paid reparations to the individuals.
