Japanese Internment: Right or Wrong – You Decide

Directions Observe Image or Read Text What do you see? Source (who is the author?) What conclusions / inferences can you make? Cooborate? (Does this image/text provide or lead you to the same conclusions as others? Or do they provide different ones?)

Fourth Amendment, 1791: "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

Fourteenth Amendment, 1868: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

Honolulu Star Bulletin December 8, 1941

1942. General Motors Corporation

Executive Order 9066 Authorizing the Secretary of War to Prescribe Military Areas. Signed February 19, "Whereas the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities as defined in section four, Act of April 20, 1918, 40 Stat. 533, as amended by the act of November 30, 1940, 54 Stat. 1220, and the Act of August 21, 1941, 55 Stat. 655 (U.S.C., Title 50, Sec. 104): Now, therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, and the Military Commanders whom he may from time to time designate, whenever he or any designated Commander deems such actions necessary or desirable, to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he or the appropriate military commanders may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with such respect to which, the right of any person to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restrictions the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military"

Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry es/instructions-all-persons-japanese-ancestry- western-defense-command-and-forth-army- wartime-c es/instructions-all-persons-japanese-ancestry- western-defense-command-and-forth-army- wartime-c May 3, 1942 Los Angeles, CA

War Relocation Work Corps

Children pledging allegiance, Weill public school

Letter written by Lawrence Kagawa “I have preached and lead all those years among my race of American citizen to know and understand the spirit of our country and after declared war, I wrote so many letters including my brother at Tulane University, to stand by and give our life to American. I wrote so many letters to the fact that our beloved American is standing on the crossroad to defend American democracy and the American citizen of Japanese descent should give their life to defend the country, not only from the standpoint of American citizen but this is the time and only chance to show our absolute loyalty to the country….”

From Giiti Yabe, interned in Camp Livingston, LA, to D. T. Uchida in Tanforan Assembly Center. August 1942

National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution

Supreme Court Decisions Supreme Court upheld the wartime policy that deprived Japanese Americans of their rights Korematsu vs. United States – Decided that relocation based on race was constitutional due to wartime concerns – Upheld Executive Order 9066

Apology US passed legislation in the 1980’s that gave interned Japanese Americans and their heirs reparations (money) totaling $1.6 billion. The Civil Rights Act of 1988 (HR442) awarded redress to all surviving internees or their relatives. President George Bush sent this formal apology letter along with a $20,000 check.

Fort Minor - Kenji 86U