1. By: Rahul Natarajan Vihang Patel Period 2 WORLD WAR II THE TREATMENT OF JAPANESE AMERICANS AND JAPANESE CANADIANS

2. THE TREATMENT OF THE JAPANESE The Japanese were not treated fairly because of their forced removal and relocation during World War II. The bombing of Pear Harbor in 1941 created resentment towards all Japanese people, including the ones within North America. The Japanese advocated for rights and racial equality. Even though these individuals and groups were limited in power and influence, they were an important contribution to the advocacy movement This eventually forced the Canadian and American governments to reconsider the treatment of the Japanese in North America, and the issue of racial discrimination, as a whole.

3. ORGANIZATIONS The Cooperative Committee for Japanese Canadians (CCJC) was a group that was concerned with protecting the human rights and freedoms of Japanese Canadians during and after WWII. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) led the offensive in the U.S. through legal challenges in the Supreme Court. Additionally, groups other than the CCJC and the ACLU advocated for the fair treatment of the Japanese. These organizations assaulted the relocation and deportation policies (in Canada) toward the Japanese. This portrayed the growing interest in egalitarian rights which had already begun to emerge during WWII and began to influence the importance of human rights in Canada.

4. RELOCATION CAMPS Japanese American communities of western United States were rounded up and sent to "internment camps," prisons run by the Justice Department. Within three months, everyone else of Japanese ancestry who remained on the West Coast was sent first to an assembly center and then to a camp administered by a new civilian agency. Within just ten "relocation camps," more than 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry, two- thirds of them American citizens, were interned for three years. Locations: Poston in Arizona along the Colorado River, Gila River in central Arizona, Minidoka in Idaho, Amache in Colorado, Heart Mountain in Wyoming, Tule Lake in northern California, and Topaz in the salt flats of Utah. Jerome and Rohwer were in the swampy delta of the Mississippi River in Arkansas.

5. RELOCATION CAMPS (CONT.) Conditions of the camps: Heart Mountain had strong winds and temperatures well below zero much of the winter. Gila River and Poston both reached over 100 degrees much of the summer. All of the camps had poisonous snakes: in the West, mainly rattlers; in Arkansas, four kinds of poisonous snake were in the high grasses. In all the camps the barracks in which the internees had lived had been removed after the war. The removal and detention of Japanese Americans during World War II deprived them of their civil rights.

6. THE ACTIONS OF JAPANESE CANADIANS A diverse number of church leaders and religious groups in Canada furthered their opposition to the policies of deportation in 1945. These groups denounced discrimination that was based upon racial prejudice. The Canadian Christian groups’ actions of bringing justice to the Japanese Canadians continued when the CCJC supported the idea of taking the matter of the offensive Orders- in-Council to the Privy Council. When the Privy Council ruled in favor of the federal government’s policies in 1946, the churches and religious organizations still continued to support the CCJC in their efforts to oppose deportation.

7. THE ACTIONS OF JAPANESE AMERICANS When compared to the Japanese Canadians, the leadership of the American churches were not as politically active in desiring a change in government. The American Peace churches were the only exceptions. In particular, the Society of Friends (Quakers) attracted attention and gained support in the relocation camps. Even though the American churches provided opposition to the removal policy in 1942, they were relatively quiet. American churches were more interested in resettlement and in implementing the government's policies in that regard.

8. CONCLUSION The campaign for justice for the Japanese thus began long before the end of the war, and wound up long after war's end. The belief that human rights also needed to be defended was evoked from the treatment of the Japanese ancestry. The fair treatment of the Japanese can be derived from the religion, faith, and principles of many Christian leaders.

9. OPVL

10. HOW DID YOU DO? Origin: The U.S. government resented the Japanese after the attack on Pearl Harbor. This would create hostility towards the Japanese ancestry in North America as they are a minority group with no rights. Purpose: The purpose of this picture is to show the mass number of people that were being forced to relocate due to suspicions of the U.S. government. Value: This picture emphasizes the fact that families had to abandon their homes and property. In this case, they could not afford to bring their belongings with them. Much like the Nazi view upon Jews but not to the extreme, America had no mercy upon the rights of the Japanese. Limitations: America had a good reason for deporting many people of Japanese ancestry. It is normal to fear a group who is related to the criminals. As the American government is viewed as cruel, there is no view emphasizing how the government did this to protect America. The pic only takes one side.

11. WORKS CITED Okihiro, Gary Y. Whispered Silences: Japanese Americans and World War II. Seattle: University of Washington, 1996. Questia School. Web. 5 Nov. 2012. Bangarth, Stephanie D. "Religious Organizations and the ‘Relocation’ of Persons of Japanese Ancestry in North America: Evaluating Advocacy." American Review of Canadian Studies 34.3 (2004): Questia School. Web. 5 Nov. 2012.