Constitution Day: A Discussion of Japanese Rights During WWII

After their presentation, the Masada’s stayed to answer questions, take pictures, and receive hugs.
Photo By James Hoyle

In this country, rights endowed to citizens by our creator are protected in the Constitution. Except when they’re not.

    There have been times in this country where the Constitution became nothing more than a piece of paper. During the Civil War, for instance, President Abraham Lincoln detained American citizens indefinitely without trial. However, the most infamous instance of this arguably occurred during World War II. After the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, president Franklin Roosevelt, under the influence of general John DeWitt, gave executive order 9066, which forcibly relocated over 100,000 Japanese-American citizens living on the west coast to camps all across the country. 

    Concord University played host to two such Japanese-Americans this past week. Marion Nakamura Masada and Saburo Masada shared their stories of what it was like to grow up in these camps during World War II. At the time many thought that such a thing was impossible, but, according to Masada, “The FBI just showed up and ransacked the houses of many of our people”. Due process guaranteed under the Constitution was ignored and they and many others were shipped off to the camps. The U.S. government released propaganda films saying that the Japanese-Americans were receiving good care in the camps and that they were being given citizenship lessons. The films portrayed the camps as happy places. Nothing could be further from the truth. The “internment” camps were guarded by barbed wire fences and sentries with machine guns. The use of quotes around the word “internment” is because it was a euphemism for what they really were: concentration camps. Masada clarified this euphemism by comparing it to the “concentration” camps in Nazi Germany and its territories. The Nazis called their death camps and their extermination camps “concentration” and “work” camps, while the United States called their concentration camps “internment” camps. Masada also stated that not everyone was happy about these camps. Harry S. Truman, for example, would later go on record saying that the camps were a mistake and the wrong thing to do. 

    Masada argued that the primary motivation for these camps was not national security, but rather local politics and prejudice. America has a history of prejudice towards Asians that goes back to at least the 19th century, when the United States passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1888, barring all immigration from China until 1943. The Japanese also had similar laws in place, such as a strict quota with the Immigration Act of 1924. Despite this, and unfair land zoning policies in states such as California, the Japanese-Americans still made a go of it, and by 1941, 42% of all commercial truck drivers in California were Japanese, and 90% of all vegetables in California were grown by Japanese farmers. After Pearl Harbor, hysteria against the Japanese reached new heights and as 1942 was an election year, politicians seeking power rode the racist wave. There was crackdown and, due to the relocation of so many, there was nothing to stop the government from seizing Japanese land. Three Japanese men took this to the Supreme Court in 1943 and lost due to the withholding of some critical information. During the FBI investigation, J. Edgar Hoover found “no evidence” of espionage activity in the Japanese-American population. When the attorney general received the report, he did not show it to the Supreme Court. One of the men, Fred Korematsu, resubmitted his case in 1980 and was found innocent of all charges. 

    After the two discussed the history of the camps, they shared their own personal stories. Marion Nakamura talked of how her experiences in the camp left her with low self-esteem and problems with self-acceptance. It took her years, but with help and her staunch belief in God and Jesus, she was able to find her way in life. Masada compared this period in history to the current political climate we are living in today. Politicians, according to him, are once again using the fear and prejudice of others to gain power, and the Syrian migrants are paying the price. The talk was a grim reminder of where we as a country once were and where we very well may be again.