Essay On Japanese Internment Camps

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About seventy years ago, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor Naval Base in Hawaii on December 7th, 1941. People were scared and racism stirred up along the West Coast. Internment camps were then set up by the War Relocation Authority (W.R.A) and Franklin D. Roosevelt. These prison-like camps were filled with Japanese Americans along the West Coast. Japanese Americans were being pulled out of their homes, forced to take only what they could carry on their backs, and thrown into these camps. They lost everything they had: their rights, homes, businesses, possessions, and pets. Japanese American internment camps were not necessary, unconstutional, and were a result of racism and war time hysteria. After the bombing of Pearl Harbor America was full of disbelief that the Japanese made the decision to bomb an American naval base. Racism and anger grew through the nation against the Japanese Americans. The American government froze all of the Japanese Americans assets in banks. Rumors and slurs about the Japanese Americans started and…show more content…
The living conditions were unsanitary. The camps were surrounded by high barbed wire fences. At each of the high watch towers there were armed guards who watched over the imprisoned Japanese Americans. At night, the guards used search lights to make sure that no one escaped. This caused the Japanese Americans to feel even worse about themselves and made them feel even more like prisoners. The living conditions were truly disturbing. Their shelters were poorly-made barracks with cracks in them and most were frigid inside at night. During nights, sand and dust covered everything, seeping through the cracks, covering everything inside as well. Not only were the camps in remote areas, but the camps were over a thousand miles away from any other buildings or towns. Japanese Americans felt like prisoners who were jailed for crimes they didn’t

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