The Japanese underwent a different type of discrimination compared to other groups. While the Chinese and Irish were affected by the "Nativists" living in America, the Japanese faced discrimination from the American Government.
“America is at war with Japan, and the government thinks that Japanese Americans can’t be trusted. But it’s wrong that we’re in here. We’re Americans too!” (Mochizuki)
This quote is from the father of Ken Mochizuki, who wrote "Baseball Saved Us". Many people shared similar views about the Internment Camps, as it was direct discrimination towards a group of people. Furthermore, citizens of German and Italian descent did not have to go to Internment Camps, which angered those of Japanese descent even more.
These photos were created by the United States government as propaganda for World War II. These attempts to rally the American people the war efforts created false, negative stereotypes in order to identify and persecute the Japanese people. The "Japanese" in these images are depicting with large teeth, narrow eyes, and pointed ears, meant to help the American people identify them and report them to internment camps. The American people never fully trusted Japanese people which intensified racial divide in the country, changing the way our country as viewed immigrants up to modern day.
Families would be moved into one of the ten internment camps created along the western half of the United States. Camps were located in California, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and Arkansas.
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These pictures are from various photographers from 1942 to 1945, when the Internment Camps were used. These photographs, especially the one by Clem Albers showing the closed store, really show the impact these camps had on the families' lives. Another picture, by Tom Parker, shows people in the Internment Camp loading coal into a crate that would help heat the camp. Not only were they discriminated against and forced to leave their homes, but once at the camps they were forced to live in dangerous conditions.
"He said people needed something to do in Camp. We weren’t in a camp that was fun, like summer camp. Ours was in the middle of nowhere, and we were behind a barbed-wire fence. Soldiers with guns made sure we stayed there, and the man in the tower saw everything we did, no matter where we were." (Mochizuki)
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