Executive order that incarcerated Japanese Americans is 75
COURTESY OF LYMAN MUSEUM
Japanese residents on the Big Island are processed for “evacuation” at the Federal Building in Hilo.
SAN FRANCISCO >> Satsuki Ina was born behind barbed wire in a prison camp during World War II, the daughter of U.S. citizens forced from their home without due process and locked up for years following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
Roughly 120,000 Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans were sent to desolate camps that dotted the West because the government claimed they might plot against the U.S. Thousands were elderly, disabled, children or infants too young to know the meaning of treason. Two-thirds were citizens.
And now, as survivors commemorate the 75th anniversary of the executive order that authorized their incarceration, they’re also speaking out to make sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Muslims, Latinos or other groups.
They’re alarmed by recent executive orders from President Donald Trump that limit travel and single out immigrants.
In January, Trump banned travelers from seven majority Muslim nations from entering the U.S., saying he wanted to thwart potential attackers from slipping into the country. A federal court halted the ban. Trump said at a news conference Thursday that he would issue a replacement order next week.
“We know what it sounds like. We know what the mood of the country can be. We know a president who is going to see people in a way that could victimize us,” said Ina, a 72-year-old psychotherapist who lives in Oakland, California.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 on February 19, 1942, to protect against espionage and sabotage. Notices appeared ordering people of Japanese descent to report to civil stations for transport.
Desperate families sold off belongings for cheap and packed what they could. The luckier ones had white friends who agreed to care for houses, farms and businesses in their absence.
“Others who couldn’t pay their mortgage, couldn’t pay their bills, they lost everything. So they had to pretty much start from scratch,” said Rosalyn Tonai, 56, executive director of the National Japanese American Historical Society in San Francisco.
Tonai was shocked to learn in middle school that the U.S. government had incarcerated her mother, aunts and grandparents. Her family hadn’t talked about it. Her mother, a teenager at the time, said she didn’t remember details.
Her organization, the Japanese American Citizens League and others oppose the use of the word “internment.” They say the government used euphemisms such as “internment,” ”evacuation,” and “non-alien” to hide the fact that U.S. citizens were incarcerated and the Constitution violated.
The groups say this White House has what they see as the same dangerous and flippant attitude toward the Constitution. Japanese-American lawmakers expressed horror when a Donald Trump supporter cited the camps as precedent for a Muslim registry.
The Japanese American Citizens League “vehemently” objected to executive orders signed by Trump last month, to build a wall along the Mexican border, punish “sanctuary” cities that protect people living in the country illegally, and limit refugees and immigrants from entering the country.
“Although the threat of terrorism is real, we must learn from our history and not allow our fears to overwhelm our values,” the statement read in part.
Hiroshi Kashiwagi was 19 when his family was ordered from their home in Northern California’s Placer County and to a temporary detention center.
He remembers slaughtering his prized chickens— New Hampshire Reds— for his mother to cook with soy sauce and sugar. She stored the bottled birds in sturdy sacks to take on the trip. The family ate the chickens at night to supplement meals. The birds didn’t last long.
Today, Kashiwagi, 94, is a poet and writer in San Francisco who speaks to the public about life at Tule Lake, a maximum security camp near the Oregon border. Winters were cold, the summers hot. They were helpless against dust storms that seeped inside.
“I feel obligated to speak out, although it’s not a favorite subject,” he said. “Who knows what can happen? The way this president is, he does not go by the rules. I’m hoping that he would be impeached.”
Orders against Japanese-Americans were revoked after the war ended in 1945. They returned to hostility and discrimination in finding work or places to live.
A congressional commission formed in 1980 blamed the incarceration on “race prejudice, war hysteria and a failure of political leadership.” In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed a bill to compensate every survivor with a tax-free check for $20,000 and a formal apology from the U.S. government.
Ina said that only then did her mother, Shizuko, feel she got her face back, her dignity returned. By then her father, Itaru, had died.
“This is a burden we’ve been carrying, and if we can make that burden into something meaningful that could help and protect other people, then it becomes not so much an obligation but more as a responsibility,” Ina said.
After Trump’s election, Ina vowed to reach out to the Muslim community and protest and tell everyone about what happened to her family. She brought her message to a gathering of camp survivors in the Los Angeles area.
“And this old woman, she had a cane, she said, ‘OK. I’m going to tell everybody about what happened. This is very bad. It’s happening again,’” she said. “It’s that kind of spirit.”
21 responses to “Executive order that incarcerated Japanese Americans is 75”
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Thanks to SA for having this article. This part of US history and the difficulties of our Japanese American friends have little coverage as compared to the struggles of other minorities. I wish the article focused more on this then dragging in the current situation that dilutes what US did back then.
democrats signed and executed this order.
Democrats ruined the USA…
Yep, and that guy Roosevelt made owning gold illegal too. Why anyone would praise this dictator wannabe is beyond me.
Yes, I hope the incarceration of people of certain ancestry never happens again. Especially to those who have become American citizens and has worked year diligently to make a good life here in America and follow its laws.
Regarding not allowing immigrants from certain countries is a different situation. These people are not American citizens and are from countries that has radicals that want to do harm to people for whatever their beliefs. We all know there are many good people wanting to come to America and make a good life for them. However with the good there are the bad and we all know it. Not making strict guidelines and a program together to vet these immigrants is justifiable. Should our animals coming into Hawaii not be quarantined (vetted). Oh they are animals they don’t have rights.
Will the executive order be taken away because of Trump haters? If so take away the presidential pardons allowed by presidents leaving office. Ever researched the pardons given to those by our last president. Take away the presidential position completely or should we just have that position be a puppet a figurehead without no power.
Americans you need to know what is going on with the problems of immigrants flooding Europe. The raping of women getting out of hand being done by the immigrants and the law of those countries turning a blind’s eye. Influential people who make comments about the Muslim immigrants subject to possible sanction. We are not being told or shown the negative things happening in Europe by the mainstream globalist media. They the Europeans are starting to organize to fight and get back their countries whose government has been controlled by these globalist.
The globalist who wants a one world government, a one world religion, really a group of powerful and wealthy people wanting to control the world population. This has been taking place for over 60 years which seeds were planted after WWII.
Think about it America no longer, once we fall to this the rest of the dominoes to follow. Why do you think the mainstream media is making Russia and Putin to be our enemy. For those who don’t know Putin does not want a one world government. They do not want America and Russia to band together to fight them off and at the same time stop these terrorist controlled by those wanting the one world government.
People you will know if the one world government succeeds when Japan is forced to open up their borders. By then it will be to late.
“To Arms, To Arms, the Rothschilds are coming! Don’t fire ’till you see the mysterious Black Helicopters!” In October, I bought Reynolds Aluminum (RAI) in the low $40s. It’s now up over $60. I attribute this stellar performance to the increased demand for aluminum-foil hats. Keep up the good work all of you One World Whacks.
The ignorance of so many people that support Trump during his campaigning and now his Presidency … Discrimination of people because of what they look like or their faiths is wrong! Plain Stupidity! Ignorance! Look in the mirror your kind can be next!!! Lock this president up!
So those who supported Trump during his campaign are ignorant? Maybe YOU should look in the mirror!
Yes Cindy, let’s resettle 100K Muslims from middle east countries that hate America and hope they become “westernized”, adopt american culture and become productive members of our society.
808, boy have you been brainwashed by the bias media. One more time, this is NOT about race or religion. It’s about the seven countries named by the Obama admin that may harbor terrorist. Also, note that both Obama and Hiliary while in the Senate voted in 2006 for the the southern border.
Again the AP spewing divisive articles trying to make a connection between what happened during WWII and Trump’s EO. It’s not. Muslim ban!!!! I’m really tired of this crap already. Believe what you want people!! Have any of you people actually read the Executive Order???!!! Geez!!!!!!
Oh for God’s sakes, how many times is this dead horse going to be beaten? Look, the Japanese who were interned were apologized to, got $20k each and….it’s 75 years ago!! But no, the liberals at the Star Advertiser have to trot the whole thing out once again to show what an evil man Donald Trump is. What a travesty. Not a word about how Obummer put a temporary ban on Libyans in 2011, not a word about Carter doing the same thing with Iranians in 1979, and not a word about Horndog Clinton coming down hard on “illegal aliens” (his words) in his 1995 State of the Union speech. Honestly, the hypocrisy of the editorial staff of this rag, along with liberals in general, is truly mind-boggling. What’s so gratifying, though, is that so few people read this crummy newspaper anymore, and that’s also the case with newspapers in general. Note to editor: people just don’t believe you guys anymore. I can’t wait for the final edition of this newspaper. I will do a little Irish jig laugh my head off.
Sure, a $20k settlement was paid, but given the consequences of E.O. 9066 this amounts to chump change. Consider, prior to the Second World War, AJA farmers and fishermen had a considerable presence in the economy of the U.S. West Coast. That all ended when they were compelled to dispose of their properties (and livelihoods) due to FDR’s prejudices. The demographic impact was also considerable; whole AJA communities simply ceased to exist.
And true, perhaps this is dusty 75-year-old history, but I say that as long as the events of that time remain in the living memory of many Americans, it benefits all of us to be reminded of it. It was a shameful act then, and it is a shame not mitigated by the passage of 75 years.
It only took nearly half a century to right this wrong, and $20,000 in 1988 dollars is a fraction of what was lost by families in 1942. I do agree the story didn’t need to bring up Trump’s EO (that travesty can stand on its own until a new EO is rolled out), but I surmise the reporter wanted to make it fresh for those who don’t remember the internment “camps.”
Despite what has been said by this administration, there ARE strict guidelines to vet immigrants from these countries. The story about the internment of the Japanese immigrants and Japanese Americans is NOT about the Japanese. It is a story about the fate of our country. It is a story of how we define ourselves. The things that were said about the “threat” of the Japanese in America was even stronger than what is being said now about the Muslims today. Today, it is very easy to say that the Japanese have been the “model immigrants”, but that is to ignore all of the outright discrimination and prejudice both individual as well as institutional before as well as after WWII. You may suggest that they “prove their loyalty” by fighting and spilling their blood as was done by the 100th and the 442. Those who survived were given worse facilities and fed worse and less food, than the German POWs after returning to our country. You say rapists? Just in Hawaii, there were the Massie cases as well as those of Katsu Goto and Myles Fukunaga. Again, this is not about the Japanese, it is about the fate of our country.
IRT Tanuki, fully agree with your post. The WWII Internment has nothing to do with the right thing President Trump and his administration is doing by temporarily banning immigrants from the 7 ISIS infested Countries because there are no central vetting data and system established to protect Americans. As a note, Japan attacked the United States on Dec. 7, 1941. The United States declared war on Japan on the same day. The President of the U.S. put out a P.P. #2525 on Dec. 7, 1941 naming all citizens of Japan in the United State “are termed alien enemies”. These were the Issei’s or nearly 1/3 of the 120,000 interned. On Dec. 12, 1941, the President issued E.O. 8972 which transferred authority from the President to the Sec. of War and declared Marshall Law in certain areas of the United States. Then came E.O. 9066 on February 19, 1942 that gave the military jurisdiction and control of the West Coast and Hawaii to intern all of Japanese ancestry, including citizens of the United States. Again, absolutely nothing is similar to President Trump’s E.O. to temporarily ban immigration from the 7 Countries. Yes, all Presidents were provided that authority by Congress.
There’s a BIG, BIG, BIG difference between the locality of those Japanese, compared to the present day muslims and latinos.
What happened to the Japanese back then was wrong.
They committed no acts of terrorism or drug dealings.
We quickly assimilated into the American life.
That said, I have no problem if that happens to today’s to muslims and latinos.
This story conveniently omits mentioning that DEMOCRAT President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed this Executive Order. Inconvenient truth?
I haven’t read or seen on tv or heard of any Muslim Americans or any legal permanent resident being incarcerated without due process…..all the deportations that occurred involved illegal aliens who weren’t supposed to be in the country in the first place and that the immigration courts declared that there was no legal basis to remain..so comparing this to the Japanese Americans who were incarcerated in world war 2 is like comparing apples and oranges…. President Trump as former presidents have can set policy on immigration as who can enter the country…..
There’s no comparison, what happened to Japanese Americans was unjustified and had much more far reaching effects. Trump’s order didn’t seek to imprison muslim american citizens due to fear of an attack.
There’s not 1 documented case of a japanese american ever committing an act of terrorism but there have been numerous cases of Muslim americans committing terrorism on US soil in the name of their religion. Just the facts.
For me, this piece by AP and SA is an example of “Fake News”. As a part of that period of American history, this piece has so much story telling with a small amount of truth. For the anniversary of E.O. 9066, it’s not worth the print.
Note the underlying message here. The key words are “executive order.” Could have easily done the order without tying it the executive orders being done today. The SA is helping divide this country. The bias media is the biggest enemy of the US.