It was seventy years ago today that America sent Japanese Americans to our own concentration camps.

[bvar22]

42. The Counter Point: Historical, Social, and cultural context is IMPORTANT.

This won't be popular here,
especially among those who enjoy branding FDR a "racist" because of the Japanese internment.
A valid case CAN be made that FDR actually saved Japanese American lives.
Understanding the West Coast in 1941, and acknowledging the very successful government propaganda campaign to Demonize the Japanese Race, and whip the American citizens into a blood frenzy fueled by racial hatred of the Japanese
is important.

The West Coast after Pearl Harbor
The citizens of California were absolutely certain that the Japanese were going to land in California RIGHT NOW!
They were hysterical, in the true sense of the word.

They formed Citizen Patrols to protect the beaches (think: armed Citizen Broder Patrols X 1 Million),
AND they were also on the look out for Japanese Spies that were actively helping the Invasion by collecting information
and sabotaging shore installations. This was fueled by "reports" that Japanese Spies had helped in Hawaii by cutting arrows in the Sugar Cane fields that pointed to the Battle Ships. Ridiculous rumors of atrocities committed by ethnic Japanese during the attack on Pearl Harbor were rampant among Californians who repeated them, and embellished them with every telling.
These rumors spread quickly across the nation.

ANYONE that appeared even remotely Japanese was immediately suspect,
AND treated with suspicion by every "patriotic" American.
EVERY plane flying overhead, especially at night, was reported hundreds of times as a Japanese Bombers.
Nowhere was there a voice of reason or restraint.
Nobody, not the Media nor the government, made ANY attempt to quell the rumors until an official statement from the government was issued until well AFTER the internment.

The WAR HYSTERIA and PANIC at imminent Japanese Invasion on the West Coast wasn't just widespread,
it completely dominated everything else.
The Steven Spielberg Movie 1941 was not comedy.
It was understatement.

The Government War Campaign to Demonize the Japanese
The propaganda campaign against the Japanese was very different from the one waged against Germany.
After all, most Americans were of European descent, and resembled the Germans racially.
We were at WAR with Hitler and the NAZIS, not every single ethnic German or Italian.

The WAR propaganda campaign against the Japanese was very different.
The Japanese Race was successfully portrayed by our government outlets and Media as sub-human, inferior, inbred, and bestial,
with no respect for Human Life, defective mental capabilities, an unquenchable lust for white women, and a hatred for Americans.
Our government wanted Americans to HATE the Japanese Race, and they were successful.

The following is just a very small sample of the War Posters that appeared on every street corner in California.





It was PATRIOTIC to HATE the entire Japanese race during World War 2,
and this only got worse as the casualties from that unbelievable brutal war in the pacific grew.

Again, NOWHERE was there a voice of reason.
NOBODY ever said, Hey wait a minute, they can't ALL be that bad."

The interment of the Japanese Americans during WW2 was a BAD thing,
a shameful part of our national history,
and completely unjustified,
but I understand WHY it happened.
It is NOT fair to blame FDR for this shameful episode, as had been done ad nauseum, even here on DU.

The BLAME belongs to our entire country, and the insanity of that World War.