What were the main fears aroused among Japanese Americans by the internment?

Question

What were the main fears aroused among Japanese Americans by the internment?

Answer 1

The NISEI -- Second generation who have received their whole education in the United States and usually, in spite of discrimination against them and a certain amount of insults accumulated through the years from irresponsible elements, show a pathetic eagerness to be Americans. They are in constant conflict with the orthodox, well disciplined family life of their elders. Age group -- 1 to 30 years."

"There are still Japanese in the United States who will tie dynamite around their waist and make a human bomb out of themselves. We grant this, but today they are few. Many things indicate that very many joints in the Japanese set-up show age, and many elements are not what they used to be. The weakest from a Japanese standpoint are the Nisei. They are universally estimated from 90 to 98 percent loyal to the United States if the Japanese-educated element of the Kibei is excluded. The Nisei are pathetically eager to show this loyalty. They are not Japanese in culture. They are foreigners to Japan. Though American citizens they are not accepted by Americans, largely because they look differently and can be easily recognized. The Japanese American Citizens League should be encouraged, the while an eye is kept open, to see that Tokio does not get its finger in this pie -- which it has in a few cases attempted to do. The loyal Nisei hardly knows where to turn. Some gesture of protection or wholehearted acceptance of this group would go a long way to swinging them away from any last romantic hankering after old Japan. They are not oriental or mysterious, they are very American and are of a proud, self-respecting race suffering from a little inferiority complex and a lack of contact with the white boys they went to school with. They are eager for this contact and to work alongside them."

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/8420/gen...

After Japan's bombing of Pearl Harbor the American media played up the stereotype of the Japanese spy. This created a small frenzy among the reactionary white population of California, where the majority of Japanese Americans had settled. These whites organized small bands of vigilantes to beat up innocent Japanese folks and destroy their property and were allowed to go free by the police.

In the shallow history text books of today we read that these are the real reasons the Japanese Americans were sent to the relocation camps. Many were considered to be spies and the rest, even though they may be innocent, needed to be isolated from other U.S. citizens. This, however, is a very undialectical explanation of history and hardly takes into account the class/economic motivations behind such undemocratic measures.

http://www.geocities.com/youth4sa/ww2.ht...