INterviews
(Left to right) General Joseph Stillwell and Mary Masuda ,1948, The442nd.org
Q; Why do you believe that only Japanese Americans were ordered to evacuate into internment camps? Japan was declared as enemy of the state by the US government, however, Italy and Germany were also enemies.
A: "Historians have cited that incarceration resulted from not only war-time hysteria but an economic motivation especially in the West Coast. Japanese had done well in the establishment of business in California. They had developed successful farming operations and other businesses and many business people in California were threatened by their success. There is also the factor of racism in which Germans and Italians were not seen as threatening or "menacing" as Japanese. There are many examples of media portrayals of Japanese Americans during the war-time period that depicts them as dangerous and a 'yellow peril'." |