Tuesday, March 3, 2015
"Farewell To Manzanar" Internment Link Response
Regarding the Internment Link Resource Database, what are some ideas or
trends that profoundly struck you that are addressed regarding this
period in American History? Please use any quotes or specific
references to materials that validate your argument. Due Wed., March 4th, 2015.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
29 comments:
One thing that profoundly stuck me while I was looking on the website and looking into it more was that the US was hypocrites during and after WWII. During the war Hitler was afraid and those he was afraid of he locked away. The US did the exact same thing, just not to the greatest extent. This is shown on the website with the detail given about what was in the camps. I also think it is interesting how in history class we have not learned much about these seeing as they were a big part of the war. I came across this thought seeing the segregation prior to having the camps. To me this seems like a big idea from history that we could learn from. - Lauren Whittemore
Throughout history there have always been groups that had been considered inferior to others. The most common example is of the discrimination of African Americans. Another time this happened was in WW2 when Japanese Americans were considered a threat. They were all put into internment camps and the saddest part was that "two thirds were American citizens. Over half were children or infants". Through this we can see that often times humans don't learn from there mistakes even though they may apologize for them later.
The idea that struck me the most as I looked at the Internment Link Resource Database was that this happened in America. We find the holocaust so disgusting and cruel when America did something so similar. The U.S singled out a certain race and forced them away from there freedom, the whole reason they came here in the first place, and put them in these confined areas. "Forty-six years later our government officially apologized for this "grave injustice" and paid the reparations," as it says in the article. It took forty six years for the U.S to apologize. Truly, the fact that this happened in the U.S is astonishing.
“With the signing of Executive Order 9066, over 110,000 Japanese Americans were forced into exile in their own country, deprived of basic civil liberties.” (Japanese American Internment) This idea really shocked me because of how basic it was and how it sounded. We just removed them of all their rights and took down their civil liberties. Also the amount that have lived in our country were now taken away from all their rights and no longer belonged at any country. They were isolated and removed during this period of American History and other Americans believed it was right to put them in these camps.
Many things profoundly struck me, the author said, "With the signing of Executive Order 9066, over 110,000 Japanese Americans were forced into exile in their own country, deprived of basic civil liberties." There were so many Japanese Americans that were forced out of their own country which they were born in and they were forced out because of an executive order. The camps contained recreational activities that were supposed to entertain the inmates while they waited in the camps. These things struck me because when they were forced into these camps, the people watching over them never looked if they were from Japan they just saw that they had some sort of Japanese in them. This was a big part in history because we can learn from our mistakes
One of the things that profoundly struck me looking at the website was how even after the Japanese Americans got out of camps they were still discriminated upon. "Through the 1950s, many Japanese Americans faced housing and employment discrimination and were denied access to many recreational and retail services." This quote from the website really struck me saying that even though they did nothing wrong, they had to go through all the pain of the camps and all of the ripple effects from after when they were out. This to me seems like a big idea and moment in history because everyone needs to learn about what they went through and how wrong it is. -Anna Van Denend
One thing that amazed me when I was on the website was that even infants were being sent to jail. The US had a reason to do it but I do not think that we had to arrest and mentally and physically hurt so many people.
Some ideas that struck me profoundly in the Internment Link was that 2/3 people taken were American citizens and over half were children or infants that were taken. It amazes me why they would take children and infants thinking that they could have had something to do with what happened but they are children, what could they have done? I can't believe that the U.S. would take one race and blame them for what happened even if they are citizens of the U.S.
Something that struck me while reading about Japanese Internment Camps in the United states was the inmates living conditions and expected living space. "Many families lived in horse stalls under unsanitary conditions, often by open sewers. Others occupied hastily constructed barracks. Toilet and bathing facilities were communal and devoid of privacy." Living in what is basically an unsanitized, used barn is completely unhealthy, but it shows the hysteria surrounding the Japanese people in America at the time, and how American's were willing to do anything to keep their country safe. Although I don't believe the internment camps are justified, I can understand the hysteria to a certain degree and grasp the fact that the president at the time was trying his best to keep the rest of America safe after Pearl Harbor.
After looking at the resource and reading through some information the one thing that stuck with me was the fact that many of the Japanese were born in the U.S and were no threat to the country. They were still put in camps and not trusted. Some of the children had no idea what was going on and therefore I did not believe that they needed to be there. Some of the people had no idea what Pearl Harbor was in the first place.
Some things that struck me while I was reading was that the US still decided to do this even after the Holocaust. They all knew how bad it was yet they did a similar thing to them. Lots of the people that they took in were children and infants. This struck me because those children could't have done anything wrong to go into the jail and neither many of the people that were there.
Something that stuck with me was how these people lived and what they lived in. I couldn't even imagine trying to even doing that but they did. It also stuck with me about how our people wanted to protect our country and how much they were willing to do it.
The Internment link was a very interesting website to explore. All of their different links inside of the website had different information about the children, families, and experiences. The thing that stood out to me the most was the way that the US treated these people. Throughout history the United States has treated people harshly, but this was almost as if we were part Nazi. These internment camps that we sent these people to was torture and it should have never happened to them.
One thing that caught my eye when reading this book and also learning about civil rights I noticed that if something is threatening america that we take the citizens that are the same culture away. Or we treat them with less respect as though they are an animal or some sort of monster. I don't think that this is justified because what if these people had nothing to do with what just happened and they had no idea it was going to happen. Even if they were doing something wrong they should be fairly trialed and then sent to jail. "Mama knew they were taking all the alien men first to an interrogation center right there on the island." (Wakatsuki 8)
I remember studying this in history and found it interesting that around this time the same thing was pretty much going in Europe, but in a more violent manor. When I was looking across the website I thought it was interesting that they mainly took kids into these camps. On the first page it talks about the kids being one of the main topics. We are now in the civil rights movement in History which does discriminate against rights. I was thinking that if the Japanese did that there would've been a lot worse reaction to the problem.
One idea that struck me was that during this time we were very racist towards the Japanese yet we didn't like that Hitler was being racist towards the Jews. It also struck me how awful they made the camps for them, a lot of those people were kids and young people and they were in freezing weather in a cramped tent. I'm surprised they even let family's stay together. This quote in the book really surprised me " Executive Order 9066 had been signed by President Roosevelt, giving the War Department authority to define military areas in the western states and to exclude from them anyone who might threaten the war effort." It surprised me that the president was saying that this was okay to let all of these innocent people be put in camps because of there heritage.
After looking through this article, one thing that really took my by surprise was that even poor innocent babies were being sent to jail. "Two thirds were American citizens. Over half were children or infants" this fact is just so sad to me. Another thing is that during WWII so many people were outraged about the Nazi concentration camps, yet America was doing something very similar.
One thing that stood out to me was the fact that these people were treated like animals. We say this country stands for freedom and a land of new starts but yet, the color of skin deffines who you are. We say we treat people the same but we don't. And that is why I think it is so important to address
I found it truly depressing on how the Japanese AMERICANS were being treated. I get that Americans didn't trust them after the Pearl Harbor bombings, but most of these people have been living in America or were even born in America.
I find everything the US is doing during this time to be quite hypocritical. Not only are we fighting people (the nazis) that are doing similar to the same thing, but we are putting our own people into camps. Many of the Japanese in camps were young children born in the United States, talk about one nation under God. We were definitely not living up to the standards of our founding fathers.
Ideas and trends that stuck to me after reading about this is America let this happen. We talk about a free country where all are treated equal, yet we are putting people who live in America, some as young as infants, into Internment camps. The conditions were also not sanitary or kept well in any way. Think about putting people in cages just like an animal. The 110,000 Japanese people and families came to America to live a beautiful free life, yet they are eventually neglected and shoved into camps.
Ideas and trends that stuck to me after reading about this is America let this happen. We talk about a free country where all are treated equal, yet we are putting people who live in America, some as young as infants, into Internment camps. The conditions were also not sanitary or kept well in any way. Think about putting people in cages just like an animal. The 110,000 Japanese people and families came to America to live a beautiful free life, yet they are eventually neglected and shoved into camps.
Something that stuck out to me was that we would try to find things out in one of the worst ways possible. Instead of just addressing the problem head on, we would go through other people to try to find out what we were looking for. Peeople would trust everything that wa said, witch in trun could turn things around.
Why do we get stuck on things from he past I mean they are be hide us. I know we need to look back so we don't make the same mistakes again but we should not worry about what already happened. It is sad that we, America, did do this at one point and we need to look back so we don't do it again not so we can worry about if it will happen again. It probably never will in our life time but it might and that's why we need to be ready. If we are always worried then when it happens we will not be able to cop. with it, but if we learn form it then we will be ready if/when it happens. I get that what did was horrible, but that does not mean that we still have to be worried about what happened like 50 years ago. Not all the things you might have said would be worrying. There were a lot of good messages in this book so far. Like how you need to be strong to get through the hard things and you can get through the hard parts of life. Also that you may not find everything you are looking for right when you want to, but you will find in many different ways. So I guess what I am saying is that I stuck on to the lessons this book can teach all of us.
One thing that struck me was that even though Roosevelt had proof that these people wouldn't do anything and were not part of the Japanese he still put them into these Internment Camps. 2/3 of the people taken were american citizens and most of them were children. Although these people were innocent or children they were taken into these camps and treated very poorly. Roosevelt was fighting a war but the biggest war was within america. We were fighting segregation and trying to become one as citizens of the USA.
I learned about this in my history class last semester and what I learned about what America did is the same thing Hitler did with the Jews only less horrible. A man that had lived through the incident said "They told us putting us in these camps was to protect us, but if that were true then why were the guns pointed at us?" I find it very sad how true this is. I'm happy that America didn't do anything as horrible as kill them like Hitler had done but we still wrongfully put American citizens in camps like that putting them through that.
What has shocked me the most was that during WW2 America fought to end the holocaust and the concentration camps, America was againsed Hitler and what he was doing. But president roosevelt did the same thing. Even though these camps weren't nearly as bad as the ones during the holocaust, they were still wrong. The president took away the Japanese peoples rights. He put American cities in camps when most of them were innocent.
When I am reading the text Farewell to Manzanar, I have noticed that in history America will repeat even though a president or higher figure may say that they hope they will not repeat things they do. For example in this text, I think that this is like a "Pre- Civil Rights" time period for the Japanese Americans. "JAPS GO BACK WHERE YOU CAME FROM." (page: 151). Just like when the African Americans were not liked by the white people, Japanese people are not liked by the white people.
One thing that struck me was how hypocritical the US were about their internment camps. They said that what Hitler had done was a terrible thing but then they want and did a very similar thing. Another thing that struck me was that they took a lot of infants and children. They hadn't done anything to them and their was no way that they could have been spies for the Japanese but they took they to the camps anyways.
Post a Comment