Newspapers In Education and Densho Present American Infamy #5 Courtesy of Roger Shimonura

“What did I do to scare the government?”— asked ten-year-old Norman

t was the spring of 1942 when young Norman, his parents, three sisters and older brother were forced from their homes in San Jose, California, and incarcerated in Wyoming. “Murderers, arsonists, even assassins and spies get trials. But not young boys This educational supplement I born and raised in San Jose who happen to have odd sounding last names. Is that what this country is about?” he wondered. The commemorates the 70th government even took away his baseball bat, fearing it could be used as a weapon. anniversary of Japanese Americans being removed What led up to this event was a surprise attack by Japan on the American naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, which caused the from during World War United States to enter World War II. Norman’s parents had emigrated from Japan 40 years earlier. And although Norman was born in America, was a U.S. citizen, and knew no other country, he looked like the enemy. II. It is created in the spirit of promoting a strong and vibrant Many Americans believed people like Norman and his family were the enemy. Wartime hysteria had swept the country and within democracy, ongoing questioning a few months, 110,000 Japanese Americans living in Washington, Oregon, California and parts of Arizona — two-thirds who were and deliberation of issues from American citizens — were forcibly removed from their homes and businesses. Most were held in desolate, inland concentration camps for the duration of the war. a diversity of perspectives, and the importance of an active and Fast-forward to the fall of 2002, Chloe was eight years old and in the second grade when a book on the anniversary of the 9/11 participatory citizenry. tragedy inadvertently turned her classmates against her. She and her family were practicing Muslims in a community where there were few Muslims, something that the family had enjoyed because they wanted to be in a place where many different kinds of people lived together … (Continued on page 2) “What happens when you look like the enemy?” — An American story

(Continued from page 1)

Chloe remembers the exact moment when her friends began to treat her differently, “There were some pictures of Muslim ladies wearing the headscarf hijab. And some of them said, hey, those weird ladies, her mom’s one of them. And then they all looked at me and said, ‘You’re one of those bad Muslims, aren’t you?’ Before reading the book, I was just a normal kid. And then I turned into an Islamic extremist who hated the world and wanted to kill everybody,” Chloe recalled. Chloe eventually changed schools. Her father, who had emigrated from the Middle East, felt that Muslims were no longer safe in America and moved back to the West Bank, divorcing her mother.

Chloe is now a senior in high school, and her mother reports that the taunts continue. Though she is doing well academically, she and her family still feel uncertain about their future. “It’s been a barrage of intolerance and ugliness,” her mother told a reporter. As of 2009, 10% of all religion-based hate crimes were committed against Muslims, despite Muslims making up only 1% of the U.S. population. But as Americans, Chloe and her family are determined to stick it out. She is now reading about the Japanese American World War II incarceration experience and its aftermath.

Ten-year-old Norman became Norman Mineta, who was elected to Congress representing San Jose, California. While in Congress, he helped push for legislation to have the U.S. government apologize to Japanese Americans who were placed in the wartime camps. Later, he served as U.S. Secretary of Transportation in President George W. Bush’s Cabinet during the aftermath of the terrorist acts on September 11, 2001.

Seventy years after World War II we still witness intolerance bred by stereotypes toward those who resemble “the enemy.” President Roosevelt’s , which authorized the mass removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans in 1942, is now history. But it is a history we Japanese American Boy Scouts can learn from — and apply to — situations we come across today. in the Heart Mountain, Wyoming camp, 1943. Courtesy of NARA

Why study history?

We don’t study history to memorize facts or to glorify the mass expulsion of Japanese Americans but did not. In past. We study history because of what it can tell us about 2004, a Department of Justice investigation found that the present and future. What are some of the lessons of the Chloe’s teacher had behaved inappropriately, which led to forced removal and detention of Japanese Americans during an atmosphere of intolerance where bullying took place. World War II? What actions can you take when you witness injustice? How would you inform people in leadership positions at • Fear can cause scapegoating. your school, in your community, in government? Public opinion turned against Japanese Americans in 1942, when fear caused many reasonable people to • Ordinary people can do extraordinary things. believe the charges made against them. This built support In crisis situations, one person can make a difference. for the expulsion of Japanese Americans from the West During World War II, there were a few people who Coast. Many people later came to regret their actions. stood up for Japanese Americans, which made a huge difference both at the time and in retrospect. What other times in history have people been treated (See the story of one of them on page 6.) unfairly? What did the government or citizens do about the injustice? What injustices do you see today? What can Think about eight-year-old Chloe on the playground: citizens or governments do to improve the situation? if one person stood up for her, could that have made a difference in shifting the mob mentality? What can Racist graffiti in Seattle, 1945. • Leadership matters. you do to make a difference in someone else’s life? Courtesy of MOHAI, P-I Collection In 1942, any number of political leaders on the West Coast or in Washington, D.C. could have stopped the

Fear swayed most Americans during World War II to believe that Japanese Americans were the enemy — largely because they looked the part. Can you tell just by

looking who’s a loyal, American citizen? “Classmates” Courtesy of Roger Shimomura. 2 What can an image tell us?

What can you learn from a photo or a painting? The key is to take the time to look at it very closely. Pick an image that particularly strikes you. Take two minutes to really look at the image. Then, ask:

• What do you see? • What do you think is going on? • What does it make you wonder?

Although these prompts seem simple, let them evoke careful observation, enrich your interpretations and raise new questions. Captions and credit information are on page 7.

See, Think, Wonder, © Harvard Project Zero, is from the Visible Thinking Project, pz.harvard.edu/vt and in Making Thinking Visible: How to Promote Engagement, Understanding, and Independence for All Learners, by Ron Ritchhart, Karin Morrison and Mark Church, published by Jossey-Bass, 2011.

3 What happened to Japanese Americans during World War II? What should we call the camps?

During World War II, the U.S. government used euphemisms — words that made things sound better than they were — to describe the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans. For instance, the government said that Japanese Pre-World War II Americans were “evacuated” to “relocation centers” — implying that this was being done for their protection, as in a natural Searching for a better life, millions of immigrants flocked to America’s disaster — while the camps were surrounded by barbed wire with shores from all directions in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. armed guards posted with their guns facing into the camps. Among them were immigrants from Japan. Most settled in Hawaii and on the West Coast to work as agricultural laborers. Discriminatory This educational supplement uses the term “concentration laws prevented Japanese and other Asian immigrants from becoming camp” to refer to the facilities in which Japanese Americans were naturalized citizens. Powerless and small in number, they became held. These camps fit the dictionary definition of “concentration scapegoats for opportunistic politicians, organized labor and newspaper camps” and were referred to as such by many people at the publishers. Despite this, Japanese Americans found economic niches in time, including President Franklin Roosevelt. Use of this term is agriculture and small business, and built thriving communities. By 1940, not meant to compare what happened to Japanese Americans to a new American-born generation was coming of age and native-born what happened in Europe, where the term “concentration camp” U.S. citizens made up two-thirds of the Japanese American population. might itself be considered euphemistic. But war with the land of their ancestors would change things forever.

Go to Densho.org/Times for additional information about the World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans. Seattle Boy Scouts. Courtesy of Seattle Nisei Veterans Committee

The Lineup, CourtesyThe Lineup,of Roger Roger Shimomura Shimomura A government trying February 1943 January – February, 1942 to right a wrong The strong consensus of American media against Japanese President Roosevelt says, “Americanism is not, and never was, a Americans is a factor in influencing the decision makers to push matter of race or ancestry,” as he announces the formation of the for forcibly removing all Japanese Americans including native- entirely Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team. born U.S. citizens from the West Coast. A Congressional commission was December 7, 1941 February 1943 January 1944 formed to investigate the Japanese The Japanese attack Pearl February 19, 1942 The (WRA) administers a The military draft is reinstated for Japanese Americans, January 1945 American incarceration. The commission Harbor, crippling the United President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 9066, questionnaire to all incarcerated Japanese Americans to including those held in the camps. While most report for The exclusion of Japanese Americans from the West Coast is issued a report stating there was “no States Pacific Fleet and killing which authorizes the designation of military areas from separate the “loyal” from the “disloyal,” which causes further induction, draft resistance movements break out at some lifted after being delayed for political purposes until after the military necessity” and citing the 2,390 Americans. which both aliens and citizens can be excluded. unrest in the camps. of the camps. November elections. causes of the wartime incarceration as “racial prejudice, wartime hysteria 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 and a lack of political leadership.” They recommended that the federal government apologize and provide March 24, 1942 Fall 1943 Summer – Fall 1945 $20,000 for Japanese Americans The first of 108 civilian exclusion orders are issued to Japanese Those who answer “no” on the loyalty questions do this for The War Relocation Authority closes most of the camps. who had been unjustly incarcerated. Americans living on Bainbridge Island, Washington. They are many reasons — most of which have little to do with “loyalty” Ironically, many of those left in the camps — mostly the President Ronald Reagan signed the told to report a week later with only what they could carry. — such as to keep their family together. The “disloyal” are elderly and families with young children — do not want to Civil Liberties Act of 1988 which turned segregated, and sent to the Tule Lake, California camp. leave because they have no place to go and fear violence and these recommendations into law. Spring – Summer 1942 discrimination on the outside. Japanese Americans are removed neighborhood by neighborhood to live in temporary “assembly centers,” often the horse stalls at facilities such as the Tanforan Race Track and the Puyallup Fairgrounds.

Summer – Fall 1942 Japanese Americans move from temporary “assembly centers” to ten concentration camps. These crudely built facilities are located in inhospitable areas of California, Arizona, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Colorado and Arkansas.

November – December 1942 Unrest breaks out over administration policies at the Manzanar, Minidoka Barracks. An American Enemy. Leaving Minidoka. California and Poston, Arizona camps. Military police fire into Courtesy of Wing Luke Museum Courtesy of Roger Shimomura Courtesy of WIng Luke Musuem 4 the crowd at Manzanar and kill two inmates. President Reagan signing the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Norm Mineta is second from left. Courtesy of Cherry Kinoshita How can you learn history from those who were witness to it?

Below are four short transcripts from stories collected by Densho. Read the transcripts and then go to Densho.org/Times to hear and see the video of these four individuals sharing their stories. While there, you may want to browse the more than 1,200 hours of video or 10,000 historic photos and documents available.

“You people bombed Pearl Harbor.” “The soldiers were the ones that were crying.” In 1941, Aki was a 16-year-old Seattle high school student. Aki later became a teacher in the . Walt was a young publisher of the Bainbridge Island Review The Aki Kurose Middle School in South Seattle is named when World War II started. Although it caused him to after her. lose advertisers, Walt published a weekly article about life inside the camps written by various Bainbridge Islanders “Well, I had just come home from church. And then we incarcerated at Manzanar and Minidoka. This press coverage kept hearing, ‘Pearl Harbor was bombed, Pearl Harbor helped make Bainbridge Island more welcoming to Japanese Aki Kurose was bombed.’ I had no idea where Pearl Harbor was. My Walt Woodward Americans when they returned after the war. In this Courtesy of Densho geography was not that sophisticated. I had no idea, and Courtesy of Densho interview, Walt recalls a scene from 1942, when Japanese my father said, ‘Uh-oh, there is going to be trouble.’ And I Americans from Bainbridge Island, Washington, were being said, ‘Well, how come? ... Why should it bother me? You loaded on trains in Seattle. know, I’m an American.’ “And they put them on a train and ... some of our kids ... ran along side the train, until And, then when I went back to school the following morning, December 8, one of the train was moving at a pretty good clip and they couldn’t keep up anymore ... And the teachers said, ‘You people bombed Pearl Harbor.’ And I said, ‘My people?’ All of there were tears, tears on everyone’s faces ... The soldiers were the ones that were crying. a sudden my Japaneseness became very aware to me ... I no longer felt like an equal They knew, finally, what they really were doing and it just got to ‘em.” American.” — Densho interview, 1997 — Densho interview, 1998

“Right after September 11 they were “History doesn’t repeat itself, it’s people saying, ‘Take all of these Arab Americans that repeat history.” and Muslims and put them in camps.’” Nadine is a Muslim American whose experience post-9/11 Norman Mineta was incarcerated as a child at the Heart is strikingly similar to that of Japanese Americans post-Pearl Mountain concentration camp in Wyoming. He was Harbor. She recounts a frightening episode when federal later elected to Congress, and served as Secretary of agents raided her family home in the early morning hours a Transportation under President George W. Bush. In this few months after September 11, 2001. She and her parents interview, he describes a meeting of the U.S. Cabinet and were detained at the Seattle Immigration and Naturalization Norman Mineta Congressional leaders the day after the terrorist acts on Nadine Hamoui Service Center for nine months. Eventually, Nadine and Courtesy of Densho September 11, 2001. Courtesy of Densho her parents were released and granted permanent resident status. “Well, there’s no question that right after September 11 they were saying, ‘Take all these Arab Americans and Muslims and put them in camps.’ And I said, ‘I don’t believe this. “My parents and I moved up here to Seattle ten years ago, in ‘92. When September 11 What am I hearing?’ And so on September 12 there was a cabinet meeting, and it was happened, and fifteen FBI and U.S. marshals and two INS agents razed our home, the with the members of the Democratic and Republican leadership from the Congress. first thing I thought about was Pearl Harbor happening all over again ... Towards the end of the meeting, Congressman David Bonior from Michigan who was the Democratic Whip, said, ‘Mr. President, we have a very large population of Arab History doesn’t repeat itself, it’s people that repeat history. And if we just keep letting Americans in Michigan, and they’re very concerned about what’s happening, and about that history repeat, we’re never going to get anywhere. I mean, I don’t want it to happen what they’re hearing on the radio, television and reading in the paper about some of to me, and I don’t want it to happen to others.” ­— speech at Densho event, 2003 the security measures that might be taken relating to transportation.’ And the President said, ‘David, you’re absolutely correct. We are also concerned about this, and we want to make sure that what happened to Norm in 1942 doesn’t happen today.’” — Densho interview, 2008

6 What steps should we take to protect our country?

The unprecedented terrorist attack of September 11, 2001 resulted in much concern about our national security. Six weeks after the attack, Congress passed the USA Patriot Act into law, which made it easier for the government to conduct surveillance against suspected terrorists. However, some people felt that the new laws eroded our civil liberties and the right to privacy.

More recently, the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 included provisions that could be interpreted to allow the indefinite detention without trial of U.S. citizens arrested on U.S. soil.

To what extent should we be willing to give up some of our rights for the greater good? Is it better to be safe than sorry? Should we ever detain someone based on personal characteristics or associations rather than on his or her actions?

AP Photo/Chao Soi Cheong

What can an image tell us? (continued from page 3)

What similarities do you notice among the images? Differences? What is the tone and feel of the images? How does what you see and feel in an image align with other information you know? What would you guess about the artist who created each image? Read more to learn about the artists and their images.

1 1 1

2 2 3 2

Roger Shimomura was born in Seattle in 1939. As a young Dorothea Lange (1895­–1965) was one of the 20th Ansel Adams (1902–1984) was perhaps the most child, he spent two years incarcerated in Minidoka, Idaho, century’s most prominent documentary photographers. important landscape photographer of the 20th century. one of ten concentration camps for Japanese Americans She is perhaps best known for her work documenting the He is known for his work documenting the untouched during World War II. Shimomura’s work often focuses on the Great Depression. Based in California when World War II wilderness, especially in national parks and other areas experiences of Asian Americans and the challenges of being broke out, she was one of the first photographers to work of the American West. In the summer of 1943, Adams “different” in America. Since 1969, Shimomura has lived in for the federal government. Beginning in March 1942, she was invited by his friend, newly appointed director of the Lawrence, Kansas, where he has served as an art professor documented the mass removal of Japanese Americans and Manzanar War Relocation Authority Center, Ralph Merritt, at the University of Kansas. The artist Roger Shimomura is their incarceration in temporary “assembly centers.” Many to photograph life at the camp. Adams’ goal was to stress represented by the Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle. of Lange’s photographs from this period were censored the good American citizenship of the inmates and to show because the U.S. government wanted to control how the their ability to cope with the situation. mass removal and incarceration were portrayed.

1. Not Pearl Harbor. Courtesy of Roger Shimomura. A painting created 1. A class of San Francisco school children reciting the Pledge of Allegiance 1. Baton practice at the Manzanar War Relocation Authority Center. by the artist after September 11, 2001. before Japanese American students leave for a detention facility. 1943, Ansel Adams. Courtesy of Library of Congress. 1942, Dorothea Lange. Courtesy of NARA. 2. A painting from the series An American Diary. Painting depicts 2. Managers of the co-op warehouse in the Manzanar War Relocation Roger Shimomura when he was a young boy in Minidoka. 2. Hayward, California Japanese American family waiting for the bus to take Authority Center. 1943, Ansel Adams. Courtesy of Library of Congress. Courtesy of Roger Shimomura. them to a detention facility. 1942, Dorothea Lange. Courtesty of NARA. 3. Japanese American store in Oakland, California closed after “all persons of Japanese ancestry” were ordered to leave. 1942 Dorothea Lange. 7 Courtesy of NARA. Did you know?

Internment camps held No Japanese American Orphaned Japanese selected enemy aliens was ever convicted of American children were deemed dangerous and espionage or sabotage taken from institutions prisoners of war under against the U.S. The few on the West Coast rules of international law. Americans who were and placed in a special The terms “internment” found guilty of spying orphanage at the or “internment camps” for Japan were all of Manzanar, California should not be used in European descent. camp because of reference to the mass “military necessity.” incarceration of Japanese Americans, which was not sanctioned under In 1942, interracial A coalition of international law and marriages were rare, church groups and involved United States and even illegal in most educational leaders citizens. states. A few non- helped some 4,000 Japanese Americans Japanese Americans to “voluntarily” joined leave the camps early their Japanese American to attend college. spouses in the camps. Only one percent of the Japanese American Courtesy of Roger Shimomura population in Hawaii was removed and incarcerated, despite Some 23,000 Japanese Although the U.S. was Dozens of terrorist Preserving the past, inspiring the future the fact that it had Americans (out of a at war with Germany attacks — including actually come under total population of and Italy, and despite shots fired into homes Densho (a Japanese term meaning to pass stories to enemy attack, that around 300,000) the fact that there at night — greeted the next generation) is a Seattle-based non-profit that there were more served in the U.S. were known German Japanese Americans encourages the examination of democracy, intolerance, Japanese Americans armed forces during American spy rings returning to the West wartime hysteria, civil rights and the responsibilities of in Hawaii than in the World War II, despite in the U.S., there Coast in 1945. citizenship in our increasingly global society. Densho does continental U.S., and the fact that many was no mass removal this through a close examination of the World War II that it is over 2,000 of their families or incarceration of incarceration of Japanese Americans. miles closer to Japan were incarcerated. German Americans than the West Coast. or Italian Americans. Densho provides teacher workshops in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Hawaii. Email [email protected] for more information. Densho has also created an online archive of first-person narratives, historic photographs and documents such Acknowledgements as personal letters, diaries, government documents Funding for this publication was generously provided by the Atsuhiko & Ina Goodwin Tateuchi Foundation. and newspapers around the World War II experiences of Japanese Americans. If you have historical materials The information about Chloe in the opening story came from, This American Life, show 445: Ten Years In, originally broadcast you would like to share or a person to nominate to on Sept. 9, 2011. Transcript at thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/445/transcript interview please email [email protected].

This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any For additional information, please go to: opinions, findings and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not Densho.org/Times necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

This material received federal financial assistance for the preservation and interpretation of U.S. confinement sites where Japanese Americans were detained during World War II. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, the U.S. Department of the Interior prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, disability or age in its federally funded projects. Presented by:

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