“On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. The next day, the United States and Britain declared war on Japan” (“Relocation and Incarceration” ). ”The attack on Pearl Harbor also launched a rash of fear about national security, especially on the West Coast. In February 1942, just two months after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt as commander-in-chief, issued Executive Order 9066, which had the effect of relocating all persons of Japanese ancestry, both citizens and aliens, inland, outside of the Pacific military zone” (“Teaching With Documents”). ”Their crime? Being of Japanese ancestry” (“51e. Japanese-American Internment”). ”The forced relocation and incarceration has been determined to have resulted more from racism and discrimination among white people on the West Coast, rather than any military danger posed by the Japanese Americans” (“Internment of Japanese Americans”). ”The relocation of Japanese-Americans into internment camps during World War II was one…show more content… ”It is interesting to note that, despite the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans in Hawaii were not incarcerated en masse” (“Relocation and Incarceration” ). ”No comparable order applied to Hawaii, one-third of whose population was Japanese-American, or to Americans of German and Italian ancestry.
Ten internment camps were established in California, Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Wyoming,Colorado, and Arkansas, eventually holding 120,000 persons” (“Japanese American Relocation”). “The majority of those interned — nearly 70,000, over 60% — were American citizens” (“Relocation and Incarceration” ). ”The United States Census Bureau assisted the internment efforts by providing confidential neighborhood information on Japanese Americans. The Bureau denied its role for decades, but this was finally proven in 2007” (“Internment of Japanese