Interned Japanese-American Citizens

[salinator]

Originally Posted by Jim O

All of your points are correct, except suspension of habeas corpus was (and still is) completely legal. The outstanding issue was one of discrimination not legality.

But where is discrimination prescribed to be acceptable in the Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, Bill of Rights, or Amendments?

Wrong is wrong. It can't be sugarcoated.

Lt. General John L Dewitt's testimony to Congress:

I don't want any of them [persons of Japanese ancestry] here. They are a dangerous element. There is no way to determine their loyalty... It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen, he is still a Japanese. American citizenship does not necessarily determine loyalty... But we must worry about the Japanese all the time until he is wiped off the map.

Also, the way it was handled was that the West Coast was made a military exclusionary zone. People were free to relocate but most went to the camps because they had nowhere else to go.

Did you know that anyone with 1/16th Japanese blood was qualified for internment camp? Even Hitler did not consider 1/16th to be Jewish. Where would these Japanese folk go after their property have been confiscated and their bank accounts stripped?

The military exclusionary zone was by order of Executive Order 9066 signed by FDR on 19 Feb 1942. The order included both the east coast and west coast.

BTW, because of the 1/16th rule, some Chinese and Koreans along with others were also herded into internment camps.

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by salinator

But where is discrimination prescribed to be acceptable in the Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, Bill of Rights, or Amendments?

Wrong is wrong. It can't be sugarcoated.

Lt. General John L Dewitt's testimony to Congress:

I don't want any of them [persons of Japanese ancestry] here. They are a dangerous element. There is no way to determine their loyalty... It makes no difference whether he is an American citizen, he is still a Japanese. American citizenship does not necessarily determine loyalty... But we must worry about the Japanese all the time until he is wiped off the map.

Did you know that anyone with 1/16th Japanese blood was qualified for internment camp? Even Hitler did not consider 1/16th to be Jewish. Where would these Japanese folk go after their property have been confiscated and their bank accounts stripped?

The military exclusionary zone was by order of Executive Order 9066 signed by FDR on 19 Feb 1942. The order included both the east coast and west coast.

BTW, because of the 1/16th rule, some Chinese and Koreans along with others were also herded into internment camps.

I'm not disagreeing with you (although the Declaration of Independence, a fine piece of writing, is not the law of the land) but if you want to know where discrimination is codified in the Constitution, read Article One.

In part it says:

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.

Three fifths of all other persons! Slaves, i.e. persons of African descent, were substantially less than human. Even many of Thomas Jefferson's own offspring! Sounds relatively discriminatory to me. That's still there although obviously there are no slaves any longer.

Discrimination was not new to this era, nor did it end immediately after. That's not an excuse but Plessy was still the law of the land in 1942 and was until Brown in 1954.

The United States was a racist country at the time, and used the laws of the land to legally enforce such racism. What was done, sadly, was legal as per the law of the land at that time. Suspension of habeas corpus could happen again and people could be held indefinitely without charges.