How Scapegoating and Discrimination Work
This post is in response to people thinking that because a number of the bomb threats to Jewish Community Centers were made by one person, this whole rise in anti-Semitism isn't really a big deal. Nor is a registry of Muslims, nor the latest Trump EO limiting visitors from "dangerous countries" nor . . .
I think people need to understand how history works. I was tempted to use the example of Nazi Germany, because that's the history I know best, but I decided to bring it closer to home. To home, in fact.
Because California was the closest American coast to Asia, it became the outpost of Chinese immigration at the time of the American Gold Rush. At first, the Chinese, who in 1870 were a significant part of the population, were welcomed because business was booming and cheap labor was needed. White resentment grew (imagine that) when job competition increased (does this sound remotely familiar?) and sure enough, a Chinese immigration bill was passed to stem the tide. (Ringing any bells yet?)
The Japanese began to come to the US at around the same time as the Chinese, but in smaller numbers, so they were less of a focal point, but still fell under the lovely rubric of anti-Asian prejudice. However, anti-Japanese sentiment didn't really come to a head until Japan defeated Russia in the war of 1905. The number of Japanese in the US had increased and the idea that they could be powerful enough to defeat a White country made White Americans nervous.
Guess what happened next? I know you can, because we've seen this before. Anti-Japanese organizations sprouted up, school segregation was begun (in liberal SF, which wasn't so liberal back then), and there was an increase in violence against Japanese people and businesses. (Not many graveyards to desecrate at that point, I'm guessing. A substantial number of Jews have lived in the US for hundreds of years. That wasn't true of the Japanese.)
But I digress. The Japanese government and Teddy Roosevelt made a deal--Japan would strictly limit immigration and the segregation bans would be lifted and no more anti-Japanese bills would be passed.
Various "Alien Land Acts" were passed, which involved stopping the Japanese immigrants from owning American land or even sharecropping (in those days, Asians were stopped from becoming citizens because the 14th Amendment only covered Whites and Blacks, aka "aliens of African descent"). And yes, the Supreme Court agreed with this narrow reading of the Constitution. Then, in 1924, ALL Japanese immigration was outlawed. (Too many of them were here. We couldn't change the fact that those who were born here were citizens but we could stop them from changing the demographics. Sound familiar?)
This was the period of the charming name "Yellow Peril"--lots of White resentment in that the Japanese were very successful farmers and, of course, had a work ethic to beat the band. (Is any of this creating a parallel in your mind?)
All of this didn't involve any dramatic stuff, like internment. Because you know, America isn't like that.
And then--the day that lives in infamy, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Kind of like ISEL, but different, because there was a World War going on and Japan was in it, but we weren't.
On December 7th, 3000 arrests were made of those who were considered "dangerous" enemy aliens. Half of those people were of Japanese descent, many of whom were community leaders. And of course, their bank accounts were frozen. They were sent to internment camps and most remained there for the remainder of the war.
This made the remaining Japanese-American people in the West fairly vulnerable--no money, no leaders. The Undersecretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, didn't want to point out that America was completely unprepared for the Pearl Harbor attack, so he blamed it on "the fifth column"--in this case, those undermining Japanese-Americans who were sabotaging the war effort. (Absolutely zero proof and there was never any proof of any Japanese-American saboteurs discovered. Just so we're clear.)
This kind of scapegoating was supported and reported in the media. Stories without any basis in fact threatened an imminent Japanese invasion of the US, fifth column attacks, and sabotage. (And of course, the US military knew there was never going to be a full-scale attack on the US from the Japanese--they were kinda busy on other fronts.)
But a fearful populace is one that can be convinced to do anything to protect itself.
Martial law was declared in Hawaii, where 1/3 of the people were of Japanese descent. At first the US pols threatened incarceration of them all; they only relented because the military (!) resisted--they didn't have enough troops to spare, so only a small percentage were relocated to the mainland and put in interment camps. (Again, none of them were found guilty of anything except breathing while Japanese-American.)
And then the debate began as to how many Japanese Americans should be placed in an internment camp to protect America. (At first that group also included German-Americans and Italian-Americans, but public opinion put an end to that. Then California and three other states (Oregon, Washington, and Arizona) were divided into sections where Japanese-Americans could and couldn't live. Many "refugees" (Americans of Japanese descent) were turned away from other states--because they were California's "undesirables." (I'm telling you, only the nationalities change.)
When the evacuations began, most Japanese-Americans went quietly. Anyone with more than 1/16th of Japanese blood was considered Japanese. Doesn't that clinical statistic make your blood run cold? Over 17,000 children imprisoned were under 10 years old, and over 1,000 of them were infirm and/or disabled. Because they were such threats. The exact number of Japanese-Americans placed in internment camps is unknown, but it's estimated between 110,000-120,000 people.
That little history lesson was brought to you by Diane Wilkes and the Internet. I didn't know all the details, but I knew the internment camps didn't happen in a vacuum. That's not how things work.
It never starts with the camps.
And it's always about scapegoating.
To me, one of the important messages of this story is that public opinion is the ONLY thing that can stop injustice. I am sure there are German and Italian immigrants who will read this. Your ancestors could have also been placed in internment camps; if the public had not made an outcry, they would have been.
Another important message: the only reason more Japanese-Americans weren't placed in internment camps was that the military didn't have enough people to transport them. Does that fact register with anyone who thinks all illegal immigrants should be returned to the land of their origin?
https://www.nps.gov/articles/historyinternment.htm
http://www.ht-la.org/htla/projects/oralhistory/japaneseinternment/timeline.html
https://artifactsjournal.missouri.edu/2012/03/wwii-propaganda-the-influence-of-racism/
I think people need to understand how history works. I was tempted to use the example of Nazi Germany, because that's the history I know best, but I decided to bring it closer to home. To home, in fact.
Because California was the closest American coast to Asia, it became the outpost of Chinese immigration at the time of the American Gold Rush. At first, the Chinese, who in 1870 were a significant part of the population, were welcomed because business was booming and cheap labor was needed. White resentment grew (imagine that) when job competition increased (does this sound remotely familiar?) and sure enough, a Chinese immigration bill was passed to stem the tide. (Ringing any bells yet?)
The Japanese began to come to the US at around the same time as the Chinese, but in smaller numbers, so they were less of a focal point, but still fell under the lovely rubric of anti-Asian prejudice. However, anti-Japanese sentiment didn't really come to a head until Japan defeated Russia in the war of 1905. The number of Japanese in the US had increased and the idea that they could be powerful enough to defeat a White country made White Americans nervous.
Guess what happened next? I know you can, because we've seen this before. Anti-Japanese organizations sprouted up, school segregation was begun (in liberal SF, which wasn't so liberal back then), and there was an increase in violence against Japanese people and businesses. (Not many graveyards to desecrate at that point, I'm guessing. A substantial number of Jews have lived in the US for hundreds of years. That wasn't true of the Japanese.)
But I digress. The Japanese government and Teddy Roosevelt made a deal--Japan would strictly limit immigration and the segregation bans would be lifted and no more anti-Japanese bills would be passed.
Various "Alien Land Acts" were passed, which involved stopping the Japanese immigrants from owning American land or even sharecropping (in those days, Asians were stopped from becoming citizens because the 14th Amendment only covered Whites and Blacks, aka "aliens of African descent"). And yes, the Supreme Court agreed with this narrow reading of the Constitution. Then, in 1924, ALL Japanese immigration was outlawed. (Too many of them were here. We couldn't change the fact that those who were born here were citizens but we could stop them from changing the demographics. Sound familiar?)
This was the period of the charming name "Yellow Peril"--lots of White resentment in that the Japanese were very successful farmers and, of course, had a work ethic to beat the band. (Is any of this creating a parallel in your mind?)
All of this didn't involve any dramatic stuff, like internment. Because you know, America isn't like that.
And then--the day that lives in infamy, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Kind of like ISEL, but different, because there was a World War going on and Japan was in it, but we weren't.
On December 7th, 3000 arrests were made of those who were considered "dangerous" enemy aliens. Half of those people were of Japanese descent, many of whom were community leaders. And of course, their bank accounts were frozen. They were sent to internment camps and most remained there for the remainder of the war.
This made the remaining Japanese-American people in the West fairly vulnerable--no money, no leaders. The Undersecretary of the Navy, Frank Knox, didn't want to point out that America was completely unprepared for the Pearl Harbor attack, so he blamed it on "the fifth column"--in this case, those undermining Japanese-Americans who were sabotaging the war effort. (Absolutely zero proof and there was never any proof of any Japanese-American saboteurs discovered. Just so we're clear.)
This kind of scapegoating was supported and reported in the media. Stories without any basis in fact threatened an imminent Japanese invasion of the US, fifth column attacks, and sabotage. (And of course, the US military knew there was never going to be a full-scale attack on the US from the Japanese--they were kinda busy on other fronts.)
But a fearful populace is one that can be convinced to do anything to protect itself.
Martial law was declared in Hawaii, where 1/3 of the people were of Japanese descent. At first the US pols threatened incarceration of them all; they only relented because the military (!) resisted--they didn't have enough troops to spare, so only a small percentage were relocated to the mainland and put in interment camps. (Again, none of them were found guilty of anything except breathing while Japanese-American.)
And then the debate began as to how many Japanese Americans should be placed in an internment camp to protect America. (At first that group also included German-Americans and Italian-Americans, but public opinion put an end to that. Then California and three other states (Oregon, Washington, and Arizona) were divided into sections where Japanese-Americans could and couldn't live. Many "refugees" (Americans of Japanese descent) were turned away from other states--because they were California's "undesirables." (I'm telling you, only the nationalities change.)
When the evacuations began, most Japanese-Americans went quietly. Anyone with more than 1/16th of Japanese blood was considered Japanese. Doesn't that clinical statistic make your blood run cold? Over 17,000 children imprisoned were under 10 years old, and over 1,000 of them were infirm and/or disabled. Because they were such threats. The exact number of Japanese-Americans placed in internment camps is unknown, but it's estimated between 110,000-120,000 people.
That little history lesson was brought to you by Diane Wilkes and the Internet. I didn't know all the details, but I knew the internment camps didn't happen in a vacuum. That's not how things work.
It never starts with the camps.
And it's always about scapegoating.
To me, one of the important messages of this story is that public opinion is the ONLY thing that can stop injustice. I am sure there are German and Italian immigrants who will read this. Your ancestors could have also been placed in internment camps; if the public had not made an outcry, they would have been.
Another important message: the only reason more Japanese-Americans weren't placed in internment camps was that the military didn't have enough people to transport them. Does that fact register with anyone who thinks all illegal immigrants should be returned to the land of their origin?
https://www.nps.gov/articles/historyinternment.htm
http://www.ht-la.org/htla/projects/oralhistory/japaneseinternment/timeline.html
https://artifactsjournal.missouri.edu/2012/03/wwii-propaganda-the-influence-of-racism/