General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Remember how FDR executed American Nazi sympathizers? [View all]bvar22
(39,909 posts)A valid case CAN be made that the Internment SAVED Japanese/American lives given the hysterical zenophobic/racist environment and FEAR of imminent Japanese Invasion on the West Coast immediately after Pearl harbor.
There is documentation of vigilante squads rounding up "suspicious" Japanese.
There is documentation of beatings, and even deaths.
Much of the racist hysteria on the West Coast is buried,
and doesn't get talked about very much.
It wasn't America's proudest moment.
The only reason I know about it is that my parents were on the coast in Southern California, and told me about the hysteria, civilian vigilante patrols guarding the beaches and rounding up anyone who even looked like they could have been Japanese.
The Internment was an AMERICAN tragedy.
There was very little opposition, and given the:
*hysteria,
*xenophobia,
*no reliable radar,
*the sinking of the American Pacific fleet,
*no rapid communication,
*no reliable "intelligence",
*rampant wide spread rumors of Japanese sympathizers and saboteurs, accepted as Common Knowledge
*rampant rumors of Japanese Hawaiians HELPING the attackers with arrows pointing to the battleships cut into sugar cane fields, rumors that are accepted as Common Knowledge TODAY.
*a brand new declared WAR on two continents
.....if I were the Commander-in-Chief,
I probably would have decided to Take them Off the Table, but don't hurt them,
because I have too much shit to deal with, and we can't take the chance right now.
Anybody who says they would have acted differently given the same set of conditions is blowing smoke. The Internment was supported by a huge majority if Americans at the time.