There are similarities. Hostility towards Italian-Americans was strong in the interwar period although for different reasons.
The numbers interned or forced to relocate were less. But the careless portrayal by the Left of this exercise of Democrat executive power as strictly racism is insufficiently nuanced and inaccurate.
Italian and German immigrants could be naturalized, but Japanese were not eligible for naturalization until 1952.
There were a few thousand Japanese-Americans who were legitimately considered security risks. This included the kibei>, American-born men who had gone to Japan for education and done required military training there, known associates of Japanese consular staff, and members of pro-Imperial organizations. All these people were taken into custody in December 1941.
ReplyDeleteThe later mass internment was a scam. The racial hysteria was ginned up by crooked politicians and their cronies so they could steal the property of internees.
You mentioned Italians. They tried a similar move against Italian resident aliens, especially fishermen who held valuable docking rights at West Coast ports. It was aborted after it was revealed that the order would apply to Joe Di Maggio's father.
I have read that intercepted diplomatic trraffic claimed that Japan had citizens working i military bases and factories. Puffery perhaps? But how to identify them?
DeleteYour second sentence refers to "Americans," while the poster in the pic references "aliens." I do not read those as having the same definition. But I wasn't yet born in 1942.
ReplyDeleteAsians could not become naturalized citizens.
DeleteYes, but are you trying to say that the Japanese non-citizens should have been treated as citizens?
DeleteThey did not even have the chance to become citizens. This was mostly because the 1790 Immigration & Naturalization Act was written to prevent slaves from filing for naturalization. No one was thinking about Asians.
DeleteWWII required a lot of tough life-or-death decisions. This was a minor one.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, there were some reasons for concern and perhaps too little effort to isolate the questionable Japanese-Americans.
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