# When did you learn about the Japanese internment? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 21, 2017, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429 "2017-02-21T23:54:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/61 "2017-02-26T14:01:09Z")
It is intended as an explanation, not an excuse. Americans were scared of the Japanese. Both sides did horrible things in WWII. ---
**Author:** ![DorkVader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/73ab20/32.png) [@DorkVader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DorkVader)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2017, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/62 "2017-02-26T15:43:01Z")
I learned about it in elementary school. I learned a tiny bit more about it from working with a gentleman who was in one of the camps as a youth. His parents immigrated to the US and him and his brother were born here. His brother elected to move to Japan to live with the grandparents instead of going into the camp and they haven’t seen each other in person since. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/63 "2017-02-27T18:59:22Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It is intended as an explanation, not an excuse. Americans were scared of the Japanese. Both sides did horrible things in WWII. And many Americans are scared of Muslims today. It was racism. Pure and simple. Your laundry list of item included items which had not occurred when the order was made ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/64 "2017-02-27T19:06:49Z")
Even a casual reading of the subject gives many, many details concerning the racism at play. The Wiki article is a good start if you don’t understand that aspect. And if you were not making excuses, why the line about both sides doing bad things? ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/65 "2017-02-27T19:27:53Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > It was racism. Pure and simple. Your laundry list of item included items which had not occurred when the order was made If internment was simply based on racism, how do you account for the internment of Germans and Italians? Pure and simple my ass. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/66 "2017-02-27T19:30:52Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > If internment was simply based on racism, how do you account for the internment of Germans and Italians? > > Pure and simple my ass. Americans of German and Italian descent were put in camps? Man, New Jersey must’a been empty. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/67 "2017-02-27T19:48:46Z")
> **[German-American Challenges Reparations for War Internees : Courts: Man claims...](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-22-mn-54-story.html)** > > A German-American who was interned by the United States during World War II is challenging the 1988 law that grants interned Japanese-Americans an apology and reparations, charging that the law is unconstitutional because it discriminates on the... > [@](#): > > In 1942, all persons of Japanese ancestry were ordered to leave the West Coast, and more than 120,000, two-thirds of them U.S. citizens, were sent to relocation camps. > > In addition, the FBI also arrested Japanese, Germans and Italian “enemy aliens.” **According to government documents cited by Jacobs, 25,655 were interned, of whom 14,426 were Europeans.** ---
**Author:** ![quimper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7c8e57/32.png) [@quimper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/quimper)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/68 "2017-02-27T20:06:31Z")
> [@Surreal](#): > > If internment was simply based on racism, how do you account for the internment of Germans and Italians? > > Pure and simple my ass. They interned ALL of the German and Italian Americans during WW2? Where did they put them all? No, they quickly realized that would be absurd and examined each case accordingly. 25000 out of approx ~11 million German Americans were put into detention camps. Somehow the same courtesy wasn’t applied to the Japanese. Instead they rounded them all up and sent them away. Do you not see the difference? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/69 "2017-02-27T20:16:50Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > It was racism. Pure and simple. Your laundry list of item included items which had not occurred when the order was made So, did MacArthur change out minds after the war? Why did we begin buying radios, motorcycles and cars? ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/70 "2017-02-27T21:08:16Z")
Surreal, I believe you are confused. The limited number of German and Italians interned were, in fact, German and Italian citizens. Your article highlights the case of an American citizen who was interned - because his parents were enemy aliens and he was thier child… That’s what the term “enemy aliens” means in this context, and explains why most Americans of German and Italian ancestry were, of course, completely ignored. The Japanese-Americans interned and displaced were mostly American citizens. ---
**Author:** ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2017, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/71 "2017-02-27T23:47:52Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > The limited number of German and Italians interned were, in fact, German and Italian citizens. I don’t think this is accurate since Executive Order 9066 allowed both aliens and U.S. citizens to be interned. However I do agree that a much larger percentage of the interned Japanese were U.S. citizens. The Sheridan Report outlines the reasons for the discrepancies between the treatment of the Japanese as compared to the Germans and Italians: > **[SheridanReport.pdf](https://www.foitimes.com/SheridanReport.pdf)** > > 3.30 MB ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/72 "2017-02-28T03:03:20Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > So, did MacArthur change out minds after the war? Why did we begin buying radios, motorcycles and cars? Are you denying there was racism against Japanese in America prior to WWI? ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/73 "2017-02-28T03:25:15Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Are you denying there was racism against Japanese in America prior to WWI? WWI or WWII? I don’t have a clue, I wasn’t a twinkle in my Father’s eye until after he helped win the Second World War. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Luna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e495f1/32.png) [@Eva\_Luna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eva_Luna)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/74 "2017-02-28T03:27:51Z")
I had a one-sentence intro in high school, but only because I was in AP American History. I don’t know that it was taught in regular history classes at all. My real education was when I was working in Immigration Court in the early 1990s. One of the judges was Japanese-American (3rd generation), and he gave me a copy of _Farewell to Manzanar_ once while we were on a work trip together. And then he told me the story of his grandmother, who had been interned. Apparently when Japanese-Americans were first made racially eligible to naturalize, her response was along the lines of “screw you, you didn’t want me then. Why the hell should I want you now?” Can’t say that I blame her, under the circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/75 "2017-02-28T08:02:08Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > WWI or WWII? > I don’t have a clue, I wasn’t a twinkle in my Father’s eye until after he helped win the Second World War. Obviously should be WWII. Why would you want to argue something you are completely ignorant about? ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/76 "2017-02-28T11:30:47Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I don’t recall ever hearing about it in school, or anywhere else, as a minor. I first heard of it after HS graduation. Same here. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2017, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/77 "2017-02-28T13:26:45Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Obviously should be WWII. > > Why would you want to argue something you are completely ignorant about? Calm yourself, you’re going to bust somethin’. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/78 "2017-03-01T15:41:35Z")
Oh, I forgot. You are the one who goes on and on about Japanese eating POWs. Now I remember. You had neglected to include it in your laundry list of Japanese war crimes. If I recall correctly you aren’t interested in a civil dialog on this so I’ll bow out. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/79 "2017-03-01T15:49:58Z")
> [@TokyoBayer](#): > > Oh, I forgot. You are the one who goes on and on about Japanese eating POWs. Now I remember. You had neglected to include it in your laundry list of Japanese war crimes. It does seem to anger you. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2017, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429/80 "2017-03-01T16:08:09Z")
**carnivorousplant** Your post suggest that your comment was made to simply anger another poster- that is trolling. I’m not going to warn you here- but do not do this or you will be warned for it. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > It does seem to anger you. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-about-the-japanese-internment/780429.md?page=5)