My Take on the Japanese-American Internment

During World War II, just after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Americans began to fear their Chinese neighbors. The only ground of this fear was that since they were Chinese, they thought that they could be conspiring with China against America. In response, most of the Chinese from the west coast were moved inland and put in "internment camps" to ensure their safety.  What I thought was interesting was that relatively few of the Japanese Americans in Hawaii were interned!  Some of the reasons for this include the distance they would have had to be moved, and also the sheer number of them.  The Japanese in Hawaii made up enough of the population that if they would have been evacuated, the economy may have collapsed in Hawaii.  The US military general stationed there also had some misgivings, which almost assuredly accounted for something.

Here is one link that I found which is not entirely pertinent to my particular field, but which I found to be especially interesting on the Japanese American Internment.  It seems to be an original document from the U.S. CWRIC (Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians)

http://home.comcast.net/~eo9066/1984/IA184-2.html

Here is an article posted by the U.S. Army telling that the members of the all Japanese-American unit were being awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest award given for valor:

http://www4.army.mil/ocpa/read.php?story_id_key=1813

I found this YouTube video of the Japanese American Internment made by the US Government itself.  It puts a very positive spin on the situation, and is a very fascinating watch.  I was especially intrigued by the ending statement, which was something to the effect of "We are treating these people with good Christian Decency, and we hope that the world will learn a lesson from us for doing it."   

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OiPldKsM5w

Here is an article from a local Hawaiian Newspaper on the Japanese Internment in Hawaii.  Three people are being honored for their Distinguished Service Awards.  (Scroll Down)

http://thehawaiiherald.com/category/japanese-american-internment/

I also saw this on YouTube.  It seems accurate, but whether or not it is, I'll post it here because it is interesting.  It is about the Japanese as our enemy, which I'm sure helped lead toward the Japanese-American Internment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBxYy9rOVEk&NR=1