After the Pearl Harbor attacks, much anti-Japanese paraphernalia and propaganda surfaced in the United States. An example of this was the so-called "Jap hunting license", a faux-official document, button or medallion that purported to authorize "open season" on "hunting" the Japanese, despite the fact that over a quarter of a million Americans at that time were of Japanese origin. Some reminded holders that there was "no limit" on the number of "Japs" they could "hunt or trap". These "licenses" often characterized Japanese people as sub-human. Many of the “Jap Hunting Licenses”, for example, depicted the Japanese in animalistic fashion.[1]
Against Japan, Americans often saw themselves fighting a "nameless mass of vermin."[1] The British embassy in Washington noted this in a weekly report.[2]
To understand where the word “Jap” comes from a comparison to the “Nazis” as it left space for the recognition of the “good German,” but scant comparable place for “good Japanese.” Magazines like Time hammered this home even further by frequently referring to “the Jap” rather than “Japs,” thereby denying the enemy even the merest semblance of pluralism.[2]
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 plunged the United States into war and planted the notion of Japanese treachery in the minds of Americans. The hysteria that enveloped the West Coast during the early months of the war, combined with long standing anti-Asian prejudices, set the stage for what was to come.[3]
Executive Order 9066 authorized the military to exclude any person from any area of the country where national security was considered threatened. It gave the military broad authority over the civilian population without the imposition of martial law. Although the order did not mention any specific group or recommend detention, its language implied that any citizen might be removed. In practice, the order was applied almost exclusively to Japanese Americans and Japanese nationals, with only few Italian and German Americans suffering similar fates. Ultimately, approximately 110,000 Japanese nationals and Japanese Americans were interned in housing facilities called "War Relocation Camps".[4][5]
See also
References
- ^ Boggs, Jeremy. Open Season. 06 Mar. 2004. 15 Oct. 2007. <http://clioweb.org/openseason/index.html>
- ^ Dower, W. John. War without Mercy. New York: Pantheon Books, 1993.
- ^ A More Perfect Union. 1990-2001. 15 Oct. 2007. <http://americanhistory.si.edu/perfectunion/non-flash/removal_crisis.html>
- ^ Manzanar National Historic Site (U.S. National Park Service)
- ^ Various primary and secondary sources list counts between 110,000 and 120,000 persons.
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