American Concentration Camps

Part of the subtitle reads here is the complete, shocking true story.That type of subtitle immediately causes me to be suspicious.

This is also one of the few books that uses the term concentration camps in its title. There are various terms for the camps, such as elocation centers and internment camps.Concentration camps is not used often because of the baggage that comes with that term, the German massacre of Jews in the camps the Germans ran. Although persons of Japanese ancestry were forced to go to the American camps, and although the camps were surrounded by barbed wire and guards and a few people did end up getting killed, there was never any plan to actually kill the people in them.

Try to get them to move to other parts of the country, yes. Try to break up their internal power bases somewhat, yes. Kill them, no (although that could have changed if the Japanese had actually invaded the mainland U.S.)

The author points out that the persons of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii were not interned, even though Hawaii had been attacked and was closer to Japan than the U.S. West Coast. He talks about the 100th/442nd military Nisei units and the amazing battle record they had.

He talks about evacuation events, and talks about the Seminole Indians being moved out Florida.

He also talks about the history of Japanese immigration to the U.S. He also sites some of the groups that were anti-Japanese, including:

1. Oriental Exclusion League (Also known as the Japanese and Korean Exclusion League, and the Asiatic Exclusion League).
2. Joint Immigration Committee.
3. Many labor unions.
4. United Spanish War Veterans.
5. Disabled American Veterans.
6. Military Order of the Purple Heart.
7. Veterans of Foreign Wars.
8. The Associated Farmers.
9. California Farm Bureau Federation.
10. Western Growers' Protective Association.
11. Grower-Shipper Vegetable Association of Central California.
12. Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
13. Various Lions, Elks and Townsend Clubs.

He then goes into the history of the post-Pearl Harbor time and how there was almost no pressure to evacuate the Japanese until the Hearst papers started their attacks. He then talks about the assembly centers and the internment centers, and the things that went on there including the various problems and occasional scenes of protest and violence.