Democracy and Race

The author asks the question of why were the Asian Americans considered outsiders. Factors that led to this, he says, related to their racial characteristics such as skin color and eye shape. The author seems to overlook that this same type of thing applied to blacks and Native Americans, both.

When Pearl Harbor was attacked, the war was no longer “over there” but directly involved American soil. This caused a major change in American attitude, and it impacted negatively on those of Japanese descent who were here.

The author talks about how the Koreans taught Japanese to the U.S. military. Korea and Japan had a rather long and contentious history.

The author says 37% of the islands population were people of Japanese ancestry.

There was some pressure to ship the persons of Japanese ancestry in Hawaii on to a separate island, but the military governor nixed the idea. Martial law and other factors helped eliminate any perceived need for evacuation and internment.

The book examines the Munson report and how this and other things were ignored on the West Coast and those persons of Japanese ancestry ended up being evacuated and interned. The book discusses how the radio and newspapers turned against the Japanese living on the West Coast, another major factor in the decision to remove them from the area.

The loyalty questionnaire is discussed, along with the eventual decision to draft the Nisei, including the ones in the camps. The draft resisters are also discussed.

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