Lost River Camps

what were the positive outcomes of the Japanese American internment camps?

Well i am doing a massive research paper and i was just wondering what were the positive outcomes of the internment camps what did the government gain from the interment camps? Did it help to tip the favor of the war in the U.S direction? Any economical advancements from it? Who gained from the Japanese being in internment camps?

Public Comments

1. Well the government gained the thought that we were safe and no Japanese spies were around at the time and it helped cease the panic of many people. It didn't really tip the favor, although at the time we thought we were doing the right thing. The People there i beilieve in the eighties if you were put in one at all you recieved an amount of money.
2. Basically it was a test run. You should know that America is full of empty camps right now and they are building more as we speak. Because if there is a revolution or rebellion as the government will call it. They will start rounding up every one who they deem is a rebel or a terrorist and throw them in the camps. People need to wake up and burst the bubble of ignorance they are living in. We are all in for one hell of a future.
3. I don't think there were a whole lot of positives. Certainly, there must have been some economic gain in the areas where the camps were located. There would also be economic losses on the part of the Japanese Americans who were interred. This means that there were probably some economic gains by those who competed with them before they were taken away. One effect is that it forced the assimilation of a lot of Japanese Americans. In his book, TURNING JAPANESE, the poet David Mura discusses what happened to him when he took a fellowship in Japan. He had grown up as a third generation Japanese American. His parents were interred in the South. During the war, his family was allowed out because his father could do work related to the war effort. David grew up in the Chicago Suburbs. One effect that he wrote about is that his parents felt that they had to become "more American than the Americans." Therefore, David was not directly taught about his Japanese culture -- and actually felt that he knew more about the Jewish culture -- since he grew up in Skokie. Only when he moved to Japan did he find that many of his family's customs came from the Japanese. I'm not sure if this accelerated assimilation into American culture is a good thing or a bad thing.
4. I don't think there were any.  Those that got some form of payment from the Government lost a lot more than that.  Those that took over the homesteads of those Japanese Americans made out like bandits...look at the realestate prices now.While Americans of Japanese descent were incarcerated, Americans of German or Italian descent were not detained in any fashion.Many of the German Soldiers who were captured on the field of battle and incarcerated in Florida were permitted to roam on their own amongst US Citizens to get coffee or such after their daily work details were completed.
5. I've been to a couple of talks given by internment camp detainees and I just can't think of anything positive, sorry...nothing other than how we can learn from history and not imprison citizens on a massive scale like that again. Who gained? The local people who lived nearby the business and homes that were abandoned by Japanese-Americans. These were taken over and those in the camps lost pretty much everything. A few of them had really good friends who watched over their property while they were gone but most have tragic stories. Some people were so disillusioned with America due to that experience that even though they didn't speak Japanese or had ever been to Japan, they renounced their American citizenship. I can't ever imagine being in such a situation and I hope I never have to. Tule Lake: http://www.tulelake.org/history.html Some people were returned to war-devastated Japan. Can you imagine being dropped off in Hiroshima after the bomb? yeah, that sucks. Also, Japanese were taken from South America and interned in America. This was part of a hostage exchange America was doing but it resulted in the tragedy spreading outside our country to people not involved, which is another point in history we should not repeat. These Japanese descent Latin Americans were stripped of their home citizenship and once released from American camps were illegal aliens with nowhere to go to. They are not eligible for repatriations, even though some of them stayed in the US and became legal citizens. Imagine if you have some European blood, whatever country, take your pick, and they go to war and you are shipped over to Europe and placed in a camp and lose your American citizenship and now you're in a country illegally and you don't speak the language. http://www.opiniojuris.org/posts/1171900979.shtml Of course, it wasn't just Japanese-descent in the camps but that was whom Executive Order 9066 was ordered at. It's a dark place in history and I used to have a copy of that order on my living room wall as a reminder: never again. I highly suggest if you have the time to get in touch with the Japanese American National Museum and they have a good research library on this topic. Although, you might have to go in person and if you're not in the Los Angeles area it will be difficult. There may be other smaller Japanese American museums, exhibits, or research libraries in your area. http://www.janm.org/