The Suppression of Resistance to Japanese American Wartime Evacuation and Incarceration

Literature on wartime removal and incarceration of Japanese American describes the opposition and resistance to the governmental policies mostly in terms of deficiency. This interpretative bias is characterized by privileging the governmental account of the removal and incarceration over the Japanese American accounts while disregarding any incident short of civil disobedience as unimportant. Moreover, Japanese Americans' cooperation is seen as contributing greatly to the success of the procedures that ultimately deprived them of their liberty. This view, though widely held, does not provide an accurate description of Japanese American attitudes and actions during the fateful months after the Pearl Harbor attack. I will argue that the number of strikes, the extent of community organization, and the scope of individual and group protest inside the relocation camps testify that Japanese Americans' reaction to their wartime removal and incarceration was anything but passive. Japanese...Show moreLiterature on wartime removal and incarceration of Japanese American describes the opposition and resistance to the governmental policies mostly in terms of deficiency. This interpretative bias is characterized by privileging the governmental account of the removal and incarceration over the Japanese American accounts while disregarding any incident short of civil disobedience as unimportant. Moreover, Japanese Americans' cooperation is seen as contributing greatly to the success of the procedures that ultimately deprived them of their liberty. This view, though widely held, does not provide an accurate description of Japanese American attitudes and actions during the fateful months after the Pearl Harbor attack. I will argue that the number of strikes, the extent of community organization, and the scope of individual and group protest inside the relocation camps testify that Japanese Americans' reaction to their wartime removal and incarceration was anything but passive. Japanese Americans protested against the injustice of their evacuation and incarceration, but they were systematically silenced, intimidated, and punished by the government. Moreover, the relocation program officials and generations of relocation scholars contributed to the marginalization of Japanese American resistance by uncritically accepting the governmental account of mass removal and incarceration which refused to recognize evacuee resistance as legitimate protest.Show less

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The Suppression of Resistance to Japanese American Wartime Evacuation and Incarceration