0:02 [SPEAKER_00]: some chapters in history, really expose the ugly impacts of war on individuals and communities. 0:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Of course soldiers and their families suffer, but besides that, there are long-lasting impacts that carry through generations. 0:21 [SPEAKER_00]: These stories show us how a single incident or a single action can change the lives of countless people overnight. 0:32 [SPEAKER_00]: And one such chapter takes us back to the attack on Pearl Harbor. 0:44 [SPEAKER_00]: welcome back friend to hometown history. 0:47 [SPEAKER_00]: In today's episode, we will explore how the lives of more than 100,000 Japanese Americans changed, following the attack on Pearl Harbor. 1:00 [SPEAKER_00]: And how, despite the lack of evidence against them, Japanese Americans to face sabotage, paranoia, and discrimination against their community, 1:14 [SPEAKER_00]: But before we move into the effects, it's important to understand where this hatred began. 1:20 [SPEAKER_00]: The attack on Pearl Harbor was an unexpected military assault by the Japanese Navy. 1:35 [SPEAKER_00]: Against the American Naval Base in Honolulu, Hawaii, 1:40 [SPEAKER_00]: It happened just before 8am, local time, on Sunday, December 7th, 1941. 1:48 [SPEAKER_00]: The key thing to know here is that at that time the United States had not joined the war, it was still somewhat neutral ground. 1:57 [SPEAKER_00]: So this attack was basically one of the factors that prompted the US to officially join World 2:09 [SPEAKER_00]: But that's not the only thing that happened. 2:12 [SPEAKER_00]: Following this attack, the fear and suspicion toward Japan created a climate of mistrust towards Japanese Americans. 2:23 [SPEAKER_00]: There was widespread fear that people of Japanese descent living in the U.S. might align with Japan against America. 2:34 [SPEAKER_00]: And that was the beginning of it all. 2:39 [SPEAKER_00]: Coming back to our story, it takes us back to the presidency, a Franklin Roosevelt. 2:47 [SPEAKER_00]: He was in his third term as president, when World War II began, and on February 19th, 1942, he signed executive order number 9066, which put the Secretary of War and his commanders 3:10 [SPEAKER_00]: This gave the military power over the Attorney General to make these decisions without any hearings or due process. 3:20 [SPEAKER_00]: Now that was unprecedented power for a president, which meant he needed others to support this order. 3:28 [SPEAKER_00]: He asked Congress to support executive order 966, and it did, following it with public law 503, 3:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Although the laws did not specifically name any race or ethnic group, they allowed the military to impose restrictions on anyone it deemed a threat. 3:53 [SPEAKER_00]: In everyone knew who would be targeted, as said threat, with that military areas were created. 4:08 [SPEAKER_00]: And that first, curfews and other restrictions were imposed on every one of Japanese descent when the evacuation began, on March 22, 1942. 4:19 [SPEAKER_00]: The start of this evacuation was announced by news channels at the time, with a tone wavering between fear and contempt. 4:31 [SPEAKER_00]: One particular broadcast highlighted the evacuation without acknowledging that two-thirds of the Japanese evacuated were real American citizens. 4:43 [SPEAKER_00]: Instead it used the derogatory term, Japs, to refer to the Japanese Americans, 4:50 [SPEAKER_00]: The news report inaccurately described the evacuations from the West Coast as voluntary, specifically mentioning that in Los Angeles, 36,000 Japanese Americans supposedly chose to sell their belongings in anticipation of leaving. 5:11 [SPEAKER_00]: Of course we know that's not true, and this was only the beginning. 5:19 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, with as little as a few days notice, and rarely more than two weeks, families had to decide what to do with their belongings. 5:29 [SPEAKER_00]: And those who delayed it any further became the targets of theft. 5:34 [SPEAKER_00]: Most of them had no choice, but to store, sell, or abandon, nearly everything they owned, if they wanted to escape with their lives. 5:45 [SPEAKER_00]: The haste of these sales often led to significant financial losses, because properties and valuables were sold for a fraction of their worth. 5:55 [SPEAKER_00]: There are countless stories of exploitation. 5:58 [SPEAKER_00]: For example, one woman had a sell her 26-room hotel for just $500, which is roughly $9,500 today. 6:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Imagine buying a hotel for that much money. 6:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Similarly, essential items like refrigerators went for a less than five bucks. 6:20 [SPEAKER_00]: On another occasion, in a particularly desperate act, one man tried to burn down his own home, rather than leave it behind. 6:30 [SPEAKER_00]: Though his wife stopped him, reminded him of their dignity and humanity. 6:36 [SPEAKER_00]: With stories like these, plenty of ones bustling neighbourhoods turned into ghost towns. 6:44 [SPEAKER_00]: Stores shuddered, farms left abandoned, the only possessions people could take or what they could carry, so they were mostly suitcases, sheets and blankets, and soon over 120,000 7:07 [SPEAKER_00]: Without any due process, or clear information, they were tagged and searched. 7:14 [SPEAKER_00]: Uncertain if they would be deported, or how long their imprisonment would last. 7:19 [SPEAKER_00]: And their troubles did not end there. 7:22 [SPEAKER_00]: Their relocation process lasted nearly 18 months. 7:27 [SPEAKER_00]: While thousands of these individuals managed to move east to avoid internment, the majority were herded into assembly centers, usually fairgrounds or racetracks, where conditions were terrible. 7:42 [SPEAKER_00]: They slept in horse stalls that were barely cleaned and still wreaking of manure. 7:49 [SPEAKER_00]: And they were forced to make their own mattresses. 7:52 [SPEAKER_00]: Days turned into weeks. 7:55 [SPEAKER_00]: and weeks and to months. 8:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Now if you are thinking, what is an internment, or why is this period called a such? 8:07 [SPEAKER_00]: In turn meant basically refers to the practice of holding people in confinement, usually without a trial, because they are considered a security risk, or part of a group that is seen as a threat during a time of war or national emergency, but since there was never any actual evidence to start all of this, this seems to be an inaccurate description. 8:38 [SPEAKER_00]: Initially called internment, many scholars and community leaders now argue that terms like incarceration or concentration camps more accurately reflect the unjust and oppressive conditions experienced. 8:54 [SPEAKER_00]: This shift in language helps acknowledge the reality faced by Japanese Americans urging us to confront and learn from this dark chapter of history. 9:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Now if we look at some of the more notable incarcerations at the time, a pivotal legal battle during this time was the Kore Matsu case involving Fried Kore Matsu. 9:21 [SPEAKER_00]: Fred Kormatsu, a 23-year-old Japanese-American, chose to defy the order, stating that all persons of Japanese ancestry, including both citizens and non-citizens, should be evacuated from these military zones, and relocated to internment camps. 9:41 [SPEAKER_00]: He defied the order because he wanted to stay with his girlfriend and decided to take 9:48 [SPEAKER_00]: But things were not going that easy for him. 9:51 [SPEAKER_00]: He was arrested, in his case eventually reached the Supreme Court, where he argued that the evacuation order violated his rights under the Fifth Amendment, which ensures that no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law. 10:09 [SPEAKER_00]: Some judges did oppose this radical idea. 10:13 [SPEAKER_00]: Justice's Frank Murphy, Robert Jackson, and Owen Roberts, objected, criticizing the decision as racially discriminatory. 10:24 [SPEAKER_00]: Justice Murphy notably described the policy, as falling into the ugly abyss of racism. 10:31 [SPEAKER_00]: And he likened it of the discriminatory practices of tyrannical regimes, which the United States was actively fighting against in the war. 10:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Basically, he called the Americans it recruits. 10:45 [SPEAKER_00]: This decision showed how fear and prejudice can lead to significant violations of civil rights, even in a country committed to democratic principles. 10:56 [SPEAKER_00]: But on the same day, there was another court ruling that came as a ray of hope for these prisoners. 11:05 [SPEAKER_00]: that unanimous decision declared that loyal American citizens, regardless of their cultural descent, could not be detained without just cause. 11:17 [SPEAKER_00]: This ruling effectively stated that while the removal might have been justified, the continued detention was not. 11:26 [SPEAKER_00]: And it finally allowed for the release of Japanese families in these camps, anticipating the Supreme Court's rulings, 11:34 [SPEAKER_00]: The Roosevelt Administration had moved to end the exclusions. 11:39 [SPEAKER_00]: On December 17, 1944, the day before the decisions were publicly announced. 11:46 [SPEAKER_00]: Public Proclamation number 21 was issued, which resented the exclusion orders and declared that Japanese Americans could return to the West Coast, starting the next month. 12:02 [SPEAKER_00]: So a month after the Quorumatsu decision, the camps officially began to close. 12:09 [SPEAKER_00]: But now there was another problem. 12:11 [SPEAKER_00]: After being disgraced and turned away, they couldn't just simply go back to their old lives. 12:19 [SPEAKER_00]: The law may be on their side now. 12:21 [SPEAKER_00]: A public opinion was not 12:25 [SPEAKER_00]: They felt going back would open them up to hostility, and many of their farms have been either destroyed or burnt already. 12:33 [SPEAKER_00]: Despite the widespread fear of sabotage that led to the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. 12:43 [SPEAKER_00]: By the worst end, not one person of Japanese descent had actually been accused of sabotage in the United States. 12:52 [SPEAKER_00]: It was clear that the reaction was much bigger than the actual threat. 12:57 [SPEAKER_00]: But isn't that always the case? 13:01 [SPEAKER_00]: Still, it took Fred Kouramatsu 40 years to have an opportunity to clear his name. 13:09 [SPEAKER_00]: with the help of a team of young lawyers led by Dale Monami. 13:13 [SPEAKER_00]: This team argued that the courts must remain operational and independent, even in times of crisis and not be dominated by arbitrary military decisions. 13:26 [SPEAKER_00]: They sought a judicial declaration to confirm that the actions of Japanese Americans during 13:37 [SPEAKER_00]: and that they were not traders. 13:41 [SPEAKER_00]: Now, typically a Supreme Court decision is final. 13:45 [SPEAKER_00]: But Monami and his team reopened the Quaramatsu case, using a rare and seldom successful legal motion, called Quaram Nobis. 13:56 [SPEAKER_00]: The Cormnobus motion allows for court case to be reopened. 14:00 [SPEAKER_00]: If there is a serious error, in facts, or data, that can change the outcome. 14:07 [SPEAKER_00]: So if, for example, you're convicted of murder, but years later someone now finds evidence that proves you weren't even in the country during the murder. 14:16 [SPEAKER_00]: You can call for a Cormnobus motion. 14:20 [SPEAKER_00]: so legal historian Peter Irons discovered documents that showed that government lawyers had concealed critical evidence from the Supreme Court. 14:31 [SPEAKER_00]: On November 10, 1983, the U.S. District Court ended Fred Coramatsu's conviction, effectively acknowledging the mistake that was made in his case. 14:43 [SPEAKER_00]: It was a major step in the right direction, even though we haven't heard so much about 14:51 [SPEAKER_00]: It wasn't until 1988, but the U.S. Congress formally recognized and addressed the injustice with the passage of the Civil Liberties Act. 15:02 [SPEAKER_00]: This act not only offered a formal apology, but also provided reparations, granting each camp survivor $20,000, roughly equivalent to $53,000 today. 15:17 [SPEAKER_00]: The act was signed into law by the president at the time, Ronald Reagan, and sponsored by Congressman Norman Minetta, who was a former intern. 15:29 [SPEAKER_00]: And with that, ended a dark chapter in U.S. history, a chapter with universal condemnation. 15:37 [SPEAKER_00]: And one that is a reminder of the ongoing struggles against marginalization faced by various minorities and society. 15:48 [SPEAKER_00]: that brings us to the end of our episode today. 15:51 [SPEAKER_00]: This chapter of history is another example among many others of the experiences and hardships of those who were unjustly incarcerated. 16:03 [SPEAKER_00]: So the question here is, how do we ensure the lessons learned from the past? 16:08 [SPEAKER_00]: Truly inform our actions today, preventing history's darker chapters from repeating themselves. 16:17 [SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for listening to Home Town History, and be sure to follow along for more interesting stories from the past.
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