West Coast Farmers Wanted Japanese Americans Interned During World War II
By Carol Roach
Racial and Business Motivation for Interment
Beyond national security, these actions were racially biased. Anyone including woman and infants with one drop of Japanese blood in them could be placed in internment camps.
The west coast white farmers admitted that they were happy for the removal of the Japanese who were their competitors, with the Japanese eliminated they could take over their farms and businesses. They also admitted they didn't want the "Japs" back after the war was over either.
California newspapers spewed out racial slurs, people admitted hating Japanese people though hardly different than what we see today when America perceives threats from any community.
Niihau Incident
The Tachibana spy ring discovered just before the war broke out, made the suspicions worse, because of the Tachibana spy ring, all Japanese were classified as nationalists though this was not so. The incident happened in Hawaii, but the governor did not order all Japanese people go to internment camps because of it.
Yet, a 1941 government report maintained that there was no threat from Japanese Americans living on the west coast, there were 90-98% loyal. Even J. Edgar Hoover, the director of the FBI, did not see a threat from Japanese people living in America.
Documents were drawn up filed with errors and inaccuracies to build the military case for internment. The original version was so racially biased it could not be printed and the copies were to be destroyed. However, one copy of the original report was actually found in 1980, in the national archives. The report was known as "The Final Report". Only the second cleaned up version was ever made public.
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Source: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/5762288/west_coast_farmers_wanted_japanese.html?cat=37
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