In March 1942, the American government interned 120,000 Japanese Americans in ten concentration camps all over the country. All persons of Japanese ancestry both aliens and non-aliens were included to these camps. It was one of the biggest racial profiling in the history of the United States of America. During these times the over all policy of the United States government was that “A Jap is a Jap” no matter their status within the country.
After the attacks on Pearl Harbor, the American government passed a law called “Alien Enemy Act” which made it possible for the government to arrest 1,193 German and 264 Italian nationals along with 2,192 Japanese who were being investigated by the FBI for some time. The difference was however, that the Germans and the Italians who were arrested were individually selected for being a threat to government and they were released after some time, the Japanese prisoners were not. It was a bigger plot to involve more Japanese-Americans and Japanese immigrants into the internment camps in the near future. These included the entire political, social, cultural and business members of Japanese American Communities who were Buddhist priest, martial arts instructors, Japanese language teachers, members of theatre companies, chamber-of- commerce leaders, employees of Japanese companies and even leaders of Japanese Association of America. 
The general difference of the German and Italian captives was that their “loyalty” could be tested because of their Caucasian looks and heritage, but that was not possible with the Japanese because they were “entirely different” in both physical appearance and ethnic backgrounds. General John L. DeWitt argued after the evacuation of all the Japanese from the West Coast that the Japanese were “the enemy race” and claimed that the “racial strains are undiluted”.
Internment, Culture And Loyalty
WRA “War Relocation Authority” officials, in fact, did not believe that all Japanese were racially inclined to disloyalty that some of them practised the assimilation. During WWI, the German Americans were pressured into assimilation by the United States government with the usages of almost ritualistic practises and they were eventually accepted into the U.S. society. The same practises were also implemented onto the Japanese Americans, but under more radical conditions. However, they were not fully accepted like the German Americans. One of the other projects of the WRA included the assimilation of Philippine’s and Native Americans, who were considered as more loyal than the Japanese when it came to their inclusion into the American lifestyle and society. The reason behind this was that the Japanese were thought of being more disloyal to the U.S. because of their cultural tendency to be more loyal to their own culture and country. During the assimilation process, some groups believed that the Japanese Americans could be fully assimilated into the society, but there were many others who would believe the opposite, stating that they could never be fully integrated.
The conflict was that many Japanese Americans tended to be “cultural nationalists” rather than supporters of Japanese Militarism. The significance behind this is that the cultural nationalists had more affinity to the Emperor and his ways. They did not support the militaristic decisions of the Emperor, but only cultural aspects and belief systems of the Japanese society.
The Loyalty Questionnaire
The Loyalty Questionnaire was aimed by WRA to gain some basic information and judgements about the loyalty of Japanese. There were eighty questions that included religious affiliation, educational and occupational background etc. Some of the questions :
- Will you conform to the customs and dress of your new home?
- Do you think you are “losing face” by cooperating with the U.S government?
- Do you believe in the divine origin of the Japanese race?
- What would you do if you found a shortwave radio set…. in your neighbours apartment?
There were some important questions directed only to the Japanese males:
- Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government power or organisation?
- Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?
All of the questions above were asked in order to determine whether the Japanese-Americans would comply in a state of emergency and their general loyalty to the United States of America.
Renunciation of Citizenship
In July 1944, the American congress passed an act called “Denationalization Act” which enabled the Japanese Americans to denounce their American citizenship and go back to their home country. Before this act was passed, it was prohibited for the Japanese Americans to do so because the government thought that the ones who renunciate their citizenship would aid the enemy during the war time. It was a bigger test than the loyalty questionnaire in the sense that it provided the government with “clear” answers about the devotion of the Japanese Americans to America.
- 5,500 internees applied to renounce their citizenship
- 85 percent of the Tule Lake population over the age of 17 renounced their citizenship to escape from the draft, to ensure repatriation and to avoid resettlement.
Questions
- If you were a Japanese American during WWII in an internment camp, would you return back to your country after the Denationalization act was passed, or would you remain as an American citizen?
- What might be the other reasons behind the Renunciation of the Japanese Americans from the American citizenship besides avoiding the military service and resettlement?
Related Videos and Websites
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_WG96MAirI "Going for Broke: Japanese Americans in World War II"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mr97qyKA2s "Japanese Internment during WW II"
http://www.jaany.org "The Japanese American Association"
http://www.javadc.org "Japanese American Veterans Association"
Works Cited
Ngai, Mae M. Impossible Subjects, chapter 5. Princeton University Press, 2004
We Hope You Enjoyed Our Blog Post and Presentation
KAAN CAN OYMAN - HASAN BAYRAM
Thank you Hasan and Kaan for your fluent presentation.
ReplyDeleteIn chapter five that we read the documentary I mostly imposed by the loyalty that Japanese people have to prove to America. The loyalty that they have to prove do not sound as if America truly acknowledge that Japanese people who live there as citizens. During WWI America did the same thing to the German people and they want them to leave their native language and religion to show their loyalty. They have arrested Germans Italians and Japanese after the "Alien Enemy Act" for no reason and they did not release Japanese people. The loyalty questionnaire had some absurd questions like "Will you conform to the customs and dress of your home?, Do you think you are 'losing face' by cooperating with US government?, Do you believe in the divine origin of the Japanese race?" (pg:183). Those are the direct questions that been directed to the Japanese people. WRA stands up for the idea that with that questionnaire they will form each and every individuals loyalty to the United States. Because that Japanese people have more tendency to their language and culture it does not mean that they will be disloyal to United States. After the questionnaire, if any Japanese people could prove their loyalty to United States, the reunciation act as a 'promote' give citizenship to the Japanese people.
“The irony of acquiring a foreign tongue is that I have amassed just enough cheap, serviceable words to fuel my desires and never, never enough lavish, imprudent ones to feed them. It is true, though, that there are some French words that I have picked up quickly, in fact, words that I cannot remember not knowing. As if I had been born with them in my mouth, as if they were seeds of a sour fruit that someone else ate and then ungraciously stuffed its remains into my mouth. ” Monique Truong, The Book of Salt
Gözde İPEK
Great book to quote from, Gözde!
DeleteThank you guys for your educative presentation.
ReplyDeleteI already knew how painfull was the era for the Asian Americans but I did not know that they were the scapegoats. It MIGHT be an acceptable for the American citizens to blame them for losing their jobs. On one hand it seems like a fair reason for them to 'don't like' American Asians but on the other hand, it's definetly NOT A REASON for them to cause hate crimes. It sounds like, they're trying to creating reasons for to hate them or provaking citizens to cause hate crimes. When I combine all of the struggles that Asian-Americans faced, I can't find a visible reason or an evidence to prove that they're right. I see no reason for Americans to see themselves in the highest level.
I'll try to explain the first question;
If you were a Japanese American during WWII in an internment camp, would you return back to your country after the Denationalization act was passed, or would you remain as an American citizen?
I don't know whether it's the 'true' action but I'd choose to stay in America. Because of not to give up what I've fought for. It doesnt necessary to born at America or Japan. Yet, in my opinion, if I'd choose to go back, then it meant that all of my efforts in America turned out to be in vain. That is why I'd coohse to stay.
Kardelen İpek
First of all thank you guys so much for this informative and great presentation.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the videos and we saw that there is a big generalization about Asian-American people and it is obvious when it comes to how Americans see Japanese people. There is “Alien Enemy Act” which is a law that after the attacks on Pearl Harbor and made it possible for the government to arrest 1,193 German and 264 Italian nationals along with 2,192 Japanese who were being investigated by the FBI for some time. Surely, it is a significant thing throughout the history. In the history, Japan was the more visible enemy.
Also “the enemy race” term is important. Because of racial difference, people were treated unequally. Internment, culture and loyalty is important and being loyal to Japanese is the most significant thing because it is related to culture. Cultural tradition is the part of people’s culture also emperor’s role is really important for Japanese culture. There should be a respect and love for the emperor.
Moreover, if I were a Japanese American during WW II in an internment camp, I would return back to my country because there is nothing like to be in mother country. Having your own culture, language and protect them is really important but it is difficult. Protecting the authentic culture is difficult because differences are mainly seen as a problem. Immigration and leaving their own countries is a difficult process for people. I wish there would be no racialization and people would accept the differences about languages, cultures and races.
Finally, I think that “Babymetal” is a weird girl band but their style is different. I kinda liked it :) I’m also interested in “Afro Samurai” and I think it is an unusual anime. I will research more about this.
-Ezgi Doğan
Dear Kaan and Hasan,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I want to say that the video about people in the USA who are from different ethnic back grounds was surprising to me because these people even couldn’t answer some basic questions such as the country which was devastated with two atom bombs at the end of WW2. I mean, you can be a person who is not interested in political or historical issues but actually it was a matter of humanism and nobody has the luxury to be far from reality that much I guess.
Also this week’s text, Impossible Subjects from Ngai and your presentation include the issue of the Loyalty Questionnaire which is a crucial point according to me. I was surprised by the content of some questions especially about feeling loyal to the USA by rejecting their allegiance to the Emperor. I know that Japan has an important national culture that has important effects on Japanese people. This was a topic that we have covered in World Politics previously. The USA was aware of that fact as well. Thus, while it tried to establish a similar economic system in Japan soil – which is obviously capitalism – US officials didn’t choose the way to overthrow the empire after World War 2. The Emperor was a sore point for many Japanese people and the best way to integrate them into a free market economic system was closely related to preserving the status of the Empire.
Japanese people have rich, strong cultural and historical back grounds. It is never easy for Japanese people ignore and disregard their ancestral traditions no matter if they live in the USA or in Japan. Besides, commodification of their customs and elements of their culture is also harmful and disrespectful according to me. We can see this fact in the video of the interview with Vijay Prashad.
With regard to some stereotypes for Japanese people, it is true that hard working which is based on their tradition is a way of life for many Japanese people. As I mentioned in my previous commends, it should only be taken into consideration as an advantage in coping with the harsh requirements of the prevailing economic system which is dominated by neo-liberal politics mostly. It is not a matter of stealing jobs but it is a matter of merit and qualification. However, regarding someone as successful or hard working just by looking at his/her appearance is something ridiculous.
I agree with that the government of the USA and Japan had conflict in history and this forms a basis for the hostility among the members of these nations to some extent, but when I consider the policies after the World War 2, it is hard to say that this severe hostility continued on the international arena. So the hostility against Japanese people in the USA today is not so much related to the warfare anymore but rather because of the inherited intolerance of white people against diversity in the USA. Economic aspect of the issue cannot be underestimated. People usually put the blame of the deficiency of the market economy on the minority population and Japanese people are an important part of this population.
One of the questions that we dealt with in class was about going back to Japan as a result of Denaturalization Act. The difficulty of isolating ourselves from our own situations and making commends about other people’s lives is rather difficult according to me. However, we have lived a similar situation nearly 45-50 years ago in these lands. Many people with Greek origin (especially in Istanbul) were forced to move to Greece by leaving their whole life here behind. We witnessed how difficult it was to start again and try to establish a life from the beginning in another territory even if this territory has been familiar to you. Although the circumstances and the reasons were different, we can say that leaving their lives in the USA by renouncing their citizenship must have been very hard for nearly 5,5 thousand Japanese origin people.
Thanks guys :)
Deniz
Thank you Kaan and Hasan for this well-informed presentation!
ReplyDeleteChapter 5 provides another dimension for the conditions of Asians in US. Historical information such as Pearl Harbor and Tule Lake are mentioned. In the presentation the video of George Takai provides vivid examples of how the conservation camps such as Tule Lake affected Asian Americans. There is an important comparison in the article between immigrant groups such as German, Italian vs Japanese. Germans and Italians are seen as having racial difference but Asian Americans have a different situation because of racial stereotyping. Japanese are depicted as a more visible enemy for being a scapegoat. Immigrants of Asia cannot be naturalized and stated that they look like enemy and it leads them to be an outcast. Japanese are thought as cultural nationalist; which is an emphasized term in the article. Japanese have a cultural tradition as honoring the Emperor just like what Turkish people do as a cultural tradition by honoring Atatürk. Neither Japanese nor Turks think about Emperor's or Atatürk's military decisions; it's just a matter of showing gratitude. Yet, this act of Japanese leads to being labeled as Japanese.
The article mentions the loyalty questionnaire which was proposed by WRA- War Relocation Agency. It is proposed to be distributed to all the internees over the age of 17. WRA had the vision of assimilating Japanese into standardized American life. It had 80 questions. There were some military questions; the most striking ones were 27 and 28. 27th question asked "Are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the US on combat duty, wherever ordered?" and 28th question "Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the US of America and faithfully defend US from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor?" These questions and how Asians were forced to comply to those questions really irritated me. Kaan and Hasan showed the pictures of a group very little male Asian children waiting in line to swear their obedience to the US. This is so meaningless and inhumane as no one should have the right to disturb the life of 6-7 year old by forcing them into swearing on a military decision. The treatment of Asian Americans is sometimes so harsh that the ones who have never been to Japan wants to go there just to save themselves from the wretchedness.
For the first question, I would cross the nearest border till the conditions turn behalf of my favor. I wouldn't go to Japan or stay in US in which I would have to live in wretchedness.
For proving more deeper understanding of the cultures and providing another perspective, I would like to share the social psychologists view. Social psychology tries to understand the difference between Eastern Asian and Western cultures. Social psychology supports the idea that cognitively or even the mere concept of culture is different between the two cultures. Eastern Asians tend to have an collective attitude towards understanding and defining the environment or themselves. For example when you ask an Eastern Asian about talking about himself, he would define himself by referring to a group such as being Catholic. On the other hand, West cultures have an individualistic attitude towards understanding and defining the environment or themselves. He would define himself just by attributing personal traits such as being lucky or handsome. Even when they look at the same picture, their criticism are different. Suppose that there are 2 pictures in which the second one has some slight differences from the former one. Eastern Asians realizes the panoramic differences whereas Westerners realizes the differences in the objects which are mostly the biggest objects in the picture. So according to social psychologists, the two cultures are always in a constant controversy and this leads the powerful one to have an attempt of vanishing the other. In most cases, it is Americans exploiting Asians.
Bige YILMAZ
An interesting and informative new lens through which to view this subject, Bige. Thanks for sharing!
DeleteThanks for the presentation. Very interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I usually find it very distracting when presenters show long videos. But I really enjoyed the ones you picked, very well-chosen. Or, to go with the stereotype… The fucking videos you fucking picked were so fucking great, I fucking enjoyed them so fucking much. Fuck yeah. (Sorry, fucking had to.)
What I found to be at least as important as the content of the videos themselves was that they helped me put faces to the “stories” we’ve been reading. Reading all these academic research and looking at all kinds of numbers and statistics, often I find myself distanced from the very people we’re analyzing the lives of. It helps quite a lot to humanize them every now and then, so thanks for that. (Fruitvale was one of these moments as well. The ending evoked emotions very different to those I feel when reading something such as “Police brutality does this to this many people in this amount of time in this area.”)
Considering the time span of human life and that between one generation and the next, there is practically very little amount of time standing between the era we’ve been discussing and now. It’s really striking how fast the way the Japanese American are seen changed –from traitor to a part of the Asian model minority-, especially when you consider the American reluctance to revise racial definitions. If anything, this shows how much of a social construct any racial concept is. Any concept with any sort of validity about it wouldn’t really change so rapidly.
Well, maybe it’s just someone else’s turn. People from Middle East and Arabs to be more precise. Or, anyone that seems to be from those parts of the world, no matter their background; as is the American way of discrimination.
Another point I have noticed and would like to point out is yet another American obsession. And that is, trying to make everything sound nicer with euphemisms for some mysterious reason. The part of the book Jennifer shared is a great example of this as the US used more neutral-sounding words to define what was going on within the internment camps. Hell, even the word “internment” sounds less evil than “concentration.” As if changing the words used would instantly make it all okay.
Also discussed was how the kids in the camps were forced to swear an oath of allegiance to the US and its flag and yada yada. Well, isn’t that ironic? Until very recently, pupils here in Turkey were required to do the exact same. Every single morning. I’m sure you’ll remember. It does make you think. (On another note, having to repeat it every morning made me simply ignore it in the end. It’s strangely satisfying to see patriotic propaganda fail so ironically.)
Strangely enough, I found an accurate English translation on Wikipedia of all places. Here it is: “I am a Turk, honest and hardworking. My principle is to (…) to love my homeland and my nation more than myself. (…) My existence shall be dedicated to the Turkish existence. (…)” And so it goes on. Not the best way to begin the day really. (But you do build up tolerance to it, sort of like caffeine I guess.)
Considering the first question, Bige's answer makes quite a bit of sense. I doubt I would be welcomed with open arms if I returned the Japan and I am clearly not welcomed "here" in the US. Might as well observe things from a distance until the war ends.
There is just so much to talk about and so little space. Sorry if it all sounds disconnected but I couldn’t really help it.
Thanks again, for the presentation.
I did not recognize your name, however I would like to ask that, what is your point "Not the best way to begin the day really. (But you do build up tolerance to it, sort of like caffeine I guess.)" in here?
DeleteSerhat BAŞAK
Well he/she might not be identifying as himself/herself as Turkish for one. I can imagine a few other ID's that would be bothered/repulsed with the idea of pledging yourself to the Turkish nation. I don't think there is anything wrong with that as this is the same difference with the religious debates. Though I don't think it so bad to put your nation before yourself selflessly, since all the good things that happened in history, happened when people forgone their individual selves and worked/fought tooth and nail to perfect their community.
DeleteThanks for pointing it out Serhat, I forgot to put my name.
DeleteWell, my point was that it's nothing more than nationalistic propaganda that fails to achieve anything of value at the end of the day. Taking it further, the repetition of it everyday simply renders it meaningless after a while. Did you know that Apple alone is worth more than every single Turkish company that went public combined? If anything, Turkey is as patriotic as it gets at times, I just don't see how it helped any of us so far.
And to consider Murat G's point, I just don't agree with the latter part. Penicilin wasn't the result of one's love for their country, nor was the first PC or the smartphones we use everyday or a good chunk of the literature we enjoy every now and then. The two world wars and all the death they brought along were, though. (Hell, it was Hitler's justification as well.)
My point isn't that nothing has ever been achieved by a patriot. Rather that it has nothing to do with the "all the good things that happened in history." Good can be achieved regardless of the way you see your nation and identify yourself. (And you can pick misleading anecdotal examples to support either point, just like I did.)
-Buğra Murat Altan
So little space??? It's the internet! You have all the space in cyberworld. Post away. There are no limits to how long your posts have to be. Say your piece/peace, bro.
DeleteFirst of all, thanks Hasan and Kaan for their informative and fluent presentation.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, thinking Japanese as unfaithful to America is weird. On the contrary, their commitment to their cultures,traditions,languages is something that should be congratulated. For their integration to American society they don't need to forget and delete their cultures,traditions,languages, they can integrate with always remembering and lasting their values(cultures,languages(in the areas they can use) and traditions. Moreover,they can integrate but they don't need to assimilate exactly if they don't want to. Besides it is strange that they are waited not to integrate to American society but assimilate to American society when their situation is named outsider racialization as we learned in the previous presentation last week which categorized them from the time they born and continues throughout their lives. They are not given chance even integrate to American society. I think thats the point to make empathy for those who want them to forget their cultures,traditions and languages that what they would feel and think if they were in their shoes. The things that are wanted to them are really hard things to accept and put into action. They need to be understood really. For the first discussing question that Hasan and Kaan asked, i can say that, I would not even think one second to stay in America as an American citizen where I am not wanted, accepted really as an human and understood and also where I am not given chance to integrate, on the top of it where i am expected and wanted to forget my national values(culture,language and traditions) and where i am shoved and humiliated all the time. It is not important to be born in America, it is not worth resisting to stay and continue to live there when the conditions are like this in their situation for Asian Americans. I would go to my hometown where i am precious and count as a human in real terms by not to be forcing and expecting to forget my three most important national values which are my language,culture and traditions.
Özge BAŞAK
Thank you Hasan and Kaan for your presentation,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all your videos are very informative and enjoyable, thanks for these chosen videos.
I think ‘loyalty’ is one of the most important words for a person and his/her culture and ancestors, so that there is no need to criticize Japanese people because of their cultural loyalty. The thing is they cannot be assimilated by Americans because of their appearances and that’s why they offend the eye. Without assimilation, people also can be ‘one’; but first people want to be ‘one’. However, ‘American’ Americans are obsessed about their superiority and ‘others’ inferiority. If they do not want to accept Japanese people they should not watch their films, anime or they should not wear Super Mario t-shirts like we saw in the video as Kaan mentioned about. Besides they should not try to cheat from Japanese students. Or if they want to exploit from them whatever the issue is, white Americans have to accept them as how they are without trying to assimilate or change them.
About the first question; I prefer to go back to my country whether I’m …….. American or I’m an immigrant. Because when there is an extra adjective before American, it does not differ what your origin is; you stay as an immigrant till you die. Being legally citizen is not important because you cannot be a citizen socially. It does not matter if I born in US and do not know anything about my own culture. When I turn back to my country it is not that much hard to be accepted by my own people.
Dilan ALGAN
Thank you guys for this informative presentation!
ReplyDelete“Loyalty” is the problem that we confront again in this chapter. Americans constantly find themselves in a position of doubt; questioning one’s loyalty and attachment to American politics,ideas and lifestyle. During WWI they doubted whether German Americans were supporting the Nazi or were they loyal to America. They tried to see through people an deven discriminated whom they suspect. In this case, during WWII they started to suspect Japanese Americans because of the war. They doubted whether Japanese people would betray American people, the land they immigrated to and they lived in or not. That’s why they had chosen to relocate all Japanese Americans. Ngai Mae calls refers to this racial profilizaiton at the war time as war-time assimmilation. She coins the term by saying that through racially profiling people and locating them in camps; American government tried to seperate disloyal ones as well as assimmilate who claims to be loyal. She says that this communities in the internment camps were seen as “Americanizing projects” (Nai,177) in which people are left out if they reject to be blent into the culture and claim their loyalty.
American government and millitary not only put Japanese in camps but they also showed how their perception of nationalities change from region to region. Again the consequences of discrimination based upon physical appearance were brought up by the Alien Enemy Act. Americans took Japanese in camps, took their homes and property, even took their citizenship and forced them to choose between their culture and citizenship. All of this was actually done to them because they looked different. Nai states that Italian and German were not treated unequally even though they were also the enemies of the US in the WWII. The reason for this was their “Caucasion” race. They looked just like American people and that’s why they were not seen as aliens or outsiders even though they were opposed to America at the war. This is problematic in the sense that it creates a hierarchy between nationalities in which Japanes fall under European immigrants; probably allying with Arabs and Jews as we have already talked about in the previous chapter.
Loyalty questionaire also brought up the problem of dual identity. It forced people to choose between the culture they were born in and raised with; and their homeland, citizenship. American government aimed to sort who is loyal and who is disloyal but they missed the point that you cannot measure someone’s love and loyalty to their nation by a questionaire. Someone not accepting to fight for America against their home nation, does not necessarily mean that they are disloyal to their country. The cases of Korematsu and Takao Ozawa show us that people are claimed to be disloyal by being solely examined by their race although they deerly loved and served to America; which is certainly not fair!
Thank you guys for your amazing presentation.
ReplyDeleteI learned a lot from this article as well as your presentation. The videos were perfectly chosen. I appreciate.
Personally, the questions that Japanese hostages should answer were the most shocking part of this topic. Especially the one that questions the loyalty to the U.S. and the Japanese emperor was left me with mixed up ideas. It is like a paradox. If one says yes I am loyal to those, one shows his/her undeniable attachment to the emperor of Japan, which is against the American ideal - assimilation. If one says no, it will directly lead the minds that the person has no loyalty to U.S. The question is tricky and many hostages failed to answer it in the way that America accepts. I believe that this was what America wished, to push them to fail, to mix their minds and get the real answer - not the one which purposefully answered. If they had asked only the loyalty to U.S., the answer would have been too easy and gave the opportunity to the hostages to lie. This is, I believe why it was tricky and it had been successful as putting many people in the edge and playing with their minds and getting the right answer. But I wonder why the right answer "YES" did not bother the U.S? I have an idea that I am not sure but I want to share. If one says yes and passed the "exam", one is loyal to the U.S. and emperor but it will be easy to assimilate them if they are already loyal to the U.S. It is at least easier than the ones who are not loyal. It is easy to erase the memory of emperor and displace it with "democracy". And because they are already committed to idea of government, the change will not be impossible. But with the ones who are not accepting the idea of government -a monarchy or democracy - there is possibility of resistance.
I hope that I explained my ideas clearly. Thank you again for your presentation.
Thank you Hasan and Kaan for your informative presentation. Especially your videos and pictures are very helpful.
ReplyDeleteFirstly, today, when Prof. Reimer summarizing the topic and the article of Vijay Prashad, it is mentioned that Americans want to see Asian American as workforce but they do not want to see them as a culture in U.S.A. It stayed with me through the class and when we watched the video of students of the Berkeley, the Prof. Said that in the capitalist system, everything is commodified even cultures, I immedetely thought of Americans' choice to way of seeing Asian Americans only as "workforce". I mean Americans only want what they can commodify, what they can benefit from it. Even if, it is a person or whole nation. They cannot see Asian Americans as human. They see them in two way, the first one is a material, a thing that they can commodify and second one is thing that cannot commodify which should get rid of. So, when we think capitalism the system in which humanbeings are seen as like phones, shoes, bags that when they are not useful anymore, we throw away from our homes, it is not suprising how Asian Americans are treated in America- birth place of capitalism.-Secondly, I want to answer to your first question that we have discussed today. I think none of us give a certain answer without knowing how it was like being in that situation and how was the conditions of that time. However, based on informations that we have by reading and wathing, I think I would not return to my country whether I was citizen or immigrant. Because in one way or another I would have contributed in that country and would not want to give up what I earned simply because I was just looking like an enemy.
Finally, I want to say that I think what Americans did/do to "non-Americans" is nothing but creating hatret that the reason to did all these thing in the first place. They say Asian Americans look like an enemy and I say to Americans that they look like a lit bit paranoid :)
This part of your post really captures the irony here: "They see them in two way, the first one is a material, a thing that they can commodify and second one is thing that cannot commodify which should get rid of."
DeleteHey America, seriously, what is your problem with differences?
ReplyDeleteThanks guys by the way. It was a really interesting presentation and I love your post which highlights many important points.
Back to my question. We've been studying race and ethnicity and the one attitude of America which never changes towards race, that is the fear of differences. Americans seem like they are terrified by the fear of that the immigrants will change their culture. Assimilation, assimilation, assimilation... In all texts, we've seen this word; hard to assimilate, easy to assimilate, be assimilated, assimilation... . You mention on your post and I quote "....the Japanese were thought of being more disloyal to the U.S. because of their cultural tendency to be more loyal to their own culture and country" The whole WWII concentration camps were about that! Just because some people thought that it is hard to assimilate Japanese people... If only they could just except the fact that it is impossible to stop globalization and multiculturality(I'm not sure if it is the correct form of multiculturalism). Since we've already discussed many things about this article, I want to point out the fact that how there are actually more than one way to look at these things by using Prashad's text. In his text, we see Asian Americans are actually a little bit better than Blacks and other immigrants unlike Ngai’s text which shows that Japanese people were the ones who were treated the worst. They still face racism though, do not misunderstand me. However, as Prashad mentions Asians are seen as a solution for other "lazy" immigrants who are not studious or hard working as Asian Americans. They are shown as better than other immigrants however as we analysis in the class, it is actually also a kind of racism: "benevolent racism" It seems like this "modern minority" ideas about Asians are good but still they support the traditional stereotypic ideas, used to compare them to other groups. It creates, however, a single story and thus a myth. The fact that Asian Americans are depicted as successful, getting A always, fighter, shy/sexy is a huge myth because when you meet the real people, you realize that they are humans and humans tend to have different attitudes, features and personalities. These myths create many problems for Asian Americans which include being seen as a treat to national unity. See, we've come to assimilation again! However, it is also impossible for them to be assimilated fully due to their differences in terms of appearance. As we know, you need to look like the part if you really want to be an American in American society. Clearly, Japanese or any Asian people don’t look like the part and can’t look like them. That’s why complete assimilation of them is impossible. That’s why it is a vicious circle which goes like this till eternity because Americans will always try to assimilate these people who cannot look like the part. The solution for this problem is to make Americans see that the differences do not make one nation weaker as long as you except and include them into your own culture, the only thing it does, to make the nation stronger. Almost like the states. All states are connected to the government. However, they all have their differences. Why cant American people think like this when it comes to race? Just thinking different races as different states which are connected to the main culture of America. I don't know if it makes sense or if it is practical but I think it may work.
Ezgi ULUSOY
It is my hope that we (all of us, including of you in this class who are part of this now, too) are going to redefine the term "American" so that it becomes more inclusive!
DeleteFirstly, I would like to say thank you for this great presentation to Hasan and Kaan.
ReplyDeletePearl Harbor, probably a turning point for Japanese Americans and Japanese living in the USA. Approximately 120,000 Japanese people were put in internment camps. The government tried to justify this action by stating that some of them may be spy of Japan and they may be threat for the USA. In other words, this action is tried to be demonstrated as a “precaution”. However, as we go deeper into this issue, it is seen that there are some problematic points that should be discussed.
Two third of Japanese put in internment camps were American citizen. It is clear that the government preassumed that all Japanese people are tend to be disloyal to the USA, including their own citizens as well. It shows us that for Japanese being American citizen does not mean anything and they are still considered as “alien”. I mean, even tough they are citizen, still they were not entirely seen as “American”. It makes us question what is being American citizen or what are its boundaries. As we learned in our previous courses, because of their apperance, Japanese Americans cannot be seen as "regular American". This reminded me “racial triangulation” being consisted of two axis – racially superior and citizen vs. non citizen. According to the triangulation, Japanase Americans seen as non-citizens and take place in the middle of racial hierarchy axis. This chart gains more meaning with this example.
The Loyalty Questionnaire is another issue that should be discussed. This was designed in order to promote Japanese American citizenship and assimilation (Ngai 182). The interesting part of the issue is that government tried to test the loyalty of these people by directing them some questions. At this point, an important question arises: Is loyalty something that can be measured? Even if it is “measurable”, how come these answers determines the loyality of these people? In this sense, I think this questionnaire is only a component of racial profiling and assimilation process. It should not have been the criteria to test the loyality of these people.
Yasemin Öztemür
Shouldn't their presence in the camps been proof enough of their loyalty??
DeleteThank you guys for this great presentation.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, I would like to talk about Chapter 5 since it helps us to understand the historical context of what Japanese people faced especially after the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is important because the internment of Japanese Americans begins with WWII and even though those Japanese people were American citizens, they are sent to concentration camps just because they “look like the enemy.” The attack of Japan had nothing to do with the Japanese people living in the US but most of the Japanese people were racially profiled and labeled as “aliens” while Germans and Italians (the two countries that were on the same side with Japan) were not labeled as potentially dangerous. What differentiates them from Japanese people was the idea that they were Caucasians and for that reason their loyalty was not questioned by the US. Being an American citizen or an immigrant was not different according to the US officials as they thought that having a Japanese ancestor was enough to be racially profiled and named as alien/enemy because of the idea that “A Jap is a Jap.”
Ignoring the fact that some of these Japanese people have never been in Japan and even they do not support that country, they sent to concentration camps and asked to answer some questions that test their loyalty to the US. This loyalty questionnaire by War Relocation Agency has two important questions which were about the willingness of Japanese to serve in the US army and their faithfulness to the US. So, these questions just aimed to find out whether Japanese were loyal or not but I think the way that they distinguish people from each other was not acceptable because they thought that disloyals have a desire to follow the Japanese way of life while loyals wish to be American. However, this concept is about “cultural nationalism” and that is why having a cultural identity should not be seen as a treat as it is not about the politics or militarism.
Denationalization Act of 1944 made it possible for Japanese people to renounce their citizenship and I find it a little bit tricky. Because if people declare that they do not want to be an American citizen anymore, then they will be seen as disloyal. On the other hand, if they say that they are loyal to the US and do not want to leave this country, then they will still be discriminated and seen as aliens just because they look like the enemy (because they have Japanese ancestor= again very much like the one drop and one hate rule).
To answer the first question on the post, I think I would prefer not to renounce my citizenship because it is my right to live in that county and before the war I made a living there. So, I cannot easily leave everything behind me and go back to Japan if I was not born there. I also think that going back to Japan is not easy for American-born Japanese people because some people in Japan may not want those people in their country because they are “Americans” according to people in Japan and that makes them enemies. So, the problem is not one sided and I understand how hard it is either to be forced to renounce your citizenship or state that you are loyal but no one believes in you anymore.
-Tansu Özakman
I want to thank Hasan and Kaan for your presentation.
ReplyDelete“Benevolent Assimilation” is the concept that prepared grounds for internment of Japanese Americans at the time of WWII. With that practice it was aimed to test the “loyalty” of Japanese Americans. In this case, loyalty refers to whether Japanese Americans will be on the side of the US when the country is conflict with Japan. This approach leads Japanese Americans to be targets of being “unreliable citizens”. From their perspective it was considered that Japanese Americans can betray the US and they would follow their emperor’s orders. Therefore, the US at that time, launched the internment program that would test their loyalty. However, as Ngai Suggests, German and Italian Americans whose native countries the US also had problem with, were not required to join internment camps because of their race. This shows how “race” influences the US government policies towards different ethnic groups. Then, we can also express that loyalty was used as an excuse for the discriminative acts towards Japanese Americans. In order words, Japanese Americans could not be trusted because of their race.
The camps were not the only regulation that affected the lives of Japanese Americans in the US during WWII. “Denationalization Act of 1944” gave Japanese Americans to renounce their citizenship. I would ask what would make Japanese Americans to renounce their legal status in the US. The answer is because of the pressure and harsh measures in the camps, Japanese Americans wanted to give up citizenship. They also faced the possibility of relocation and resettlement and thus, in order to be excluded from that regulation they preferred to be “illegal aliens”. However, this also brought out another problem which is called deportation. Once Japanese Americans become illegal aliens, the US had a right to deport them. Therefore, most of them wish they had not renounced their citizenship. They understood that going back to Japan could not be only solution for their problems. Most of them had no ties with the country except for the cultural values. In addition, how would they establish a new life in Japan is the question that bothered many Japanese Americans. The US government with that program and legislation also spread the hatred towards Japanese Americans. Some of the native-born citizens of the US did not want the Japanese Americans’ presence in the soil. They were excluded social and public spheres and blamed for being traitors to the US. “A Jap is Jap” means the Japanese are not reliable whether they are citizens of the US or not.
Hacer Bahar
First of all, I would like to thank you both. It was a very informative presentation.
ReplyDeleteAs we all know America is a melting pot which consist lots of nation in it. However, it has very hard times to accept those people who immigrate to the USA and became and American anymore. Asian- Americans are one of them. Americans (generally) failed to accept immigrants as one of them. For example, they always considered African-American people as slaves (as a workforce). We have learnt in the beginning of semester that slavery came up due to capitalist system because white people needed some men and women to work at their fields and homes so slavery came up. Asian-Americans are not that bad at least they did not used as slaves however; they also came across with many difficulties just like other immigrant groups. African-Americans are always in sight, when the subject is racism; the first thing we think is African-Americans namely black people. It is a discussable subject whether this provides any help to them or not but at least they are not forgotten. However, other minority groups are mostly forgotten. People do not think that they were exposed to the same problems which African-Americans did. For example, last week we learnt about Vincent Chin who is a Chinese American beaten by several Americans because they thought that he was from Japan (Auto industry work force). This week, you showed us a very effective picture. In that picture children from all nations including Asian-American were saying American pledge. Actually those people are ready for assimilation (not fully but at least partly). They would like to live in that country peacefully without being excluded just because of their origin. America maybe can accept those people and become a melting pot if it can get rid of the stereotypes and overcome the prejudice.
Pınar ILGAR
I would like to thank Hasan and Kaan for the presentation and for their choice of related material. They made a presentation that was both informative and entertatining.
ReplyDeleteWhat resonated with me most from the presentation was the loyalty questionnaire because I couldn't help but empathize with a Japanese American having to go through so much and then to be asked those questions. It's like a joke. I would probably snap.
My answer to the first question in the presentation therefore would be a straightforward "yes". I don't believe anyone should have to put up with so much unjustified accusation that leaves irreparable damage just because they happen to belong to the "wrong" race in the wrong time. If I were a "Jap", would take the whole thing an insult to the existence of my people and would definitely want to go back. However, it doesn't mean that I would condemn my fellow Japanese for wanting to stay in America. If they took it as a fight against racial profiling, then sure, go ahead and fight the fight, I would understand. It's just that I would have seen too much to go on to live there, and that's what 5500 Japanese Americans probably felt then.
Esma Şermet
DeleteThere is a book out there written by Toshio Mori, called Yokohama California. It tells the *human* stories of Japanese people trying to survive in a country that did not love them as much as they did. He doesn't talk about the internment camps, ever, but talks about the before and after and lets you see the difference in between. Most of them opened and successfully operated flower nurseries to make their living, the old sat outside their apartments and mellowed under the sunlight and friendly chatter, and everyone went to baseball games that they came to love. Imagine these being taken from you, forcefully, leaving you wounded, bleeding dry.. You might be too detached from these people and events to empathize with them and instead try to use logic to make sense of it all but I believe you will fail, until you can honestly feel cheated, and depressed about what happened to them. I believe this is the key to getting to know the Japanese Americans, and every other human being; to be in ones shoes is not just an old saying, it is a wise one. We can put thing in perspective by talking about Pearl Harbor, Red Scare, Nazis and many other topics but in essence all these will fail to capture the human part.
ReplyDeleteWe might as well be aliens coming down to earth a few millennia later after the demise of humanity and find the "How Japanese People see Americans" and take it as something serious and not as a parody. Even the top comment on the video is sarcastically true; "This is how the rest of the world sees America.. xD Not just Japan"
This is what I am talking about when I say detachment. We fell bad when we see a miner die in an accident but none of us actually shed any tears about it. We don't go beyond the feeling of pity and anger; we wont identify ourselves with people who are essentially different from us, we will feel bad for them but don't go the extra mile to actually understand them.
Thus when I see something like this I can't help feeling hypocritical and ashamed. This whole thing feels like a history lesson without substance; you give the numbers but don't put any faces behind them, don't show what it actually meant to them to renounce their countries, and certainly don't bother to delve into their psyche. I might be asking too much for such an assignment but I can't help feel irritated when we just take a little dip in the shallow waters..
Well, don't wait for someone else to give you opportunity. Find your own path to greater empathy if that's what you're looking for. There's a lot of film, literature, oral histories, and real people out there just waiting for you to meet them.
DeleteI really think that human being naturally fear what is different; not especially in a negative way, but at the very principle, when someone faces someone else who is different, he kind of freaks out. The way that person will react to difference depend on the way his education, his society taught him how to react.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to the Japanese during WWII (and Asian American as a whole afterwards) the society, and I mean here the governement, affirmed that their physical features and their culture constituted an obstacle to their assimilation, worst, it constituted the main reason why they were not loyal, they were the enemy. Once again, stereotyping the Japanese on the basis of their appearance to exclude them.
It's something pretty common that a State, when it feels unsecure increase the repression. An it is something common for the US to overstep its citizens' rights in order to protect the country. May I suggest that in war time the government applies what we call "patriotic racism" ?
I am going to answer both questions at the same time : If I were a Japanese American at that time, I don't really know if I would drop off the nationality or not. The way Japanese American were treated is scandalous, so my dignity would lead me to drop it off and go (may be in another place not especially Japan), BUT assuming that this law, The Denationalisation Act would be a smart way for America to get rid of all these Japanese 'legaly', without being rude, knowing my tendancy to be such a stubborn person, I would definitely stay in the country and claim that even if I do have Japanese ancestry, it does not prevent me from being American !
Great presentatiton thanks,
ReplyDeleteBeing a citizen should mean that you are legally living on the geographical reigon right? But being loyal to your country, traditions or even having some sort of patriotic ideology is another topics that one should think about it. As presenters pointed, this article was also (suprisingly) dealing with the white supremacy, however I cannot see any connection between two nation. When you think about Japanese culture, they have quite a culture from cuisine to clothing and many more. I am not saying America don’t have any but yet there are really less common ground when you think. Som y point is, in my own opinion it could not be possible to one to adopt themselves fully to a culture. Because leaving your own raciality and ethnnic ground won’t bring any good for yourself.
Another issue that on the concentration camps , I did not know that those camps also used by U.S. and especially that used on Japanese. That was intense, I did not recall it but thinking about the Nazi Germany and concentration camps that people used as an geunie pigs, or more, its more likely to that. For instance, think about the Auschwitz camp that most of the Polish citizens suffered from the experiments that Nazi’s tried idiotically, just to determine how painful is the burn scar kind of things. Yes I really see the Japanese and Polish’s camp in the same position because one of them using their own citizens in camps, for basically nothing. In addition to that, the annexation should be done if and only, there is an attack from this particular group in a way that imprisoned.
When you think about it, there were no attack inside United States border, but in the sense of Japanese, they were loyal to Empire, they were ready to kill, oriental, warriors and many names that I can throw in here. In short, I would like to see any of our proffessors talking about Auschwitz, and the results of it, to compare it to the same issue, but we are Amer’s.
In addition to that, those Japanese are in a way Mestizas, they have double identities, racialities and also consiousness, that is another way to interpret it and it is not going well too, there is no explanation for putting people on a camp because they got bombed by Japanese, those were American’s for “somethings” sake. Like the examples, Vincent Chin, Takao Ozawa or Korematsu those are all dead peoples because they are not fitting the white profile. Of course there are reasons by the muderers but are those enough ? like a little redneck saying “they took our jobs”.
Lasty, those killings, racial homicides won’t be finished until some other nations finished in United States, that is what I believe. I had already watched Fruitvale station, and it was acutal proof that those maniacs were still active. So think about it, is it finished? There is no racial homicides, they are not real? I am sorry, but they are real and ongoing, August 9 Micheal Brown shot by Darren Wilson, it was 3-4 month ago, criminal or not, he was doing nothing and he got shot by white police officer.
About the question, I would like to stay where I born, because I know the language, culture where to eat, sleep, run, hide. When the question is survival, the choice should be the one that you know, in my opinion. Thanks Again.
Serhat BAŞAK
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kaan and Hasan for this great presentation. The videos were really informative and interesting. (Nice funny way to end the presentation with babymetal too)
DeleteI can only imagine what a diffciult position the Japanese living in America were put in, and it seems like neither staying in the U.S nor going to Japan would have been a good permanent solution for them. Just trying to put myself in their shoes, I honestly don't know what I would have done personally. The choices the Japanese-Americans made must have varied depending on their conditions of living and also their personal and cultural values. And frankly speaking, if the country that I had identified myself with and been loyal to for such a long time suddenly passed an "Alien Enemy Act" and treated me like an outsider after eveything I contributed to its culture, then the hell with "loyalty"... the problem here is the mentality that being loyal to one culture means you are disloyal to another, which I completely disagree with. It is normal that people can connect to more than one culture at the same time and value both of them equally. Sometimes, the natural behaviour would be to put more effort into preserving the culture that one is physically far from. I remember a few of my Korean-American friends telling me they realized how they acted more Korean in the U.S and more American when they were in Korea, and would therefore be labelled as disloyal and foreigner from both sides, which is sad because in reality, they are doing their best to be involved and loyal to both. I think nobody has the right to force people to assimilate into another culture completely, by leaving behind other ethnic/cultural values and languages. What does being "loyal" mean anyway? Does it mean to become sheeple and just blend in with everyone else, disguising under the term "patriotism"? To think like every one else? Support every war the government decides to go to regardless of whether there is any logical reason to go? The fact that these people are U.S. citizens who are already working there, making cultural and economic contributions to the country and can mostly speak a little amount of the common language, required for basic communication, should be enough to be considered a member of a nation. If the U.S. is just making their life miserable by forcing them to choose one side to remain loyal to and give consent fight a war against the other, then its only understandable and natural that they might consider the Renunciation as an option, despite knowing that starting over in an entirely new place wouldn't be easy... just as natural as it would be if they decided to bear the hardships and stay there to regain their rights since the U.S. is their nation just like anyone else's and nothing has the power to change that fact.