Treatment Justifies Rationale

There are many indications of the terrible treatment, brutality, and mass murder of the Jewish people in Europe, because of their race and religion. While the Japanese were secluded to internment camps in America, the conditions weren’t quite the same. While the Jewish people lived in large barracks, often times multiple people to a bed, Japanese families often had their own homes, although most were one or two rooms. While Jewish people were forced to work, no matter age, health, or gender, and under harsh conditions and careful watch of the Nazi soldiers, the Japanese often held jobs similar to their previous life and in many instances, such as Manzanar, news headlines often became similar to this; “Twenty-one young Island residents will leave this relocation center for Montana sugar beet fields today” (Ohtaki, 1942). While many people in concentration camps died of starvation and disease, Japanese people were able to grow their own gardens and feed themselves at their wish.

While conditions did not always start out the best, it has to be realized that creating perfect living conditions for mass amount of people would have been near impossible. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese were relocated to the camps almost without notice. They were moved to makeshift locations that had to be set up for their arrival. The short notice of the executive order forced the American government to put up these living conditions. While they could have been as terrible and neglected as the Nazi concentration camps, they officials did the best they could to create conditions to house all of those people in the best manner they could. While conditions at the beginning were decent at best, many still managed to enjoy them, and even the trip to the camps. One report stated that, “On the train there was group singing, card playing, and "chatting" with the soldiers who accompanied the evacuees. Islanders were treated "swell" by the Army and, in return, cooperated fully because the soldiers were so courteous” (Ohtaki, 1942). Later, once everyone began to get settled in at their new location, normal routine life began to take place. Some even found love and announced engagements, and eventually a baby was even born at the camp. The Japanese people had a lot of free time throughout their day to do what they please. Many turned to the arts, whether it be music, painting, or writing. The camp in Manzanar, even held their own baseball league. They even had awards for teams and people such as the, “Bainbridge Yankees as the "best sportsmen" in Manzanar's major baseball league” (Ohtaki, 1942). All sorts of camps around the west had improving conditions and relatively satisfactory people.

These newspaper articles from the Bainbridge Island Review were often circulated to large amounts of American citizens. In reading these articles, it is very plausible how citizens would get the idea that the internment camps, were in fact, not all that bad. When they see these news articles about the sports teams, or the weddings, and babies, it is easy to conceive why American citizens might have been okay with the idea and conception of internment. When they see Japanese people seemingly go ahead with daily normal life, the rationale of confining Japanese people becomes easier to see. Had reports surfaced of the terrible treatment of the Japanese people, the American public might not have been as accepting as they were. With the proper treatment, and more specifically, news of proper treatment, coupled with the government reasoning of safety, it is easy to see why the American public didn’t see a problem with it.