What Was The Impact Of Japanese Internment Camps

“I spent my boyhood behind the barbed wire fences of American internment camps” (George Takei). Japanese internment was a result of the Pearl Harbor bombing. The bombing of Pearl Harbor occurred just before 8:00 a.m. on December 7th, 1941. The Japanese bombed the American naval base at Pearl Harbor near Honolulu Hawaii on the island of Oahu. The Japanese bombing left more than 2,000 American soldiers and sailors dead and 1,000 wounded. The bombing nearly destroyed 20 naval vessels, including eight battleships, and more than 300 airplanes. As a result of the bombing President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared war on Japan, and America finally joined World War II (History Channel). The Pearl Harbor bombing negatively impacted the lives of Japanese decedents living in America.
On February 19, 1942 President Roosevelt signed an Executive order to put more than 110,000 Japanese Americans living along the West Coast into internment camps. (PBS). Roosevelt’s order affected 110,000 Japanese decedents two-third of the Japanese affected by the order were born in America (Archives). In 1988 Japanese Americans persuaded Congress to approve a legislated providing a $20,000 payment to each surviving internee and an official apology. Japanese Americans fought for this apology and payment for 40 years (PBS). As a result of the bombing Japanese Americans were met with a lot of discrimination. Even before the bombing, Japanese Americans felt that white racism limited their job opportunity. While Japanese Americans were forced to stay in internment camps several anti-Japanese groups were formed on the West Coast (Jennifer Speidel). During World War II Japanese Americans struggled with racial challenges as a result of the Japanese internment camps and other various