The Japanese American internment occurred during World War II. This happened immediately after the attack of the Pearl Harbor, in which President Roosevelt decided to issue an Executive Order that designated the military zones within the United States. It is argued that the internment never targeted any specific group but became of mass relocations of approximately 110,000 Americans of the Japanese origin.

In 1944, the internment was halted by the Supreme Court, and the Japanese started to leave the camps. Reasons such as fear facilitated internment, but according to research race was a key factor. It is argued that the United States government placed the Japanese Americans into Internment because they feared that due to their cultural and ethnic ties to Japan they might aid in causing war. As a result of the attack of the Pearl Harbor the US citizens and the government they never trusted the Japanese because of the threats (Shaffer, 1999).

Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga was a woman who proved that several Japanese-Americans were held for reasons of racism and was not because of security reasons. It is essential to note that the Japanese-American internment was mainly fueled by the widespread of the anti-Japanese sentiments throughout the nation. Anti-Asian racism was already present in the United States for several years before Pearl Harbor (Fox, 1988). Thus, it fanned racist’s remarks to the public, which was a major contributor to the state’s decision to intern the Japanese-American people. Additionally, some of the US citizens who hated the Japanese blamed them for planning to attack the state, and this hatred only was a severe problem (Nagata, 1990).

Also, to prove that racism was a significant factor in the Japanese internment we need to ask ourselves why the US government decided to provide reparations to the surviving individuals of the Japanese-Americans who interned. Therefore, this decision fully supports my claim that there was racism in what the government was doing. This shows that the Japanese-Americans individuals were targeted as compared to any other race.