Japanese Internment Camps: Amache, Colorado

Emily Sergent
Professor Kimberly Lark
August 4th, 2015

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In September of 1939, war broke out due to Nazi Germanys attack on Poland. The
United States decided to remain neutral at the beginning of the war to maintain
relations and trade with all nations involved in the war. The Japanese military relied
heavily on imports of steel and oil from the United States to continue making attacks on
other countries. However, the United States became tired of the Japanese atrocities and as
a result decided to restrict trade on raw materials with Japan. By the beginning of 1941
the United States ended all raw material trade with the Japanese.
On December 7th, 1941 right as the sun was rising, the Japanese launched an
undetected and devastating attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet stationed in Pearl Harbor,
Hawaii. Japans intentions were not to force the U.S to abandon Hawaii, or even to
invade and take over the United States itself. Their intentions were to weaken the United
States Naval presence in the Pacific, allowing the Japanese to increase their foothold by
claiming islands that were the territory of the U.S. The attack resulted in three thousand
casualties, as well as the inhibition to sail or the destruction of six battleships, and a
majority of the ground planes were also destroyed.1
After the Japanese attack later known as Pearl Harbor, the American people were
thrust into a whirlwind of hysteria accusing anyone from the mailman to the neighbors
they have known for years of being Japanese sympathizers simple because they were
Japanese-American.
The United States government responded to this issue by moving every person of
Japanese descent into internment camps. The Japanese race is an enemy and while many
second and third generation Japanese born on United States soil possessed of U.S

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citizenship have become Americanized the racial strains are undiluted. It then follows
that along the vital Pacific Coast over one hundred and twelve thousand potential
enemies, of Japanese extraction, are at large today. There are indications that these are
organized and ready for concerted action at a favorable opportunity. The very fact that no
sabotage has taken place to date is a disturbing and confirming indication that such an
action will be taken. 2 This is how the U.S government justified this action to the
Supreme Court.
Moving all of the Japanese Americans to isolated areas did quite the hysteria,
however, the move also sparked controversy due to the similarities to those ran by Nazi
Germany. Sometime the train stopped, you know, fifteen to twenty minutes to take fresh
air- suppertime and in the desert, in middle of the state. Already before we get out of
train, army machine guns lined up towards us- not toward other side to protect us, but like
enemy, pointed machine guns toward us.3 And the interns knew that if they tried to
flee, armed sentries who stood watch around the clock, would shoot them. 4
The effect the internment camps on the Japanese-Americans was great. These
people had to sell their homes and businesses for a fraction of their value. They had to
leave most of their possessions behind. These people left with only hostility to come back
to. Once inside the camps, life did not get any better. Down in our hearts we cried and
cursed this government every time when we showered with sand. We slept in the dust; we
breathed the dust; we ate the dust.5

2 Japanese-American Internment Camps
3M9- World War 2
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docs-library.com.
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The barracks of these camps were tar paper; everyone ate together mess hall style,
consuming food that can only be compared to army-grub. These people had little to no
representation in terms of government, even though every person in the camps were U.S
citizens. It made you feel that you knew what it was to die, to go somewhere you
couldnt take anything but what you had inside you 6
The Japanese-Americans were not released from the camps until after the war. Once
released, these people had no where to go. Returning home was not an option, they would
come back to hostility. Most of the people funneled into internment camps were from the
West Coast, where hostility toward anything Japanese was at the highest. Many towns
even had signs demanding Japanese-Americans never return.
These events were a hit on the fight against racism. Many people to this day are
still racist towards Japanese and used that as an excuse to profile and subject other
ethnicities to racism. If we hadnt created these camps, I believe, we could have ended
racism by now.

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Cited Sources
docs-library.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Aug. 2015.
<http://lessons.ctaponline.org/~bdeis/Quotes%20from%20Japanese%20Americans
.doc>.
Encyclopedia Britannica. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Dec. 2014.
<http://www.britannica.com/event/Pearl-Harbor-attack>.
Japanese-American Internment Camps. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Aug. 2015. <http://www.htla.org/htla/projects/oralhistory/japaneseinternment/quotes.html>.
US History. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Aug. 2015. <http://www.ushistory.org/us/51e.asp>.