Studs Terkel #6

Peter Ota was an American-Japanese citizen who lived on the west coast in California during WWII. Being a Japanese American was very difficult during this time. Many Americans were furious with the Japanese for attacking Pearl Harbor and this hatred spread into the government. The President ordered people of Japanese descent to be moved to camps, which were little more than prisons. Peter explained his background and described how difficult it was. His father was on a business trip when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, when he was returning home he was met by FBI agents and was taken to jail. Soon after his mother got Tuberculosis and was never moved to any camps because she was in such bad shape, she eventually died of it. A few months later he was taken to the first stop a racetrack with his sister and, when they were going to the actual camp they met up with their father. He described how there wasn’t much say in what they had to do; everyone obeyed their orders and did what they had to do.  He said that many American-Japanese believed in having no reaction and no fighting because they were raised to be respectful.  The Japanese families who were forced to move were torn apart and lost everything. “A man who had worked so hard for what he had and lost it overnight,” (206). They could only take what they could carry to the camps. They had to leave behind jobs, friends, and any family who could not move. This was one of the greatest breaches of personal rights in the history of the United States. Were the Japanese camps that best decision for the time? The events leading up to the Japanese being moved to the camps was similar to the events following September 11. The attack on 9/11 was similar to the attack on Pearl Harbor. It was unexpected and unprovoked. Americans reacted in a similar way as well. Many Americans began to hate Arabs as a result of 9/11, just as Americans hated the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. The difference was, after 9/11, the government had already used their knowledge from World War II that all people who looked Arabic where not going to commit terrorist attacks. It would have been illegal for the federal government to try to set up camps similar to those during World War II anyway; the Supreme Court ruled such acts unconstitutional after World War II.

Betty Bayse became a nurse after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Like all of America, she was inspired to do whatever possible to help the war effort. “Immediately, I was going to become a nurse,” (211). As an active duty nurse, she saw many wounded soldiers who had been hurt in the war. “I began to anesthetize myself,” (214). I think everyone knew that American soldiers would die in a war like World War II, but it must have been difficult to face the fact that young Americans would be killed and wounded. Dealing with wounded soldiers is still a problem today. The war changes people, and they have to live with the knowledge of what they saw for the rest of their lives. Many people fought in or did whatever they could to support the war effort during World War II because they hoped war would not happen again. There were only a few years of peace before the United States go involved in the Korean War. Then after that, there was the Vietnam War, and, this whole time, the cold war was at its height. It seems peace is not possible in this advanced society that we have today. It surprises me how often America has made rules and regulations to avoid war, but it always seems America is part of every war. How and why is this true? The United States seemed eager to start wars in the Middle East. I believe war will always exist. Conflicts caused by religion have been going on and are still going on to this day. Everywhere around the world have different opinions that will cause conflict that will lead to war. This is nothing to stop war even though countries can do all they can to limit it.