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Lecture # 8: Yellow Peril

WWII & Executive Order 9066

Pearl Harbor Sept 27, 1940 – Tripartite Pact

signed Japan’s vision of the Greater East

Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere Dec 7, 1941 – attack on Pearl

Harbor Dec 8, 1941 – US declares war on

Japan Japanese populations on day of

attack: HI =158,000 (40% of population) CA = 94,000 (1% of population) WA & OR = 25,000 (les than 1%)

Internment Anti-internment conditions in HI:

Resistance by HI’s military governor, Delos Emmons Impracticality of interning 100,000+ people 90% of labor in HI = Japanese Resistance by business and political leaders as well as press

and media Perception of HI as cosmopolitan and multi-racial space

Pro-internment conditions on west coast: FDR had already considered internment plan 5 years before Long history of anti-Asian sentiment sensationalist press and

racist business and political leaders Japanese as economic competitors rather than necessary

laborers

Executive Order 9066Whereas, the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense…:Now therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander in Chief[,] I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War,… whenever he [deems] such action to be necessary or desirable, to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he [may] determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded, and with respect to which, the right of any persons to enter, remain in, or leave shall be subject to whatever restriction the Secretary of War or the appropriate Military Commander may impose in his discretion.

Feb 19, 1942 – FDR signs Executive Order 9066

Evacuation May 1942 – curfew imposed and

evacuation notices posted Civil disobedience & protest:

Minoru Yasui of OR Fred Korematsu of CA Gordon Hiyabashi of WA

Evacuation process control center, assembly center, interment camp

Ten internment camp Topaz (UT), Poston & Gila River (AZ), Amache (CO), Jerome & Rohwer (AK), Minidoka (ID), Mazanar & Tule Lake (CA), Heart Mountain (WY)

Race & Democracy“Japanese propaganda to the Philippines, Burma, and elsewhere insists that this is a racial war. We can combat this effectively with counter propaganda only if our deeds permit us to tell the truth.” -1942 Sec of War report to FDR Feb 19, 1942 – 1st Filipino Infantry

Regiment Executive Order 8802 – 1941 –

prohibition of racial discrimination in employment in wartime industries

1944 – citizenship extended to Filipino immigrants in US; 100 Filipinos allowed to immigrate annually

1943 – Chinese Exclusion Act repealed and naturalization extended

No-No or Yes-Yes? Feb 6, 1943 – Loyalty Questionnaire

administered Question 27: “Are you willing to serve in the

armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered?”

Question 28: “Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government, power or organization?”

4,600 No-no boys or 22% of eligible Nisei males 33,000 Nisei served. Ex. 442nd Regimental

Combat Team

Defeating the Yellow Peril

Jan 2, 1945 – cessation of evacuation; camps prepare for closures

May 8 – Germany surrenders Aug 6 – Little Boy dropped on

Hiroshima Casualties – 90,000-160,000

Aug 9 – Fat Man dropped on Nagasaki Casualties – 60,000-80,000

Aug 15 – Japan surrenders Oct 1946 – last detention center

closes

History & Memory“There are things which have happened in the world while there were cameras watching, things which we have images for.” “There are other things which have happened when no one was watching which we restage in front of cameras to have images of.”“There are things which have happened for which the only images that exist are in the minds of the observers present at the time while there are things which have happened for which there have been no observers except for the spirits of the dead.”

history?

“There are things which have happened in the world while there were cameras watching, things which we have images for.” 

representation?

“There are other things which have happened when no one was watching which we restage in front of cameras to have images of.”

memory?

“There are things which have happened for which the only images that exist are in the minds of the observers present at the time while there are things which have happened for which there have been no observers except for the spirits of the dead.”

forgetfulness & silence

“She tells the story of what she does not remember but remembers one thing: why she forgot to remember.” “You put those things out of your mind or you’ll go insane”Mine Okubo’s memoir: If her drawings are attempts to capture the images in

her mind, what does she seem to remember and why? What doesn’t she remember and why? What are the silences in her text? Why would she insist on her memoir as a human story

of pathos and humor?