In this movie, American Pastime, Kaz and Emi and their sons Lane and Lyle, were all sent to an internment camp with the rest of many Japanese descendants. Not only did the pairs have an age difference, but they did have a difference in the way they interpreted the meaning of living in the camp. Kaz and Emi are much older and since they been through it all, they truly understood the struggle. On the other hand, their sons, Lane and Lyle, although they might have faced obstacles in their lives, they both are much younger and had much to learn. As you watch “American Pastime”, you can tell how less reluctant Kaz and Emi were to get out of the camp. They didn’t fight it, they just let it happen. The reason I concluded that they don’t seem to feel …show more content…
Although incarcerating thousands of people against their will isn’t normal at all, their lives in the camps were almost like they were at home, but instead being put into a room with strangers and not being allowed to leave the campgrounds. Their “homes” were built very much like the concentration camps during the Holocaust. Rectangle shaped houses in rows, a fair amount of windows, probably about 5-10 families in one house, and dinner in one place. The houses in the movie seemed flimsy and poorly built. At one point in the movie, a character asked one of the camp officers if they could improve and protect their house from the wind and dust with materials. The officer let them, but you could tell he only did it because he felt guilty. After that scene, there were a few other parts when one or two people living in the camps traveled outside the camp, with camp officers acting as chaperones, to purchase materials for curtains, building materials, etc. Besides letting them customize their “homes”, they did allow them to play baseball, which is a huge part of American Pastime. They played with the officers and everyone else. A reason for baseball being a major supporting detail in the movie might be because of how popular it was back then. It was even called America’s pastime. Baseball is such an important detail in this film because it brings everyone …show more content…
No Japanese American attack on U.S soil. All in all, their pre-measures for “national security” was a waste. About $9.5 million was spent to build internment camps and nurture the prisoners. This is somewhat a similar situation to today. After the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, many people, specifically, Americans, became very xenophobic and racist against Muslims and Arabs. The most obvious reason is that al-Qaeda, a middle eastern terrorist group, ended up being the people who hijacked the planes and crashed them. Soon after the event, most Americans begin to have this evil vein in them. Arabs and Muslims were being discriminated wherever they go. Airports began to have extra security and, although they won’t admit it, they specifically target people who aren’t white. It may seem to be extra security, but it’s straight up discrimination. This process can be extremely humiliating and terrifying. They usually don’t find anything but yet they check everything they have. America should remind themselves of the internment of Japanese Americans. Of how none of them actually committed a crime and imagine that for Arabs and Muslims. So they should stop treating any Middle Easterners as if they were criminals. Stereotypes shouldn’t define a person and prevent them from receiving the same rights a “True
There are unexpected aspects of life in the camp depicted in “This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlement” by Tadeusz Borowski. The prisoners were able to make very obvious improvements to their lived in the camp, without reaction by the SS officers; the market was even made with the support of the camp. The prisoners actually hoped for a transport of prisoners, so as to gain some supplies. The true nature of the camp is never forgotten, even in better moments at the camp.
It was no secret that when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, countless Americans were frightened on what will happen next. The attack transpiring during WW2 only added to the hysteria of American citizens. According to the article “Betrayed by America” it expressed,”After the bombing many members of the public and media began calling for anyone of Japanese ancestry။citizens or not။to be removed from the West Coast.”(7) The corroboration supports the reason why America interned Japanese-Americans because it talks about Americans wanting to remove Japanese-Americans from the West Coast due to Japan bombing America. Japan bombing America led to Americans grow fear and hysteria. Fear due to the recent attack caused internment because Americans were afraid of what people with Japanese ancestry could do. In order to cease the hysteria, America turned to internment. American logic tells us that by getting the Japanese-Americans interned, many
The conditions the Japanese Americans were put through were horrible and everyone deserves to be treated equally. The worst part was the persecution of numerous innocent people because they did nothing wrong. The outbreak of hysteria was a big part of them being thrown into camps because the government thought they were working with Japan. In the Internment Camps and Salem Witch Trials people had no evidence and were treated unfairly, making them similar even though it was two different time
This caused the Japanese to become a scapegoat of America’s fear and anger. The Issei and Nisei who once moved to this country to find new opportunities and jobs were now stripped of their homes and businesses and were forced to live in poor living conditions (DISCovering). Although many Americans believed that Japanese American internment was justified because it was used to protect us from attacks by Japanese Americans, it was very unlikely that they were ever going to attack us in the first place. For example, in Dr. Seuss’ political cartoon, many Japanese Americans are lined up to get TNT and waiting for a signal from Japan to attack (Seuss).
Can you recall the very last night that you spent with your high school buddies before packing your bags and leaving for college? The films American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused bring you back to that through the recreation of those great experiences. American Graffiti is based on a closely-knit group of teenagers who will all be leaving each other the next day for new adventures. This gang of teenagers, despite their differences, all goes out together and share their last memorable evening. Throughout the night, friendships are strengthened, conflicting struggles arise, and romances are created and disrupted. Dazed and Confused dealt about life during wartime – the wartime of high school, where the faculty is irrational, the parents are
The bombing on Pearl Harbor impaired America, which brought an increase to racial tension. However, this impairment brought all nationalities together. “Thirty-three thousand Japanese Americans enlisted in the United States Armed Forces. They believed participation in the defense of their country was the best way to express their loyalty and fulfill their obligation as citizens” (Takaki 348). Takaki proves to us that the battle for independence was grappled on the ends of enslaved races. The deception of discrimination within the military force didn’t only bewilder Americans that sensed the agony of segregation, but also to the rest of world who honored and idolized America as a beam of freedom for
“Concentration camps (Konzentrationslager; abbreviated as KL or KZ) were an integral feature of the regime in Nazi Germany between 1933 and 1945. The term concentration camp refers to a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum). The living conditions in these camps were absolutely horrible. The amount of people being kept in one space, amongst being unsanitary, was harsh on the body. “A typical concentration camp consisted of barracks that were secured from escape by barbed wire, watchtowers and guards.
On December 7,1941 Japan raided the airbases across the islands of Pearl Harbour. The “sneak attack” targeted the United States Navy. It left 2400 army personnel dead and over a thousand Americans wounded. U.S. Navy termed it as “one of the great defining moments in history”1 President Roosevelt called it as “A Day of Infamy”. 2 As this attack shook the nation and the Japanese Americans became the immediate ‘focal point’. At that moment approximately 112,000 Persons of Japanese descent resided in coastal areas of Oregon, Washington and also in California and Arizona.3
Inevitably, after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, that began World War II, Japanese-Americans were frowned upon and stereotyped because of their descent. However, Japanese immigrants contributed to economic expansion of the United States. Whites resented the Japanese immigrants, but reaped economic profit from the Japanese-American residents’ discipline and hard work. Japanese-Americans of this time seem to be attacked; however, they choose to uphold their disconnection with the rest of the Americans. Many Japanese felt they had superiority over Americans, creating tension and disconnection.
It all started with a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. During the 1940s, United States placed an embargo on Japan’s access to war materials in an attempt to stop Japan from further invasion in Asia. However, the plan did not work out well. On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked the US’s Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor, and caused more than 2,400 deaths of Americans (Roark 671). This surprise attack not only pushed the United States into World War II, but also triggered the start of racial discrimination against Asians in America, specifically Japanese Americans, Chinese, and of course, the Japanese. In this essay, an excerpt taken from the Life Magazine will be analyzed and supported with The American Promise written by James Roark et al.
Throughout America’s history, there have been numerous incidents of unnecessary incrimination of certain races, perhaps most evidently the internment of Japanese-Americans between World War I and World War II. Not only did public opinions shift towards illogical discrimination of the foreigners, degrading propaganda, discriminating laws, and segregation/separation began taking over the nation. Mainly due to the idea of national safety, irrational fear of the Japanese quickly arose and the government saw internment as a reasonable response, which only led to the Americans feeling superior to the so-called “inferior creatures.” During the gap between the World Wars, the American population took drastic measures in order to make it clear that they are superior to the Japanese and the United States truly is their country.
Americans felt rage towards those with Middle-Eastern decent, especially after the September 11 terrorist attack. The audio of Shirley Jahad in Anti-Muslim Hate Crimes, reports of people who have faced acts of force and threats the early weeks after September 11, because they appear to be Arabic or are Arabic. There are scores of reports of violence who are or who look Arabic. For example, in San Diego a Sikh 51 year old woman, Sorhan Balar was stopped at a light when a man opened her car door and said “this is what you get for what you people have done to us.” She was hit on the head. Even though she ducked, she still received a cut on her head. The backlashes towards Arab-Americans were a way for Americans to vent. Some have taken patriotism to an excessive level after the terrorist attacks that brought down the World Trade Center towers.
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.
The biggest terrorist attack in American history occurred on September 11, 2001. The Islamic al-Qaeda group hijacked four airliners in the United States. Two planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York City, a third struck the Pentagon, and the fourth plane crashed in Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people were killed including over 400 police officers and firefighters. America's view on the world and Muslims all over, forever changed. Muslims are judged and criticized still today after these events. Muslim Americans after 9/11 should have a right to live freely in America, can help us stop Islamic terrorism, and can increase unity with American citizens and the communities.
Throughout Americas history, there has been prejudice, discrimination, and segregation. The prejudice, discrimination, and segregation of African-Americans and Native Americans are well known and often portrayed in movies. The group that is less exposed in movies is the prejudice, discrimination, and segregation of Asians. Mine is about a minority group that has seen prejudice, discrimination, and segregation that is now recognized universally deplorable the Japanese American. The incarceration of the Japanese by the United States during World War II is now considered unjust. After “Executive Order 9066 the army moved 40,000 long-term immigrants, and 77,000 United States citizens of Japanese descent.” (Miksch and Ghere, 2004 p. 212) Although, at that time “Most people thought internment of enemy aliens was a normal precaution in wartime situations.” (Miksch and Ghere, 2004 p. 211) “The practice of internment of enemy aliens is normal practice in Canada, Australia, United States, and European countries.” (Miksch and...