Letters From A Concentration Camp Summary

Imagine people who don’t trust you, like you, or care about you, asking you and your family to leave home for the safety of others. You don’t know when or if you are getting back. That seems pretty unfair and rude, right? Well, that is exactly what happened to Japanese Americans during WWII, except they weren’t imagining it. With forces of the Axis on the rise in the 1940’s, America was struggling to keep everyone safe. National security was at stake, so the United States acted poorly to reverse problems. During WWII, the Japanese Americans were interned for reasons of national security because the war made the U.S. act foolishly, the U.S. government didn’t trust them, and the U.S. also didn’t care about them.
WWII was a stressful time. This made the U.S. government act crazily and foolishly. In the short story “Letter From a Concentration Camp” by Yoshiko Uchida, Jimbo writes to his friend, Hermie, about the camp. He says, “...the U.S. government made a terrible mistake that they’ll regret someday...I think war makes people crazy. (page 520) When Jimbo says this, he refers to the government’s impulsiveness. After Jimbo states that war make people crazy, he asks, “Why else would a smart man like President Franklin D. Roosevelt sign an executive order to

forces us Japanese Americans out of our homes and lock us up in concentration camps?” (page 520) Jimbo is saying that the president and government went into war frenzy mode. War frenzy could have lead to extra caution with who was and was not trusted.
The native Japanese people had bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, so Japanese Americans were thought to be spies. Nobody of Japanese descent was trusted by the U.S. The background information for “Letter From a Concentration Camp” states that the U.S. interned the Japanese Americans “to make sure that they did not aid the enemy.” (page 518) This quote shows that the U.S. had feeling of distrust towards Japanese Americans. In the historical fiction short story “The Bracelet” by Yoshiko Uchida, the narrator Ruri has to leave her house because her family is Japanese. She states that “The United States and Japan were at war, and every Japanese person on the West Coast was being evacuated by the government…” (page 1) Ruri is a young girl yet she still knows that the U.S. government was interning people because of uncertainty about the Japanese Americans. If a young and naïve person knows this, then everyone else must, too, which makes it more likely to be true. The government not only didn’t trust Japanese Americans, but they also didn’t care much about them either.
At this time, the U.S.

didn’t show any love or care towards the Japanese Americans, even though they were just as loyal as an American-born person. The Civil Control Station is where Ruri’s family went to move to a camp. Each family had to get a number. “We were family number 13453.” Ruri doesn’t say much about family numbers, probably because she feels demeaned and ignored by the United States. Ruri states that “...there was a law that prevented any Asians from becoming a citizen.” This proves that Asians, and in this case, Japanese people, were not cared about and were treated unfairly by the U.S.. Because they didn’t care, the government figured that by interning Japanese Americans the U.S. would be

safer.
Others may think that the Japanese Americans were interned for their own safety. That is what the United States said, after all. George Bush also issued an apology letter and twenty thousand dollars to each remaining internee. However, these actions are still unforgivable. George Bush even writes it himself. “A monetary sum and words alone cannot restore lost years or erase painful memories…” (paragraph 1) Also, the country took the actions of four presidents and many years to fully apologize. In addition, the U.S. also tried to trick people about the camps. They claimed that the camps would keep the Japanese Americans safe. Tetsuzo writes a letter to Miss Breed, a librarian from back home, about the camp. Tetsuzo sarcastically wondered why the U.S. seemed to be protecting themselves. The country said that there would be five strands of barbed wire around the camps to protect from cattle and people from outside of the camps. “Where in the cattle countries do they use five strands of barbed wire??” (paragraph 3) (Sarcasm ahead!) Tetsuzo also says, “They had their machine guns pointed at us to protect us from the outsiders…” (paragraph 4) Both quotes from Tetsuzo’s letter show that the U.S. lied about who was being protected. Therefore, the Japanese American internment was not for their own good, but for the safety of the United States. Japanese Americans were unfairly interned for national security because the United States government was foolish, they weren’t trusted, and they weren’t cared about.