Why were not all German-Americans and Italian-Americans also interned?
That's a good point. I googled "German American Bund" Japanese and internment and found this, on that subject:
Despite an active German American Bund that promoted Hitler throughout the Midwest and boasted thousands of members, German U-boats shelling the Atlantic coast, and German agents actually being captured on U.S. soil before they could carry out their missions (leading to the case on military tribunals, In re Ex Parte Quirin, 317 U.S. 1 (1942)), German Americans and Italian Americans were deemed to be dangerous only in extreme individual instances...
And here's more detail on the Hawaii situation, mentioning that logically, it should have been the first place to toss their Japanese-American citizens into camps! It was in the theater of operations!
The inconsistencies of the internment become apparent if the territory of Hawaii is considered. If the internment was warranted, it should have been instituted in Hawaii with greatest priority because Pearl Harbor had occurred there and it sat within the theater of operations.... Locking up Japanese Americans in Hawaii would have meant that a third of the population, and the bulk of the workforce on the plantations that were the mainstay of the islands’ economy, would be removed. The need for workers and the profits they produced trumped racial hatred. The military, as well, was not interested in the task of rounding up and shipping out thousands of civilians.
Preview and spellcheck are back. Weird-looking, but back. |
