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letter
Dear President Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
I am writing you this letter as a person of Japanese ancestry who has chosen to disobey the curfew and evacuation order. I would like to explain to you why I resisted and I would like to share with you some of my view points on the subject.
You had called for evacuation when I was a senior in college at the University of Washington. I was 24 years of age and very knowledgeable of the constitution. I knew that what was happening to the Japanese in America was not constitutional in the slightest. The conditions in which these poor people were in was horrible and cruel. The places in which they stayed were cramped and their food was not substantial. I chose to resist for these and other unconstitutional reasons. I am not afraid to go against something and I am not afraid of the consequences of my actions. If I do not think something is right, I will go against it, as I did with the evacuation order. I care about my principals very much and I will stand up for what I believe to be right. I follow my beliefs in most circumstances. Another example of when I followed my beliefs happened right before the war. I was with my black friend going to North Carolina. Because of the segregation, people of color could not sit in the front of the bus. I do not believe that it is right for people to be segregated due to skin color and so I suggested to my friend that we sit in the front. We sat in the front, across from the bus driver. I will not stand for situations that go against what I believe in and I will challenge whatever I must. This is just one example of when I resisted. I have attached a voice recording of myself giving more about why I resisted at the bottom of this page. In that recording, I am stating how I cannot bring myself to evacuate because of the reasoning behind it, the reasoning of ancestry.
You "claim" that we were being evacuated to protect national security. You say that "the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material." This is an understandable concern due to the fact that we are in the heat of war, but what about the Italians and Germans that live here. Perhaps the Japanese were the ones who directly attacked Hawaii, but they are not the only people in this war the U.S. is fighting against. Due to the fact that the Japanese were the only ones to be evacuated and interned, I suspect that something deeper is going on. I suspect that "national security" is not the main reason that these events regarding people of Japanese ancestry occurred. These people had done nothing to show that they were disloyal to the United States and yet they were still put into internment camps. In fact, they showed great loyalty through their actions. Over 20,000 Japanese residents fought for the United States while all of this was happening. One group, the 100th Infantry Battalion, even earned the title "the Purple Heart Battalion." On top of that, over 6,000 Japanese residents served in the Military Intelligence Service in the Pacific. They were in the Army and the Navy and the Marine and the Allied units. They participated in every major battle and invasion in the Pacific Theater. Another major group was the 442nd Combat Team. It is one of the most decorated regiments in U.S. history. There were over 18,000 individuals, all of which were of Japanese ancestry and over 9,000 casualties. Just out of these three groups, there were around 44,000 people of Japanese descent fighting for the United States. 44,000 people risking their lives for the United States. Not to mention the thousands that gave their life for the United States. I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty loyal to me. All this and the fact that most of the Japanese residents had never done anything wrong in their entire life leads me to believe that racial prejudice was the real reason Japanese descents went through what they did. If the reason for evacuation was indeed national safety, Germans and Italians would have been interned as well. Clearly they were not, so racial prejudice must be in play here. These people are no different than the rest of the population except for the fact that they are Japanese.
I hope you will take into consideration what I have said today and reflect upon your actions. I truly hope this situation does not arise again in the future.
I am writing you this letter as a person of Japanese ancestry who has chosen to disobey the curfew and evacuation order. I would like to explain to you why I resisted and I would like to share with you some of my view points on the subject.
You had called for evacuation when I was a senior in college at the University of Washington. I was 24 years of age and very knowledgeable of the constitution. I knew that what was happening to the Japanese in America was not constitutional in the slightest. The conditions in which these poor people were in was horrible and cruel. The places in which they stayed were cramped and their food was not substantial. I chose to resist for these and other unconstitutional reasons. I am not afraid to go against something and I am not afraid of the consequences of my actions. If I do not think something is right, I will go against it, as I did with the evacuation order. I care about my principals very much and I will stand up for what I believe to be right. I follow my beliefs in most circumstances. Another example of when I followed my beliefs happened right before the war. I was with my black friend going to North Carolina. Because of the segregation, people of color could not sit in the front of the bus. I do not believe that it is right for people to be segregated due to skin color and so I suggested to my friend that we sit in the front. We sat in the front, across from the bus driver. I will not stand for situations that go against what I believe in and I will challenge whatever I must. This is just one example of when I resisted. I have attached a voice recording of myself giving more about why I resisted at the bottom of this page. In that recording, I am stating how I cannot bring myself to evacuate because of the reasoning behind it, the reasoning of ancestry.
You "claim" that we were being evacuated to protect national security. You say that "the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense material." This is an understandable concern due to the fact that we are in the heat of war, but what about the Italians and Germans that live here. Perhaps the Japanese were the ones who directly attacked Hawaii, but they are not the only people in this war the U.S. is fighting against. Due to the fact that the Japanese were the only ones to be evacuated and interned, I suspect that something deeper is going on. I suspect that "national security" is not the main reason that these events regarding people of Japanese ancestry occurred. These people had done nothing to show that they were disloyal to the United States and yet they were still put into internment camps. In fact, they showed great loyalty through their actions. Over 20,000 Japanese residents fought for the United States while all of this was happening. One group, the 100th Infantry Battalion, even earned the title "the Purple Heart Battalion." On top of that, over 6,000 Japanese residents served in the Military Intelligence Service in the Pacific. They were in the Army and the Navy and the Marine and the Allied units. They participated in every major battle and invasion in the Pacific Theater. Another major group was the 442nd Combat Team. It is one of the most decorated regiments in U.S. history. There were over 18,000 individuals, all of which were of Japanese ancestry and over 9,000 casualties. Just out of these three groups, there were around 44,000 people of Japanese descent fighting for the United States. 44,000 people risking their lives for the United States. Not to mention the thousands that gave their life for the United States. I don't know about you, but that sounds pretty loyal to me. All this and the fact that most of the Japanese residents had never done anything wrong in their entire life leads me to believe that racial prejudice was the real reason Japanese descents went through what they did. If the reason for evacuation was indeed national safety, Germans and Italians would have been interned as well. Clearly they were not, so racial prejudice must be in play here. These people are no different than the rest of the population except for the fact that they are Japanese.
I hope you will take into consideration what I have said today and reflect upon your actions. I truly hope this situation does not arise again in the future.
Sincerely,
Gordon Hirabayashi |
Gordon Hirabayashi explaining why he chose to defy the Japanese evacuation order in 1942. Interviewed by Tom Ikeda and Alice Ito, 1999 |