Civil Rights for Immigrants and Minorities During World War I

1. Civil Rights for Immigrants and Minorities During World War I By Adrianna Jean-Louis & Ashley Pierre

2. Japanese • Internment:On Feb. 19, 1942 FDR authorized the internment of the Japanese from their homes to internment centers. • Prompted after the attack on Pearl Harbor on the assumption/precaution that sonme Japanese in America had “loyalties” to their native Japan and would try and harm the U.S. • Japanese people that were serving America were kicked out of the service and forced to join their families in these internment camps • a small but wise group of government officials obtained President Roosevelt’s approval to form an all-volunteer, segregated Japanese American unit for combat in the European Theater. This unit was called the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Eventually, 13,000 Japanese Americans served in the 442nd in Europe and 3,000 served in the Asian Pacific Theaters—many in combat units on the front lines. • Joe Ichiuji: I’d like to answer by saying that I volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. I wanted to prove that I was a loyal American and wanted to fight for my country during a time of war. And I also wanted to prove that the U.S. government was wrong in the internment of Japanese Americans and to treat us as enemy aliens. So I felt that this was the only way to get my friends out of the camp

3. German • The government use many constitutionally questionable methods to control the persons of German ancestry, including internment, individual and group exclusion from military zones, deportation and “alien enemy” registration which in my opinion is very similar to Hitler requiring the Jews to wear the Star of David on their clothing. • Families were disrupted if not destroyed, reputations ruined and belongings confiscated and all because the American government felt the need to be so biased toward the people that came from different countries completely ignoring the fact that a lot of these people and their families have lived and loved the U.S for generations, even serving our country. All these people were ridiculed for their heritage. • By the end of the war 11,00 persons of German descent including many American-born children were interned.Germans

4. Otto Karl Johann Pinnow “In Peru my father worked at the company "Gildemeister." He had hoped that the war would end in 1942. In his mind he believed the Nazis would be defeated, and Northern Germany would be separated from Southern Germany, because in his opinion the Nazis came from the south. Northern Germany, particularly Hamburg, had a history of Hanseatic tradition with a historic mission to commerce and freedom. In 1942, my father was taken from Peru by U.S. Authorities to Camp Kenedy at Kenedy, Texas [1]. Of course, my father lost everything except the clothes he had on his back. To my father this was a gross violation of every human and international right. How could this egregious behavior be justified? Camp Kenedy had traumatized my father. He was a reasonable person, sensitive to issues of humanity, he believed in the rule of law and a civil way of life. He believed in human ethics and their importance in commanding all behavior - especially unwritten law. The USA violated all justice by incarcerating internees with no identification of cause. Internees had no idea of the charges for which they were arrested or incarcerated. Surely, this was unjust and against all human morals and dignity. With one exception my father for the remainder of his life he refused to put a foot on US-soil again. The exception was when he was forced, because there was no direct flight from a South American country, to layover in an airport with American jurisdiction. He restricted his movement to the international section of the airport even though his layover lasted several hours. My father summed up his experiences with this simple sentence: "Never trust the Americans; they do not respect any law." In conclusion, my father's incarceration left deep wounds. Even simple things like fences affected his behavior. His years of incarceration left so much angst that he avoided all fenced areas. As a child I remember that during beach holidays, for instance, he would avoid fenced areas. Only the “wild” parts of the beach allowed him to be comfortable. Again, it is important for history to document WWII internment stories, like my father's, so others can learn from these experiences. “

6. African Americans • African Americans • More than 3 million blacks would register for service during the war with some 500,000 seeing action overseas • According to War Department policy at the time enlisted blacks and whites were organized in separate units. • Black servicemen were forced to combat racism as they sought to win the war, this was known as the “Double V” strategy as they were not only fighting in the war effort but the respect that comes with being a soldier fighting for your country. • African American Heroes: Doris Miller a young Navy steward on the U.S.S. West Virginia carried wounded crewmembers to safety and manned a machine gun post though  untrained and managed to shoot down several Japanese planes, he later died in combat a couple years later. Cuba Gooding Jr. as Doris Miller video • Tuskgee Airmen video

7. Youtube Links • http://youtu.be/qMPLpExgkGg • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC3wpdHbEfM&feature=youtu.be