Dark History - 19: Concentration Camps... IN AMERICA?!: Japanese Incarceration

Episode Date: November 10, 2021

After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, America became paranoid as hell, thinking every Japanese person in the U.S. was a spy. News flash: they weren’t. But that didn’t stop one of the ugliest chapters in American history from being written. Today, Bailey tells the grim story about how the Federal Government rounded up and imprisoned over 100,000 Japanese Americans during WWII. Episode Advertisers Include: Wicked Clothes, Liquid IV, Hello Fresh and Apostrophe. Learn more during the podcast about special offers!  For 10% off go to Wickedclothes.com and use promo code DARKHISTORY. 

Hi friends, how are you today? I hope you're having a wonderful day so far because I'm about to ruin it. With another dark story. Welcome to dark history. This is a safe space for all the curious cats out there who think, hey, is history really as boring as I've seen in school? Oh, Nene this is where we come together about all the dark mysterious dramatic stories That maybe you didn't learn about in school because I sure didn't that's for sure

So I have my dark history book here. We're gonna open it up to another dark story. Yay Sorry, let me hold on oh Sorry, let me hold on. Oh, yep, this one's pretty dark, y'all. So this actually, people have been putting on my radar for quite some time. And so I was like, what is this? I've never heard of this before. Naturally, I went down to Google Robbithole and,

it's pretty dark, yeah, it's pretty dark. It's fitting, it's fitting for the show. Today's topic is about the Japanese concentration camps, also known as Japanese internment camps, but we'll talk about that a little later on. We'll explain the difference why the names, all that stuff. I'm not farting. It's my couch. It's the couch making this noise. Great. Okay, let's go back in time to 1942. In Los Angeles, California, George Taked is like any five-year-old American boy. Just doing five-year-old stuff, you know, like playing outside, playing baseball,

running through the sprinklers. I'm just kidding, I've never been a five-year-old boy before, but he did typical five year old stuff. Well, one night as the family was eating dinner, they hear, bang, bang, bang, bang, like an intense knock on the door. So George's father, his name was Norman, he gets up and he answers the front door. Standing there, our soldiers decked out and full on military outfits. Now, George's mother tells him to quickly grab some of his belongings and get ready to

go because they're going on vacation. Now, George is thinking this was like, this is a little weird because his mother was crying, so for going on vacation, why is mom crying? That doesn't make any sense. Well, Frans, just like George, you probably guess that this was not a vacation. These soldiers were taking them to the Santa Anita racetrack in Southern California, which wasn't too far from their home, but why were they taking them to an area to go watch horse races?

Well, they weren't going to watch the ponies. This racetrack was being used as a holding area for Japanese Americans that the American government was imprisoning. BEE! Oh my god, a prisoning? What? What crimes did they do?

The US government was afraid they were all secret spies for the Emperor of Japan. What? Yeah, that's a wild assumption. Big jump they made, but it was made. When the decay family arrived at the racetrack, they were told to move into a single horse stall, the whole family, and this one small-ass little horse stall, with all their belongings. To five-year-old little George, sleeping with the horses seemed pretty cool, but he had no idea like what was really going on. There were actually a lot of things about this

strange vacation that George didn't quite understand. One of them being that they had to put tags on their clothes with random numbers on it, or not long after they were sent to another location in Arkansas halfway across the country instead of going back home. And lastly, there was a lot of angry men looking at them and with guns patrolling them all the time. Like, why was all this happening? From a kid's perspective, this didn't make sense, but his family knew what was happening. So why were they even going through this in the first place? Well, like so many other

families in America, they were being targeted by the American government because they were of Japanese descent. What does that have to do with anything? Well, get this. The American government at this time truly believed that the Japanese Americans were a threat to national security. AKA, they must be spies. MK Ultra Robo Gats. The spark that set everything off was an event you may have heard of called Enter to the Scene Pearl Harbor. And no, not the 2001 American Romantic War drama film directed by Michael Bay, I'm talking about the actual Pearl Harbor. The government used this to imprison over 100,000 Japanese Americans and honestly just amplified

the racism that they were experiencing. America started as a place that welcomed immigrants with arms wide open. It would promise immigrants a fresh start, a new life. And during the late 1800s and early 1900s, America was thriving. She was on the up and up. People wanted to come in and go after that thing called the American Dream.

So many Japanese immigrants took this opportunity to board the boat and take the three-week journey to America. Specifically, the West Coast, because if you look at a map, Barbara, it's closer to Japan. You get it. Now, unfortunately, Americans weren't super pumped about this influx of people who didn't look like them. California was pretty new to America at this time, like as a state. And when people from east of the Mississippi would come to the West Coast, they would suddenly

see a lot of Asian people. Even though the Japanese immigrants came here to start a new life for themselves, there was a lot of tension building between the communities. Despite all of this, Japanese Americans persisted. They opened businesses, set the pledge of allegiance, and wanted to send their kids to good schools. But that didn't change the fact that seeds of racism were soed and all it would take is a little outside pressure to make everyone turn on their Japanese neighbors. So let's talk about World War Two. You ever heard of it? Shock. Me neither, kidding. We all heard about it.

At least I hope. There were Nazis, America dropped nukes, just really awful stuff. Now I'm not minimizing the importance of those stories, but today we're talking about one specific thing. And what's important for this story is what happened in early December of 1941 during World War II. So let's paint the scene. It's the early 1940s.

The war is going on, and there is a lot happening in Europe. At first, America was doing her best to stay out of the war, minding her own business. But the United States ended up sending supplies to France in England to help them out. And Japan had sided with Germany. Since Japan seemed to be an ally of the bad guys, the United States was like, well, I guess we'll stop doing business with you, Japan. And when money is involved or businesses are tarnished or whatever, States was like, well, I guess we'll stop doing business with you, Japan. And when money is involved or businesses are tarnished or whatever, people get real pissed.

So the Japanese government is like, well, bitch, welcome to the war, game on. So on December 7, 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States military base in Hawaii called Pearl Harbor. Early in the morning on December 7th an army private was looking at a radar. Bip-bop-boop and he sees a big cluster of blips on the screen. So he calls his superior officer and he's like, hey, I think like there's a bunch of planes coming at us. And the officer is like, you know, relax. That's us. We're just running some military exercises. Well, the officer was very wrong.

Okay, he was not right with that call, and it was gonna cost a lot of lives. So around 7.55 AM, hundreds of Japanese bombers appeared in the sky. No one on the military base was prepared, and by 8.10 AM, just 15 minutes later, one of America's most powerful battleships was fully destroyed. Destroyed. Over 1100 soldiers were killed in a flurry of bombs falling from the sky. Suddenly, there was

chaos everywhere. Ships, planes, and entire stretches of lands are being blown up by Japanese fighter pilots. And since the United States wasn't prepared for this, almost all of their ships and soldiers were on the land at the time, which was like making them sit in ducks. More than 2400 soldiers ended up dying that day, including 68 civilians. At the time, no country had attacked America like this before. It was almost unheard of, and many believed America had the biggest, baddest army in the whole world. So when this went down, people were absolutely terrified.

Are we next? Are we next? I mean, our own military wasn't even prepared for this. So me as a civilian, like what should I do to protect myself or, you know, chaos scared? Scary. The day after the Pearl Harbor attacks, President Franklin D. Roosevelt made a speech to the American people declaring war against Japan. It was super famous, you could say it was infamous. It's a deep-cut joke. Maybe you get it. Add Break!

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Not only that the media wasn't stealing fear into the people that Japan was, they were coming for you. And people were believing it. In January of 1942 a report came out that claimed the Japanese Americans were actually spies for the Japanese government. There were over 100,000 Japanese Americans in the United States of the time,

and there was no way they were all spies, but people ran with it. Soon journalists started claiming things like all Japanese Americans were secretly waiting for a moment to sabotage the country. Another journalist said quote, if making one million innocent Japanese uncomfortable would prevent one scheming Japanese from costing the life of American boy, then let one million innocent Japanese suffer." End quote. So that's not good, you know?

Unfortunately, a lot of American people were listening to this guy. The people are putting pressure on the government to do something, right? They're like, hey, you fail to protect Pearl Harbor from the Japanese. Now you better do something before it happens again, right? So the FBI would start to lead raids on the homes of well-known Japanese Americans trying to prove that they were spies. Like maybe they would find a little receipt from the local spy store that would prove they were indeed spies or something.

Japanese communities started to whisper amongst each other about the type of behaviors that could make you look suspicious. And they started to act extra American and patriotic in the hopes they wouldn't be targeted. A woman named Maryl Sukumoto said in an interview that families would burn or hide family heirlooms that they brought over from Japan. Honestly, they're just trying to distance themselves from Japan, like it seemed like the right thing to do. But to the FBI, this seemed like something a spy would do. Like I'm gonna spy, we're trying to act like that. I don't know, it's just like damned if you do, damned if you don't.

So what happens when you combine racist paranoia with the military rage to solve this issue at all costs? Question mark? Well, it results in hundreds of thousands of people forced out of their homes and into camps out in the middle of nowhere for years. For years. So we all know about these camps. But the World War II camps you're probably thinking about aren't the ones I'm talking about. Oh, nay nay. The camps I'm talking about were right here in the good ol' US of A. Yeah, this one seems to get really glossed over in history class. I don't remember anything about...

I didn't, I never learned this. Did you? Crigots, I hear crickets. So, just about two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order to round up Japanese Americans, most of the American American citizens. This executive order was to remove them from their homes and put them into camps. Essentially, the United States version of a concentration camp.

Gasp. Concentration camp here in America? Bailey, you traitor! Hmm, according to the Oxford Dictionary, the definition of concentration camp is, quote, a place where large numbers of people, especially political prisoners, or members of persecuted minorities, are deliberately imprisoned in a relatively small area with inadequate facilities, sometimes to provide forced labor or to await mass execution. And quote, which is exactly what you're going to see.

That's what's happening at these camps, Barb. Call it what it is. People tiptoe calling these concentration camps for some odd reason, I don't know why. Just call it what it is. So if you've heard of these camps, you may have heard of them as called internment camps, but that does not even really encompass how awful these places were. So we will refer to them. We made me my pillows here. Oh, and Joan. So we will refer to them as concentration camps and there's this weird thing where people don't want to call them concentration camps, but it is what it is. It fits the definition. Hello, it doesn't minimize anyone else's trauma

But also let's not be a little trauma these Japanese Americans went through and I'm not blaming you I'm blaming America because America over here is like, uh, we didn't do that It's not a concentration camp, But it is. So just call it that. Okay, great. We solved it. Well, unlike actual prison, these concentration camps are a place where people are sent when they haven't actually been convicted of a crime. There's not really any intention to charge them with a crime either. During any war, these are places that the military can put people who they consider a threat. It's more of a way to prevent possible crimes. If that sounds a little suspicious, it's because it is.

Now the craziest part about this is how certain areas of the United States defined Japanese. California, for instance, defined anyone who was at least one-sixteenth Japanese, they qualified to be sent away. One-sixteenth. Think about how crazy that is. So if you're looking at a pizza and it has eight slices, it's half of one slice. So I don't know about you, but that's not enough pizza for me, right? What about you? Probably not. So what you supposed to do was so little pizza. Well, according to the government,

it was enough to throw you in pizza jail over. But first, let's pause for an ad break. So, hi, popping in here for an ad break really quick. I just got a spin bike. Yeah, and I've been like working out in the mornings. I know, weird. It's really helped me give like an extra boost in the morning. I don't know, I get like a burst of energy

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Me too. At this time, there were almost 140,000 Japanese Americans in the United States, and almost all of them were forced into these camps. Maryl from earlier said that her grandfather had been in the United States for over 50 years when the United States government put him in one of these camps. Mind you, at this point he was an American citizen who had minded his own damn business for over 50 years. But according to America, he was now put in a category as an enemy of the state. This poor man, he was in his 70s.

What's he gonna do? Leave him alone! He's an American citizen! But Bayley, American citizens can't just be imprisoned for no reason. We have rights. Innocent until proven guilty. LOL, this is dark history. The process of removing these American citizens from their homes went like this.

Some people were gathered by soldiers, some were given summons, like in the mail, asking them to show up at a specific place, at a specific time. Then they would arrive at the location which was said to have very inhumane conditions while they waited to be processed. These were called assembly centers and there was zero privacy and rumor has it, it was just very, it was very unsanitary, small, dirty, it's not great obviously. From the very start it just seemed to be very to humanizing. But this wasn't their final stop.

From this place, families are then shipped off on trains to one of the 10 camps set up all over the country. And after the train ride, the families would arrive at these camps. These were huge areas with hundreds of poorly made wood buildings just packed into a fenced area behind barbed wire where American soldiers with guns could keep their eye on them. And the rooms in these buildings were...small. I mean, the boring answer is that they were 16 by 20 feet, but to put that in perspective for you, it's basically a very tiny astute apartment. These rooms, if you want to call them that, sometimes would be filled with like one or more families, and sometimes as many as three to four families. When I got cold, the wood was so weak on these buildings that the boards would shrink,

and then snakes would slip through the cracks and get inside. So now there's snakes too. I mean, what the hell? Why? I don't know. There is remember having to wear masks while they were sleeping because the wind was so strong it would send sand into their mouth and nose when they slept. So what do they do all day at these camps? I mean they were probably going to be here as long as the war was going on so they had to do something. Well, a lot of the jobs adults did here were about maintaining this new community.

The government wasn't supplying the funding needed to have a normal functioning mini-society, so the people were employed by the government for very little money, of course, to run the place themselves. For example, every block had like kitchen staff, including a chef, who would cook for their neighbors, which is bizarre because they snatched them from their homes to put them in small spaces to then try and lead a normal life, manage a mini society. I just don't understand what the goal was here. It just... it doesn't make any sense, right? I know. I don't know.

I don't know. Well with hundreds of thousands of people you're going to need a lot of stuff to support the lives of everyone there. Within the community, they started newspapers, shops, schools, hospitals, and even their own police and fire departments, but the government would send a white person to be the head of each department, and then employ Japanese people to work for them for way less than minimum wage. People also had their own farms where they could grow produce and raise livestock for the markets as well.

At one relocation center in Arkansas, Japanese American high school students had their own band, sports teams, and activities like prom and the student council. I mean they even had their own yearbooks. But I know this like sounds like oh that's right. And some people's whole jobs were just digging trenches. You know for when people had to use the restroom because these buildings didn't have proper restrooms. At one camp it was said that the only furnishings provided were a stove, one hanging light bulb, cots, blankets, and mattresses filled with straw. So people would look around and try to figure out ways to make it a little more home-like and make it more comfortable for their family. At least as best as they could considering everything they were up against.

Now, my sound like the Japanese Americans took this situation and made it their own, but they were still prisoners in their own country. Okay? They were not allowed to leave the camp at all, and as we discussed, they were living in beyond horrible conditions. But I say all this to show you just how strong these people were in the face of their own country betraying them. Because for most Japanese Americans, they considered themselves Americans. And these concentration camps weren't going to get in the way that they were indeed American citizens. As America's involvement in World War II continued, the United States government

realized that these camps couldn't be maintained forever. So they had to figure out what to do with all the Japanese Americans that they had locked up. I mean, I know what you're thinking because I'm thinking it too like you could just let them go. Step one. No. We're not doing that. No, they're not doing that. So they came up with another plan and they called it a loyalty questionnaire. This questionnaire would help the United States government decide if they can start releasing some of the captives at the camp because they were deemed safe aka not a spy. Just a normal American citizen.

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I mean, they're just giving away all sorts of stuff, okay? That's hellofresh.com slash dark history 14 and use code dark history 14 for up to 14 free meals and three free gifts. Now let's get back to the story. So remember that quote earlier from the journalist who said he was willing to let one million people suffrage prevent one spy from attacking America. Yeah, that guy. Unfortunately, that was the government's mentality as well. But now they were starting to think maybe we should tone this down a little bit, you know? They knew that not all of these people had to be spies. They were just worried about

the potential spies that may be amongst them. So nothing like a multiple choice test to determine if someone is a highly trained government spy. Because spies fail tests. Of course, everyone knows that. So a year into their time at these camps, every resident was given a questionnaire. Now, I kind of just glossed over the fact that I said a year, a year into these camps. This wasn't like just, hey, we're gonna hold you here for a week, not that I'm gonna mix it any better.

But like, they were there for a long time. Anyways, they gave him a stupid-ass questionnaire. It's like, hey, what's your age? What's your sex? Are you registered to vote? Do you pledge undying allegiance to America and not Japan? Basically, are you team-Japan or team America? And it turns out the questionnaire was meant to establish just how loyal each of them were

to United States government. Seems simple, right? Well, it wasn't just a harmless test. People knew that this test was a big deal for them because depending on your answers, they might let you leave the camp. This questionnaire got really confusing with questions 27 and 28, okay? Question 27 asked if you would be willing to serve as a combat soldier or nurse, which doesn't sound that weird, but it was a kind of weird question and most of the people taking the survey thought it was a trick question. They were like, I'm a

schoolteacher not a soldier, but does that mean I'm not American enough? Like, were they asking them to literally join the military right then and there? And what if you answer yes, then would you have to join World War II to fight for a country that just freaking locked you up for years? And even if you did join the war, at this time the military was racially segregated, and many Japanese men found this completely disrespectful. So generally the real answer would be, no, thank you, Maybe before the war, maybe before you imprisoned me in this camp, but definitely not now. I mean, that's what they want to say, right? But it's like, this is a true question.

But question 28 really takes the cake. I'll just read to you, and you could try to make sense of it. Okay, question 28. Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States and for us to swear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese Emperor, to any other foreign government, power or organization? I mean, that's really confusing. I mean, you know, before they asking? It's just like a weird question. I mean, in case you forgot, most of the people at these camps

were born as American citizens. So it's really weird to have to denounce an emperor that's never been your leader in the first place. And also, this was just the questionnaire for Japanese Americans born in America. There was a whole other load of confusion for Japanese Americans originally born in America. There was a whole other load of confusion for Japanese Americans, originally born in Japan. It was like two separate tests, different questions. It was just a lot. This whole

questionnaire thing was so messed up, it could be its own episode, but the main takeaway is the same country that ripped these people from their homes and businesses is now saying, answer these simple questions and you could be free. I would be very suspicious too. So, understandably, most of the people in the camps thought this was a trap and it started to create problems within the Japanese-American community. Some believed not answering yes and yes to the two final questions would hurt the community. It would be better for everyone if they all obviously supported America. Don't give them anything to be suspicious about. Others felt not being fully honest with the questions was also un-American. What to do? What to do. Most of the people in the camps answered yes, yes to those questions. A woman named Rose said she answered yes because Arslie, she's wanted to get on with

her life, just play along with their dumb little questionnaire and just let me go home. Do you blame her? Absolutely not. Many of the people she was in camp with agreed because to them this wasn't about loyalty, it was about survival. But there were some who felt like, wait a minute, we are Americans. All of this is against our constitutional rights. And so, on principle alone, these people voted no, no.

No I don't want to join the army and no I don't want to swear off the Emperor of Japan because I shouldn't have to since I'm American. And like I don't know the guys, the Emperor of Japan because I shouldn't have to since I'm American and like I don't know the guys so fuck you in your questions. In fact these people are known today as the Nounos, not Nounos, no Nounos. And the sent red flags of flying for the government. So what do the government do with the quote disloyal Nounos? Well they got sent to another freaking camp. And even worse camp. Tually Lake was created at the same time as all the other concentration camps,

but after the questionnaire, Tually Lake transitioned to a maximum security camp with the sole purpose of keeping the dangerous Japanese Americans at bay. At its peak, the camp Tually Lake had around 18,000 people in it, making it the largest of the camps by far. It also had the biggest military presence with a thousand military cops and around 20 guard towers. Like, it's just really extra. Unlike the other camps, Tully Lake was a full-blown maximum security prison where no one there was convicted of anything. They're crime? Well, it was just existing, I guess. But this was where the government sent the people they considered the worst threats.

The conditions here were even worse than the other camps. I mean, the government didn't consider these people American and basically didn't even consider them human either. People were forced to work in the fields to harvest crops for the rest of the camp, and if you refused to work, you were fined $20 per month. And when you're making basically no money, that's a huge ass fine. And within the prison, when people stepped out of line, they ended up in the stockade, which is basically a prison within a prison, so many prisons going on. Oh my god. And what landed you there? Being a quote, unquote, general troublemaker, or being too

well educated to well educated. Give me a freaking break point blank period. give break point blank period cap on deck print receipt reverse print ink ink Hp inkjet okay like the rest of the camp the stockings were disgusting and absolutely barbaric so prisoners were growing angry and combined this with food shortages and forced labor people were just rightfully pissed. At the government, and we're just going to sit there and take it. So the feds enforced martial law, which basically means the military is completely in charge of the camps and what the prisoners did. No more social gatherings or school for the kids. It was full on prison mode.

People couldn't have any type of privacy and everyone was subject to searches by guards almost daily. So tensions were high and people were angry. So eventually, peace will protest broke out within the camps. But I'm going to say honorably peace will protest broke out within the camps. Because honestly, they are being treated like animals,

and they still like had peaceful protests. Incredible, right? Right? That's amazing. Well, of course, the media got word of this, and they were like, oh my God, there's riots and armed insurrections going on. These people are nuts.

It's just so stupid. And I only feel the flames of Japanese distrust in America. What a letdown huh? Who can you trust around here? Because it's sharing America. You little nasty ass bitch. Two sided back stabbing little bitch. You little big ass bitch.

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taken down, and the people who lived there were slowly, emphasis on slowly, were being released. The people who answered yes, yes, on that questionnaire, they often got to leave after that, but the real reason this ended was because Japan surrendered in August of 1945. This only happened after America dropped nuclear bombs on them. Not one, but two nuclear bombs. I've been sitting here for like five minutes trying to say nuclear. It's not going that well. I can't say that word. Let me add it to my list of words. I cannot say nuclear. This event should be a whole episode in itself

because hundreds of thousands of people, many of them civilians, and even not even soldiers were killed. It's tragic. Not to mention the lasting side effects of radiation. Yeah, we got it. Let's save that for another episode, huh? But anyway, now the war was over. America had no reason to keep its Japanese American citizens locked up anymore. Not like they had much of a reason in the first place, but they're like, yeah, I guess

we can let them go now. By the time they were released, a lot of people had lost everything back home. They had been gone for like three or four years. So when they left, they didn't have the same place to go home to. And they for sure, like lost their jobs and their businesses. And there are some nice stories out there about people protecting their Japanese neighbors' homes the whole time they were away to prevent them from getting robbed or something. But the vast majority of people had to completely start over. And now America has about 110,000 people who needed jobs, homes, schools, their whole lives back. Okay, so the camps are closed and people have been released, but you don't just get over being

imprisoned by the government for no reason. Well, the United States government eventually got around to recognizing this injustice in 1988, a whole 40 years later. There had been somebody advocating for the United States government to take accountability for these horrible choices that were made. Somebody who lived in the camps and knew what was happening in them firsthand. And after the war had ended, he dedicated his entire life to making sure nobody would ever forget about the atrocities committed to Japanese Americans on US soil ever again.

This man, his name was Mr. Fred Corey Matsu. Way back in 1942, Fred was walking down the street in Central California with his girlfriend. Police pull up and suddenly surround him and arrest him just for being Japanese. This was actually a few months after the evacuation order that put Japanese Americans away. But Fred, he had ignored the order because he wanted to start a life and settle down with his girlfriend. So Fred, he was basically avoiding the government, all in the name of love,

and principal, but mostly love. But getting arrested put a damper on Fred's plans, and he would end up being sent to one of these concentration camps. However, right before being sent to the camp, Fred met a lawyer who had a plan to sue the United States government and put a stop to this whole dam thing. Fred was completely on board, but the government was still sending him to a camp. So the lawyer promised him he would handle it while Fred was away. Everything we described about the conditions in the camp, Fred lived through it and worse. Because of the fact that he had ignored the government, he was scolded by his family who viewed his actions as dishonorable.

Fred's case made it all the way up to the Supreme Court. But sorry to be a downer, it didn't result in any immediate change for him. The Supreme Court said the police were right to arrest him and they were just acting the way they had to during wartime. Well a few years later, Fred would ask his conviction to be overturned, and this time the Department of Justice said his conviction should be overturned because it was part of a quote, Unfortunate Episode in our nation's history." Unfortunate Episode is how you describe getting a nosebleed during a make-out sash, and not a whole last period of American civil rights being violated.

Hmm? Either way, Fred led the charge against the inhumane actions of the United States government throughout World War II toward its own citizens. And he went on to lobby for the passage of the 1988 Civil Liberties Act. This basically forced the government to apologize and take some kind of accountability. And it also said the government should pay money to every affected person. Twenty thousand dollars each. Yay. I roll. I mean, it's something, but it's not like that makes up for years of generational trauma that many would experience. Remember the TK family from earlier? They would get out of these camps in the late 40s, just like everyone else, and would struggle for a long time after. They would end up having to live on Skid

Row and Los Angeles for a time until they could get a house of their own again, but by sheer determination and persistence, they got back on their feet and were able to provide George the confidence he needed to pursue his dream as an actor in Hollywood. Turned out, he was good at it and eventually would grow up to become one of the most famous movie stars ever! He starred in Star Trek and countless movies, and continues to be an advocate for LGBTQ plus rights, and speaks up against anti-Asian hate. I can't even tell you how many people found love with George through their TV screens while having no idea the type of horror that this family had to go through at the hands

of their government. Pillow fight with the government. Well none of the money or apologies or famous survivors would make up for the fact that the entire Japanese-American community was permanently affected by this. Before the war, most of them had closely followed Japanese traditions and customs, but after this, many Japanese people doubled down on the idea of fully blending into American society. This wasn't even for patriotic reasons either. One person who survived the camps called its psychological barbed wire, meaning that there

was a fear that if you stepped out of line, something like this would definitely happen again. After years of America being out war with the country of Japan, do you think that when the war ends and you have Japanese Americans coming back the rest of America welcomed them with open arms? Well arms what open? Hell no! For decades Asian Americans would face all kinds of hate partly because it was so normalized during the war and took years for the government to acknowledge it. Many Americans of the Japanese descent have talked about their own families not teaching them because it was so normalized during the war and took years for the government to acknowledge it.

Many Americans of the Japanese descent have talked about their own families not teaching them about their family history and traditions, so that they would only learn about American things and not have a hard time blending in with their peers. The older generation never wanted them to feel like outsiders. Isn't that heartbreaking though? I mean, that they work so hard to give them a better life and they Isn't that heartbreaking though? I mean that they

work so hard to give them a better life and they don't even feel safe celebrating their own culture and tradition. Now remember no one's experience in the Japanese concentration camps were exactly the same. I mean this happened to over 100,000 American citizens. So this is episode attempts to cover thousands of unique stories across 10 locations. But what they all have in common is that Japanese concentration camps are staying on American history. And for too many people, this is a story of betrayal, misery, and destruction. The American dream or the hell that means we're so difficult for Japanese Americans to get a hold of. But after this, it felt

damn near impossible. Homes were ruined, businesses were sold out from underneath them, and the community bonds they once cherished were fully destroyed. All this undercut any generational wealth being built. So this not only impacted people at the time, but generations into the future, because Japanese Americans had to start their lives completely over after these camps closed. And the psychological consequences are still being felt today. The thing that keeps coming up in these stories is that it seems from the start that this is a bad idea. And then by the end, there's a grim lesson to be learned. And it's always something like, don't trust so-and-so.

The government, people in charge, whatever. But we should know that this can happen to any of us. Any group can suddenly become a target of a grand scheme like this one. And we have to look out for our neighbors, even if they're not actually like you. Understand a perspective different than your own, I mean, and build some character. And at the end of the day, we are all humans and we should care about our fellow humans. It's easy to look the other way when this isn't happening to you. But if it does happen to you, you sure as shit are gonna hope there is some Fred Kormatsu's among you. Let me close my dark history book

because this chapter sucked ass. Well, thank you everyone for learning with me today. Now don't be afraid to ask questions or to get the real story because we deserve that, right? Now I'd love to hear your reactions to this story, so make sure to use the hashtag dark history over on social media so I can follow along. Also, I'm so sorry that history, American history sucks ass. I've said it before, I'm gonna say it a million times more. American History sucks ass. I've said it before, I'm gonna say a million times more. American History sucks ass. But when we learn it and we acknowledge it,

we could do better in the future together. Right? That was a high five. Join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And also catch my murder mystery makeup which drops on Mondays. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day.

You make good choices. Be a good person today. Try it out. And I'll talk to you next week. Goodbye. Dark History is an audio boom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Kim Jacobs, Dunia McNeely from Three Arts, Ed Simpson, and Claire Turner from Wheelhouse DNA, and my dog, St.

Produced by Lexi Kiven, Dariel Christon, and Spencer Strasmoor. Research provided by Ramona Kivitt, writers, Jed Bookout, Michael Obers, Joey Scavuzo, and Meet Bailey Serian, and Kim Jacobs. We all worked on it. St was there too, shit. We want to thank the organization Den Show. If you are interested in learning more about the Japanese concentration camps, come on and check out Den Show, which is an organization dedicated to preserving, educating, and sharing

the stories of Japanese concentration camps. I've included the link in the description box down below. And I'm your host, Brailleusarian. Thanks for hanging out with me. I'll see you later. Bye. That was cute. Oh my god! Ghost Hand!