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Majerle Chirrick Dr. Sue Bennett HON 1010A-01 14 April 2014 The Social impacts on the American-Japanese vs. American-Muslims 1942 was a rough time for the United States. World War II had just begun, shortages in food and rations were common, and an overwhelming sadness made its way across the states. But not only were Americans facing a struggle, so were the people supposedly behind enemy lines. The American-Japanese were also greatly affected by the impact of war. Through the years, the United States has coped with these battles by using whatever means necessary in hoping to secure the safety of its inhabitants. In 1942, that form of security came by the means of evacuating every Japanese decent living in America, and taking them to internment camps until the war was over. Targeting those people who have ancestry with the opposing side seemed to become a common theme of the U.S. On September 11, 2001, two American airline planes hit the twin towers, causing them to collapse, and targeting American-Muslims as the cause. Although World War II and the 9/11 attack greatly impacted the United States, the way the American Japanese and Muslims were treated during/after the event were seen as similar due to the fear of the other citizens of America. In order to ensure protection against the enemy during World War II, the JapaneseAmericans were ordered to evacuate, loaded up in busses to be put on a train, and then sent off to internment camps to await the end of the war. The Utah Education Network stated: Two-thirds of the people interned were citizens of the United States. This action was fueled by the fear that Americans of Japanese ancestry might commit acts of treason against the United States. So

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Japanese Americas were forced to leave their homes and move into detention/internment camps as a result of an executive order (Japanese-American Internment). Topaz, Utah was one of those camps, located in the desert, the living conditions were just bearable. Weather causing intense heat and sand storms in the summer, and temperatures below zero with ice and snow in the winter. When the Emperor was Divine, by Julie Otsuka, tells perfectly of the conditions the Japanese were put in and what they had to endure until they were no longer a threat or an enemy and could go home. A good description of the dust can be found on Page 64: Always, he would remember the dust. It was soft and white and chalky, like talcum powder. Only the alkaline made your skin burn. It made your nose bleed. It made your eyes sting. It took your voice away. The dust got into your shoes. Your hair. Your pants. Your mouth. Your bed. Your dreams. (Otsuka). The barracks the Japanese were housed in were nothing but pine planks, with tarpaper as the only insulation. They were heated by coals stoves, yet there were sometimes shortages in coal and home cooking was discouraged (Beckwith). Besides the weather, guards were heavily stationed and barbed wire fences covered the entire area of the concentration camp. The relocation services did try to make Topaz seem more like a community, by putting up street signs, giving passes to shop in the nearby town, Delta, and have jobs outside of the camp. But the health and morale of the Japanese-Americans still declined greatly. Another major event the struck America with a shock, was when American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. At this time the war on Iraq, and the Arab people were of great interest, so of course, the American-Muslim people living in the United States were targeted. This attack planted a new kind of prejudice into the American people.

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A study was conducted on how post 9/11 affected the Muslim-American. Twenty-five percent of participants reported verbal assaults, 22 percent reported workplace discrimination, 19 percent reported unprovoked interrogation by government agents and 19 percent reported physical assaults. As well as before the attack a vast majority of the studies participants felt safe or extremely safe in the United States, afterward more than 82 percent felt unsafe to extremely unsafe in the United States. (Clay). The study also examined anxiety and depression rates about adult Arab-Americans. Half of the participants had depression serious enough to warrant further assessment, and a quarter reported moderate to severe anxiety. Hate crimes, picketing, and physical assaults were also made against the Muslim-Americans. The American-Muslims were not taken away from their homes, or forced to comply with authority and submit to concentrations camps. But the treatment can be compared similar to the treatment of the Japanese-Americans during World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Eric Kaemmerer of Kaleidoscope (Alabama) said: The discrimination against Muslims and Arab-Americans is similar to the Pearl Harbor bombings and treatment of Japanese-Americans. The entire country started had started to look at them like spies and murderers, going so far as to round them up and lock them up into internment camps. (Kaemmerer). During the ending of World War II, the president signed a contract to apologize to the Japanese-Americans, and offer compensation to the survivors. The Muslim-Americans threatened by the 9/11 attack were offered nothing, not even an apology for the other citizens behavior. Although the events were very different, and in two very different time periods, the effects and actions of those are similar in the way that they treated any of those people who were associated with the incident, whether it be by the same race or religion. And although the treatment of the two groups differed, the way if affected them could be seen as the same, or with the same intentions.

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It is only a natural for people to react rashly with horrific incidents that hit close to home. Although the treatment of people other than the American Citizens can be seen as very controversial. Whenever something horrific happens to the United States people are quick to place their hatrednot just on those who committed the atrocityon anyone who is of the same race or religion. This is supposed to be a land of equal opportunity yet hatred for others who are different seems to spread like wildfire. (Kaemmerer). The coping mechanisms of the United States are somewhat outdated. The attacks of 9/11 and the bombing of Pearl Harbor during World War II were almost 60 years apart, yet the treatment of those who were seen to be involved or the enemy were close to the same. Fear of the other American citizens caused mistreatment of the Japanese-Americans and the Muslim-Americans due to the similarity of race or religion, and they bother can be compared to each other by the means of the effect it had on those two groups.

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Works Cited Beckwith, Jane. "Utah History Encyclopedia." Utah History To go. Utah.gov, 2014. Web. 14 Apr 2014. Clay, Rebecca A.. "Muslims in America, Post 9/11." American Psychological Association. American Psychological Association, September 2011. Web. 14 Apr 2014. "Japanese-American Internment." Utah Education Network. Utah State Office of Education. Web. 14 Apr 2014. Kaemmerer, Eric. "Arab Americans & Muslims suffered after 9/11, too." Kaleidoscope. University of Alabama at Birmingham, 11 Sept 2012. Web. 14 Apr 2014. Otska, Julie. When The Emperor Was Divine. New York: Anchor Books, 2002. Print.