On February 19, 1942, the issuance of Executive Order 9066 followed the FBI's arrest of more than 700 Japanese-American males, partly in retribution for the Pearl Harbor attack. The American Civil Liberties Union, outraged at Roosevelt's racism, later labeled the detention "the greatest deprivation of civil liberties by government in this country since slavery." In their recent interview for Mother Jones, the Houstons listed reasons for the U.S. government's unprecedented suspension of citizens' rights:
-
anti-Asian agitation on the U.S. West Coast,
-
reaction to economic competition between Caucasians and Japanese Americans, and
-
wartime hysteria, which threatened Asians with outbreaks of violence.
Californians, fearing collusion which might lead to a landing of enemy forces or the sabotage of dams or power plants, conspired to violate Japanese-American freedoms. Mayors, governors, legislators, and the American Legion joined with the media to force removal of Japanese Americans, although no evidence of either espionage or sabotage was ever found.
Eventually, more than 3,000 Japanese-American men were imprisoned — not interned, but imprisoned — even though they remained overwhelmingly pro-American. Many of these were Issei [ee' say], like Ko Wakatsuki — native-born Japanese immigrants who had survived the Depression and were just beginning to realize dreams of financial prosperity when internment snatched away the fruits of their labors. The only area in which this pattern did not prevail was Hawaii, where the population depended too heavily on Japanese labor to confine or idle valuable workers.
