"I Am An American!"

The true story of the Nisei Warriors of World War II

"Yesterday, Dec. 7, 1941 - a date which will live in infamy - the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, Dec. 7, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese empire."

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

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"WHEREAS the successful prosecution of the war requires every possible protection against espionage and against sabotage to nation-defence...I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War...to prescribe military areas in such places and of such extent as he...may determine, from which any or all persons may be excluded."

President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Executive Order No. 9066, Feb 19, 1942

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Innocently sounding enough, Executive Order No. 9066 granted military Authorities the power to declare entire regions to be "military areas" and to take whatever steps were necessary to "remove" from the area any persons thought to be a sabotage or espionage threat.   It was a "relocation" provision designed to move Japanese American citizens from their homes, mostly in Hawaii and on the west coast, to controlled areas... specifically, hastily constructed camps surrounded by barbed wire, gun towers, and guards with orders to shoot anyone trying to escape.

The headlines in the "San Francisco Examiner" aptly interpreted the true meaning of Executive Order No. 9066 with headlines that read:

"Ouster of All Japs in California Near!"

"I am an American" became the cry of thousands of citizens of Japanese origin, many of them posting signs on their homes and businesses to combat the hysteria and prejudice following the attack on Pearl Harbor.  The cry went largely unheeded.  From March to May more than 110,000 American citizens were uprooted from their homes and moved to "relocation camps" in Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, California, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming.   Businesses were lost, homes sold quickly and far below market value, families were separated, privacy and dignity stripped from men, women and children...all because of the color of their skin and the origin of their ethnic heritage.  Persons with as little as one-sixth Japanese heritage...even Japanese children raised in white foster homes...fell into the category of "potential threats to national security."   During one Congressional hearing on the matter a Japanese-American asked,

"Has the Gestapo come to America?"

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