Xenophobia towards Japanese-Americans was a driving force towards Japanese internment camps, violation of their basic human rights, and all other forms of social injustice. The Japanese who had come to America correctly and faithfully to become American citizens, had been treated inhumanely. Their hard work and dedication towards making a successful living had been wiped away with a scratch of a pen; through Executive Order 9066. This made it official and legal for Japanese internment camps to exist and the action taken against Japanese to put them there. The Japanese-Americans were not seen as allies or friends, they were seen as enemies. All of these terrible acts of humanity had all been based off of an ethnic disparity and nothing more. How could these despicable acts happen? What is the true cause of racism and xenophobia? How can we possibly answer this rooted question that has been asked for ages?

To answer this question, we have to understand the general history of this time period. The Western World was currently in a world war and it was on December 7, 1941 that the Japanese Navy had bombed Pearl Harbor; killing thousands of innocent people. Consequently, this had caused the United States to declare war on Japan, officially bringing them into WWII.

This attack resulted in heavy social unrest and xenophobia in America. American citizens began to blame the Japanese-Americans for Pearl Harbor. They were falsely accused of being military spies for their home country. In public, White Americans would unjustly discriminate the Japanese, they would call them racial slurs, refuse any business with them, and even go as far as attacking them and vandalizing their private property. They were even forced to sell their homes for a fraction of the price and their businesses were taken down. In Japanese-internment camps they were forced to live in poor conditions, work on the fields, and were not allowed to leave. The saddest part is that almost all of them were innocent and had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor, which many children and the elderly had died in these camps.

Racism is taught and developed, it’s not something you are born with. That being said, White-Americans in the 1940’s were prevalent of being racists to not just Japanese-Americans, but other minority groups including Blacks, Native-Americans, and other Asians as well. Racism all starts with a group in power (the majority) over a group that is not (the minority). It’s not rocket science to understand that the majority will undoubtedly view the minority in a lesser way; as they hold more power and influence to perform acts in their favor or of injustice and likely get it away with it. Thus, this broadly explains the racism and xenophobia against the Japanese-Americans, they were never viewed as equal in the first place therefore the violation of their human-rights was not seen as immoral or wrong, the thought never crossed their mind.

But the concept of power applies to all forms of social injustice and inequality. In August 14, 1971, there was a social experiment that took place in Stanford University. The experiment had formed two groups of people (boys), where one group would be the “guards” and the other would be the “prisoners”. With free reign to do whatever they want, the guards ended up abusing their power, beating up the prisoners, stripping their clothes, and degrading them by making them do unethical acts. This experiment had proven that people will conform to their societal roles, and inhumane and cruel acts will form from the rules and principles of the institution to those in power. When you wonder how so many people can be so racist and evil, it can be answered through the fact that it starts from the very institution that we are under, and it only takes one person for the rest to follow in racism. Our very leaders, laws, and social norms all breed the notion of social inequality and the sinful things that come with it, including racism, xenophobia, and bigotry. The imbalance of power among humans is one of the major roots of inequality.