Annotated Bibliography
Editor in Review.
(1941 December, 12). Let’s Keep Our Record Clear. Northwest Enterprise.
Retrieved from http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/news_colasurdo.htm
The editor of the
newspaper Northwest Enterprise calls for unity among the citizens of the
greater Seattle area. He shows prescience in calling for restraint towards the Japanese-Americans less than a week after the bombings at Pearl Harbor. Knowing that the newspaper's reputation would be placed at the forefront, the editor goes further in defending the loyalty of 15,000,000 citizens of African heritage and states that the loyalty of any group of American citizens should not be called into question without sufficient cause. By taking such an unpopular stance, the editor saw beyond the heated rhetoric of the day and proved to be a voice of reason in the immediate aftermath of the bombings of Pearl Harbor.
Rothstein, E. (2011, December 09). The How of an Internment, but Not All the Whys. The New York Times. Retrieved November 26, 2016, from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/10/arts/design/heart-mountain-interpretive-learning-center-review.html
Mr. Rothstein looks back on the internment of Japanese-Americans and attempts t to describe the situation in terms of context. He carefully describes the contradictory nature of the Japanese-Americans that were interned in war camps by pointing out that thousands of students were allowed to attend universities and other adults were permitted to obtain work as long as they went away from the West coast and sought employment in the eastern United States. Mr. Rothstein accurately places the blame for the internment camps on a combination of racism and war hysteria. He then carefully examines the reasons behind the population’s mistrust and fear of the Japanese military, and by extension, the Japanese-American citizens. Mr. Rothstein approaches the subject not as an apologist for the American government, but as a journalist attempting to add context to a bleak time in the United States history.
Wada, Y. (1942). A Japanese-American in the United States Army. A Soldier’s Report. Retrieved from http://www.oldmagazinearticles.com/article-summary/ww2_us-army_japanese-american_soldier_yori_wada#.WDyZBfkrKyI.
A soldier in the United States Army gives his summary of the state of war between the United States and Japan. Private Wada rebukes the Japanese loyalists that would do harm to the United States and explains to his audience that those born in the United States to Japanese families hold the United States in high regard. Mr. Wada goes on to describe that the Japanese-American community strives for the same things that other Americans desire: an opportunity to succeed in a country that has so much to offer. He concludes his letter by mentioning the loyalty he has received from friends that view him as an equal and that he could ask for nothing greater than that.
