Via comment by
EIEIO on
Rarely seen color photos of Japanese families conf...
In the months following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, many
expected an immediate attack against the West Coast. Fear gripped the
country and a wave of hysterical antipathy against the Japanese engulfed
the Pacific Coast.
The FBI quickly began rounding up any and all "suspicious" Japanese
for internment. None was ever charged with any crime. Almost all were
simply Japanese community leaders, Buddhist or Shinto priests, newspaper
editors, language or Judo instructors, or labor organizers. The
Japanese community leadership was liquidated in one quick operation.
Men were taken away without notice. Most families knew nothing about
why their men had suddenly disappeared, to where they were taken, or
when they would be released. Some arrestees were soon let free, but most
were secretly shipped to internment camps around the country. Some
families learned what had happened to their men only several years
later. The action also included the freezing of bank accounts, seizure
of contraband, drastic limitation on travel, curfew and other severely
restrictive measures. But this FBI operation merely set the stage for
the mass evacuation to come.
