Film Screening, "A Challenge to Democracy"

Our country has always been one to pride it’s self on our way of governing. The United States is known for the success of democracy. Yet throughout our short history there have been times where the freedoms of democracy have been trumped. This was the case with the internment of Japanese-American citizens during World War II. The film “A Challenge to Democracy” gives a documentation of the life styles that Japanese-Americans experienced during their internment. The United States military constructed barracks for these families to live in for the duration of the war. They were forced to move from their homes and businesses because they were seen as a possible threat to national security during the war. The government feared that those with ties to people in Japan may become spies and tend messages about the U.S. and it’s plans for war. These internment camps that the Japanese-Americans were forced to live in were small and cramped. A family was forced to live in a one-room facility with minimal living accommodations. Anyone that was of Japanese decent was forced to live in these camps. The government tried to make this transition less offensive by calling those who lived there, evacuees instead of prisoners. The people that were forced to live in these camps went about their daily lives as best as they could. Those who knew a craft or trade would work, however it was usually for low wages. The members of these new-formed communities would participate in agriculture as part of providing food for the community. Although the government tried to make things comfortable for the members of the internment camps, their way of life was much different from the free life that they had had before. The film that shows how the Japanese lived tries to show the camps in a positive light. In reality the government took away their rights to freedom and the pursuit of happiness. They were only released from the camps when they had convinced the government that they were no threat.
The obvious question that comes to my mind, is what the government did to the Japanese-Americans constitutional? It seems that many of the rights granted to American citizens by the constitutions were taken away from these people during the war effort. So it makes me wonder, what is more important, the security of a nation or the freedoms of the people that make up that nation? I personally don’t know how to think about the whole situation. I have never dealt with the kind of oppression that the Japanese-Americans were forced to suffer. I feel that it was an unfortunate black mark on our countries history and hopefully this kind of injustice will never be repeated again on American soil.