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Internment of Japanese Americans WWII

WWII Currency

In February 1942, just Two months after Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt, issued Executive Order 9066. One objective of the order, was to prevent espionage. Another objective not mentioned as often, was to protect people of Japanese descent from harm. The harm they were to be protected from, was the harm that may have came from their fellow Americans who many of whom were consumed with outrage at the attack on Pearl Harbor, letting that outrage cloud their judgment.
Order 9066, affected 117,000 people of Japanese descent, over 70,000 of whom were native-born citizens of the United States. Some in Washington State, had to for a time stay in a cowshed, or horse stall. Relocation centers included Tule Lake, California; Minidoka, Idaho; Manzanar, California; Topaz, Utah; Jerome, Arkansas; Heart Mountain, Wyoming; Poston, Arizona; Granada, Colorado; and Rohwer, Arkansas. Persons considered to be dissidents, were housed at Tule Lake, California.

In 1988 Public Law 100-383 acknowledged the injustice of the internment, apologized for it, and provided a $20,000 cash payment to each person who was interned. Couldn’t help but pause when I read that, and wonder how much Freedom is worth.
Here is quote by a internee, who made this statement when told that they were being put in the camps for their own protection……he said: "If we were put there for our protection, why were the guns at the guard towers pointed inward, instead of outward?"
I could help but be moved by some of the looks faces of the people in these photos.