By Devonte Brown

On July 7, 2026  in Japan in DC we had Mr. Gerald Yamada come in to present information on Japanese Americans during World War II. He was former President of the Japanese American Veterans Association (JAVA). He came to talk to us about the events that happened during and after Pearl Harbor, when the US entered the war, about Japanese Americans in incarceration (or what I call concentration) camps, and a little bit about his own family during this time. He went over how during World War II, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the US government forced Japanese Americans from their homes and put them into concentration camps. Because the United States got attacked by Japan, the government believed that any Japanese Americans in America could be spies or try and affect America in the war that would lead to Japan’s and Germany’s victory. Next he went into the concentration camps and the conditions there. Also he discussed how there were Japanese American military units, like the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion, that made a big impact during World War II. Mr. Yamada also talked about his own family life a little, like his mom and dad, and a person named Bob Fletcher, who agreed to take care of his dad’s farm while they were away. Bob Fletcher would give the farm back to his family after the war was over.

When Mr. Yamada was talking, the part that stuck out to me the most was when he was talking about the concentration camps. He was talking about how during World War II Japanese Americans were forced out of their homes, forced to sell their property, like their land, crops, etc., and leave their jobs. The only thing they were able to keep was the stuff that fit in their arms, like a suitcase, but not to mention they were also required to bring things like utensils, because the camps didn’t provide any of that. When Japanese Americans arrived at the camps, the place was big, but small, because the rooms were 20 by 25 and depending on whether you were single or a family, it determined how many people lived in each room. Roughly it was around 6-8 people in one room for single people, or for a family or even two families together, depending on their size. Also living in there was terrible. The places had no walls, so they had to use their blankets to cover the walls, no running water, no air conditioning, so it got really hot in there, because there were a lot of people sharing one room. There were terrible health conditions, so a lot of people died from sickness or something else. Also when it came to anything like going outside to get food, they had to go into lines which made everything longer and more tiresome, but the kids enjoyed it. I don’t know why, but they had fun while being there. But one thing that surprised me was that of course they had guards so no one leaves, but the thing was the guards weren’t facing outwards to stop anyone from coming in, they were facing inward so no one leaves, which surprised me the most about it. But while they were there, it was boring, so they did things for entertainment like singing, playing sports, teaching, and farming, because most of the Japanese Americans in there were farmers, teachers, and so on, so that was something they could do in the meantime while World War II was happening.

After the war was over and the victory of America, the death of Hitler, and the surrender of Japan, everything was over. All concentration camps for Japanese Americans were done and they were set free, and when that happened, it’s not like Japanese Americans got their property back. What they got was a train ticket back home and 25 dollars. When I heard that, it pissed me off, because I feel like they should have gotten all their things back. In 6^th grade I remember reading a book (I forgot the name) about people escaping from concentration camps. Also I watched a video about a Japanese American girl in a concentration camp and it went into more depth about it and how bad Japanese Americans had it during WW2. Next in 9th grade we learned about President Roosevelt (FDR) and the good things he did, and how he made America great again after the Depression. After this, I feel he was never good. He never cared about colored and only white people. Learning about this changed my way of thinking about FDR and what he did.

Overall, I believe Japanese Americans are probably one of the top five races that went through terrible stuff and I wish none of these things happened to them. I learned at the FDR Memorial down at the Tidal Basin it doesn’t show anything about what he did to Japanese Americans. It’s like he never did it and he was all great even though he wasn’t any of that. It’s like they’re trying to hide the bad about America, or the President specifically, especially with Donald Trump trying to do that too.