Strawberry Days: How Internment Destroyed a Japanese American Community

The only reason i didn't give this book five stars is that i did not want to read it, it was necessary to pass my history class. The book give you an exceptional insight on the experiences of the Japanese-American in the days following Pearl Harbor. It seems the Americans had reason to be worried after intercepting messages , they received reports about Japanese spies and espionage possibly happening they were simply taking all the safest measures they could. They offered the chance for most Japanese to simply move away from the military zones, and those that refused got interned. Not it is true I wouldn't have picked this book up myself I was sort of forced to know the information for a semester final. But despite me not initially being interested in the topic the book kept my attention because I was interested in the actions and experiences going on during this period in time. The book begins by examination the roles of Asian immigrants in the United States starting in the late 1800s. Giving an idea of what it was like for the Chinese and Japanese to move to America. The book then explains the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the "Gentlemen's Agreement" of 1907, both anti-Asian laws and the fact that you couldn't be considered a citizen. I don't really want to pick a side here ill just state what I read. It just seems the treatment was unfair for the innocent but obviously fair for the guilty if they ever even got caught. And seeing how most were innocent and the government had no way of really knowing the situation of these individuals they just did the safest action possible which was keep then all detained and working. And I see our government as new and inexperienced much as a little kid trying to run a decent business. Also seeing how all of our politicians are motivated by the vote and being popular they want to make the majority of voters which happen to be mostly white citizen, and being as how a bunch of them got surprise bombed they didn't want possible Japanese-American spies contributing to a more intelligent Japanese war machine. Their actions seem justified by that standing. As long as the government and the people are the same they will for the most part agree on each others actions and not punish themselves, so racism motivated by fear and hatred ran wild and that's how everything in this book started. The book was named because of a community in the outskirts of Seattle renowned for its strawberries. In conclusion I believe the act of the government was wrong or purposely misguided, there seem to be racist schemes involved to keep the Japanese from getting their land after the were let go. I found the book interesting and quite informative on the days when Japanese people were treated like traitors. The one thing I'm still pondering upon is whether I would fight for the country that wouldn't let me have citizenship for forgiveness for an action I didn't commit? I guess I would get some respect but I find it not worth it, its like you got to go fight against possibly your home country for some people that wrongfully accuse you in the first place.