X-Message-Number: 16908
Date: Fri, 06 Jul 2001 20:23:01 -0700
From: Lee Corbin <>
Subject: Re: Japanese Internment

Robin Helweg-Larsen writes

>In WWII, Japanese Canadians on the west coast were also interned, sent from
>BC to Alberta, and all their assets sold for about 10% of their true value.
>Anglo Canadians bought a lot of farmland and developing areas at 10 cents on
>the dollar, and the Japanese Canadians never recovered it.  The motives were
>racism and greed, not fear of invasion.

Two things make me a little suspicious of this account.  The
first is how land and perhaps other assets could be sold for
only ten-percent of their value.  I'm having trouble seeing
how anyone would be so lucky as to get the goods for only
ten-percent, because others would naturally bid up the price
(for their own self-interest) to something much higher.  Do
you know if perhaps the government essentially confiscated
the land (paying the rightful owners ten-percent), and then
resold it at market rates later, pocketing the difference?

The only thing I've personally heard was a California man's
story on the radio who claims to have been there there.  He
described how he answered an ad from a Japanese-American who
had to sell his automobile because he was about to be sent away.
When the Anglo, who had been expecting a bargain, arrived at the
Japanese-American's residence, he found that he had to bid against
another Anglo for the car, and ended up having to pay full market
value, much to his annoyance.  (Of course, one always remembers
those stories and anecdotes that fit in with one's preconceptions,
and I apologize if I've heard conflicting anecdotes but don't
recall them.)

In addition, do you have an idea of how the "racism and greed"
translated into the political action?  Do you suppose that some
of the legislators in Canada personally profitted?  It's all
too easy to just wave one's arm and condemn "society" for racism
and greed.

In addition, I find your terms "racism" and "greed" objectionable.
We would expect precisely the same process to occur in Northern
Ireland, where everyone is the same race.  And someone trying
to be sympathetic to the Anglos in this case would have said
"self-interest" instead of "greed"---self-interest is, after
all, what makes the prosperity of modern society possible.

If the decision was incorrect---which, with the aid of hindsight
and the knowledge that Japan was not ready to invade North
America, it certainly was---then I find it still undemonstrated
that it wasn't merely a prudent precaution on the part of the
government.  (If however, you have any evidence---even if you
just once read it---that legislators profitted from the act,
then of course I'd be glad to learn about it.)

Lee Corbin

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