When the Constitution Doesn't Count
By incarcerating Japanese Americans during WWII, the United States government denied many fundamental rights and liberties guaranteed by the Constitution to all American citizens.
The U.S. government forced Japanese American citizens to leave their homes and incarcerated them en masse because of their race. The government violated the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process guarantees when it imprisoned innocent citizens and legal residents without fair judicial process – no charges, hearings, or neutral judge or jury. This also violated the Sixth Amendment’s right to an impartial jury. The federal government denied Japanese Americans the “Equal Protection” of laws under the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments by treating the entire racial group differently than all other racial groups.
- First Amendment: Freedom of Religion, Speech, Press, and Assembly
The government severely restricted Buddhism, forbade Shintoism, and actively promoted Christianity in the camps in which Japanese Americans were confined. The Japanese language was prohibited at meetings, camp newspapers censored, and large gatherings banned. - Fourth Amendment: Prohibitions on Unreasonable Search and Seizure
Government agents entered and searched Japanese Americans’ homes without warrants and confiscated “contraband” like cameras and radios. - Fifth Amendment: Guarantee of Due Process
- Sixth Amendment: Promise of a Speedy and Public Trial by an Impartial Jury
- Fourteenth Amendment: Equal Protection
Even today, we see similar constitutional promises broken through events like the attempted Muslim Ban, the mass incarceration of people of color, housing discrimination, and other policies promoted in the name of national security or crime prevention.
