Journal Entry: Japenese Internment

December 30, 1942

Dear Diary,

I’m so tired. Life is hard. I don’t know how someone can treat someone the way they are treating us. They treat us as if we are guilty of a crime. Our only so-called crime is that we are of Japanese descent. I really don’t know how all of this happened. The President of the United States right now is President Theodore Roosevelt. He has issued an executive order or something like that. I keep hearing the number 9-0-6-6. I’m not sure what all of this means. Many people are dieing. I believe this order was brought on by anti-Japanese sentiment among farmers who competed against Japanese labor, politicians who sided with anti-Japanese constituencies, and the general public, whose frenzy was heightened by the Japanese attack of Pearl Harbor. More than 2/3 of the Japanese who were interned in the spring of 1942 were citizens of the United States. I’m very young. But I know my birthday is coming up soon. I will reach the age of 14 on January 14. They say that we have been brought to the camps for to protect “national security”. But I have come to realize that the people I see walking around are not people who look like spies but school-age children like me. We are merely infants and young adults. We haven’t even reached the voting age! The thing that has appalled the adults the most is that we may be of Japanese descent but we are residents of the United States. To know that your country will treat you like this is horrible. Many Japanese Americans have died in the camps due to poor medical care. I also believe some of the deaths are brought on by psychological tolls that the whole situation is causing. Some were just murdered by the military guards. There crime was allegedly resisting orders. The name of our internment camp is Tashme. This is not the only internment camp. I’ve heard of more names were I know I have family at, such as Greenwood, Slocan Creek, Lemon Creek, Popoff, Bay Farm, Rosebery, New Denver, and Sandon. I’m very frightened. All I can do is pray.

Praying For Tomorrow,

Felicia Jefferson