Acceptance of the Japanese in the U.S
Before the Hiroshima bombing there were Japanese that were already to migrated into America. It’s said that the Japanese went through racism at the very beginning. They were not allowed to become U.S citizens at that time and there was a law issued by the Supreme court with the 1922 trial of Ozawa vs. United States. When wartime came there was an executive order released by Roosevelt to evacuate all those who had a drop of Japanese blood from the Pacific Coast to concentration camps in the desert. The Japanese were starting to treat the American-born Japanese as spies only because they had to prove their loyalty to the Emperor Furthermore, the American-born Japanese had to show their allegiance to the U.S and prove their worth. Most of them refused to fight against their homeland and gave up their American citizenship. they were also sent to concentration or isolation camps during the war. Those that agreed were labeled as disloyal. The “loyalty oath” also caused a riot to break out creating a few casualties. Choosing to be an American citizen or choosing to be loyal to your native country had to be mind wrecking. I know for a fact if I were them at in that time frame, I wouldn’t raise a gun against the land I come from. It’s only natural to feel that way. I doubt anyone would want to attack their own people so why should the U.S expect them to go with it? The more you read into these forgotten pieces of history the more dirt you’ll find coming from the U.S.
Source: Living with the Bomb: Are we the enemy?
Cover up of the A-Bomb
After the nuclear strike the U.S has put a lid on what actually happened at Hiroshima. An article called The Great Hiroshima Cover-up by Greg Mitchell tells the story of why the Hiroshima bombing was kept away from the public’s eye for decades until now. One of the main reasons why they kept it away was because they didn’t want the public to know what effects the bomb did to people. Dan McGovern states that “We didn’t want the material out because…we were sorry for our sins.” After witnessing what a nuclear bomb can do to an entire city I doubt anyone there would want footage to be released. The Japanese wanted to record what happen only to have the footage taken away by the U.S military stationed at the scene and banned those who wanted to film the incident. However, the Japanese footage was the first to come out and eventually the American version was released. It is a bit understandable why they hid everything but at the same time all the people should have the right to know what really happened. A mushroom cloud and damaged buildings isn’t sufficient enough to display what a nuclear bomb does. You can tell that the ones involved were ashamed of what they’ve done. This was something that needed to be shown just to show how ugly war really is and creates precautions of the necessity to used overpowered weapons.
The Voices of Hibakusha
I came across a website that is dedicated to the citizens that witnessed the Hiroshima bombing. The interviews are actually from a documentary called Hiroshima Witness. It has over 100 interviews with the current survivors experiences and how they reflect on the disaster. There is also another site that has the same information with video recorded interviews with subtitles (downloadable).
“As a witness and survivor of the A-bomb, I want to communicate the dire reality of that experience and share my story with others for as long as I live.” – Kikue Komatsu
It also has drawings by some of the survivors
More art
After reading a few of the testimonies it was pretty much a rude awakening for all of them. They knew it was going to be an attack but didn’t expect how devastating it was going to be after it happened. It goes to show how unnecessary it was for the U.S to drop a nuclear bomb on an entire city just to send a message. get their to surrender. The survivors demanded “national compensation” for what happened which is to be expected. No one should have to go through another travesty like this.
http://www.inicom.com/hibakusha/
credit goes to the Hiroshima Peace Cultural Center and NHK
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