How Hawaiians Grappled With Martial Law

By early 1942, Hawaii felt like it was at the center of the Pacific War. Pearl Harbor was a wreck and off limits to civilians, while a nervous public adapted to the new realities of war.

[xdsito]

This finna be everybody in the states 2020 ...

[InVinoVeratas]

My grandmother remembered the internment camps here in Canada, British Columbia. She remembered they gathered all the Japanese people there and that’s where they stayed for the duration of the war. Even First Generation Japanese were gathered there, many of them never even been to Japan, yet they were all treated like spies despite the fact they had established businesses and livelihoods here like any other citizens. The only ones treated like this were Japanese people, Germans and Italians weren’t rounded up like this and branded as enemies of the Commonwealth.

[SupaManaboi]

Hawaiians are NOT Chinese or Japanese they’re polynesian our heritage is Polynesian i hate the pre notion the Mainland has of the native people of Hawaii being the Japanese or Chinese Asians

[kaizillaboy]

Wow. Grandma may not have walked 5 miles in the snow barefoot but these were hard times for my family. My grandpa was probably in that video, and my pops was 9 years old at the time practicing his gas masking; interesting looking glass in to my family's difficult past.

[whatisgoingonineedtoknow.]

Those who benefited from war and those who paid with lives. 😢

[peachmari]

How interesting you put this out now Smithsonian...

[dangerboy]

You said hawaiians, they are all asian, they arent hawaiian at all

[kaizillaboy]

Let's get this straight: Hawaii is a STATE, so anyone born in Hawaii can proudly call himself or herself a HAWAIIAN in the same way someone born in California can call himself a CALIFORNIAN. HOWEVER, a person of Japanese or Filipino or Chinese or Portugese or whatever descent cannot call himself an ETHNIC HAWAIIAN, a designation for those with a greater than 50% Polynesian bloodline TRACEABLE to the early inhabitants of the island chain; you cannot move from your native Polynesia to Hawaii in 2020 and automatically brand yourself an ethnic Hawaiian. Given that the entire island chain is so culturally diverse, it's almost impossible to discern a true Hawaiian from a fake one, so in the spirit of OHANA, EVERYONE with the Aloha spirit is a proud Hawaiian.

[coopsevy]

Sounds like my family when they came to the U.S and took the ID of there servants then learned English and told there children to forget who they were and if they choose to speak of there descendants then do it storytelling like fairytales, so bed time stories where more like someone life with alot of questions that would never have answers...

[vettekid]

It's easy for people 70+ years later to have disapproving views over the interment of the japanese after the surprise attack on Pearl. The people that were living then didn't know if the racial loyalty would cause people with ties to the japanese home islands to be sympathetic the Emperor and act accordingly. Given the overwhelming loyalty towards Herohero and the will to fight to the death it was not an unwarranted act by the US to separate them from the rest of the population not only for prevention of possible sabotage but also for their own protection from angry americans at the time. It could have been handled better but given the country was immediately thrust into war on two fronts with two different enemies it was handled a lot better than the japanese did with the british & americans that were residing in their territories, many of which never survived the war because of disease & starvation due to inadequate shelter in their camps and limited medicine & food.

[ttlihff]

And? It was a different time.
Weren't German migrants interred as well?