Peter Ota & Betty Hutchinson Entry 6

Peter Ota made a strong point when he discussed the beginning of his evacuation. While discussing his family’s perspective on the situation he said, “For a few days we didn’t know what happened” (205). This emphasized the poor treatment towards those of Japanese descent during the war. The fact that they did not know why the events were happening shows a clear constitutional violation.
One specific part of the Japanese internment camps that was not heavily discussed in our textbook was the separation of families. Peter Ota discussed the difficulty of his family being split up. Peter Ota’s mother died during the time period from tuberculosis and Peter and his sister were separated from their father. Peter expresses being separated from his family as a young boy by saying, “It was just my sister and myself. I was fifteen, she was twelve” (205).

  Betty Basye Hutchinson brought up very interesting points regarding the lifestyle changes that occurred on the homefront during the war. One way she did this was by discussing her first hand experience of becoming active and making efforts to help the United States succeed in the war. Betty explained this by saying, “Immediately, I was going to become a nurse. That was the fastest thing could do to help our boy” (211) Through this statement Betty showed her willingness and eagerness to help the war effort from the homefront.
Betty Hutchinson also discussed the faith that the people had in the government, and more specifically President Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Betty discusses the internment of many Japanese during the war, but comments that in her mind she thought, “It must have been okay if President Roosevelt said it was okay” (211). This statement represents the trust that the American people had in their government of the time and the faith that the president was making the right decision. This is very different from today where people are questioning every step of political action taken around the world.
Betty Hutchinson talked about the general lifestyle change that resulted from the war. Hutchinson stated that the lifestyle change was drastic and changed significantly from the months before the war to the culture during the wartime. Betty Hutchinson commented on the war saying, “It meant an end to all that life I had known just a few months before” (212). This emphasizes the impact the war made on the homefront.