The Price of Prejudice

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor December 7,1941, about 127,000 persons of Japanese descent were living in the United States, of whom more than 112,000 were on the Pacific Coast. These could be conveniently divided into three groups: the Issei or immigrants born in Japan; the Nisei or American-born, American-educated children of the Issei;\u27 and the Kibei, who were born in America but received some of their education in Japan. Permanently excluded from becoming American citizens by United States law, and seriously limited in their ability to acquire agricultural and residential property by alien land laws, the 40,000 Issei had nevertheless lived here for more than twenty-five years, had raised their children and achieved a recognized position in the retail and wholesale distribution of fruits and vegetables in California, and displayed every intention of remaining here with their children to live out their days in peace and comfort