I got a nice dose of old-people-racism over the holidays, and one that got me thinking was when my grandmother said regarding the internment of the Japanese-Americans, "If we hadn't done that, the Japs (sorry) would have faced a lot of retaliation and lynchings after Pearl Harbor" From what I've seen, this kind of "benevolent" racism pops up quite a bit in American history.
Was there a lot of pushback to the internment when it happened from segments of the American population? I figure there was probably a lot less than there would be today, due to segregation still being in effect as well as a different national feeling about nationalism and race. Was there a serious national debate about it though, or did most people feel like my grandmother; that the US government was protecting itself against infiltration as well as protecting the "good" Americans of Japanese descent?
The best example of contemporary dissent to Japanese Interment would be Colorado (there some relocation centers in the state) Governor Ralph L. Carr. He was a Republican Governor from 1939 - 1943 and he openly disapproved of FDR's new deal as unnecessary government spending. Though there is no documented proof of his "motives", since he had spent a lot of time denouncing Roosevelt' actions he was more likely to speak up against internment since he had already been criticizing Roosevelt. He often spoke about the violation of rights that Japanese citizens were facing and he actually encouraged citizens in Colorado to welcome to evacuees.
A great quote from him is, “I am not in sympathy with those who demand that all evacuees be placed in concentration camps, regardless of their American citizenship or of the legality of their presence here. Our Constitution guarantees to every man, before he is deprived of his freedom, that there be charges and proof of misconduct in a fair hearing.”
Most of his comments fell on deaf ears as anti-Japanese sentiment was very high around the country, just like your grandmother pointed out. Carr tried to run for Senate in 1942 and lost to an incumbent and though it is hard to prove it is assumed that his defiance to Japanese interment likely caused this.
All of his public speeches can be found at http://www.colorado.gov/archives
Another famous opponent was the photographer Dorothea Lange (famous for her Depression photo Migrant Mother). She took over 800 photos of the interment camps and it is clear to see from many of the photos that she openly opposed the actions. Her photos were considered so controversial that they were actually censored during the war and not released publicly into WW2 was over. I could not find a collection of all the photos, but her is a good site that has some of the most famous http://www.japanfocus.org/-Linda-Gordon/2260