Silver Linings on the Road to Tule Lake
Editor's Note: The following story appears in our special 2011 Holiday Issue with the theme: "The Camps: Liberty Lost to Community Empowerment." You need to be a JACL member or P.C. subscriber to receive this issue. To subscribe, please click on our "Subscribe" button or call 800/966-6157.
The goal is to keep alive the story of Tule Lake to show that hatred has no home and that silver linings can prevail over even the ultimate of clouds.
By Kathryn Ling Nakano
December 16, 2011
Tule Lake: two words that evoke deep emotions within the Japanese American community. For some, Tule Lake represents the antithesis of the JA stereotype. It’s a bold sidebar to the notion that all JAs quietly went to the American concentration camps during the 1940s. It was a place of defiance for those incarcerated as “renunciants” who gave up their citizenship in protest of the camps.
To others, Tule Lake is a footnote to bury in the back pages of Japanese America — better to highlight the achievements of our veterans who fought gallantly for the country, even as their families lived back home behind barbed wire fences. It’s been the unspoken divide in the JA community for the past 70 years. To this day, the wounds from this divide have not healed.
It’s with this backdrop that in 2009 I made the pilgrimage to the Tule Lake Segregation Center with my family — three of whom are former inmates of the segregation center. But as much as I thought I knew Tule Lake, I was unprepared for stories I heard. My eyes were opened to the intensity of the struggle that my relatives faced when they were stripped of their possessions and identities as American citizens.
Talking Stories
On the bus trip toward Tule Lake, former inmates shared their stories about their World War II experiences. Some talked about the “loyalty” questionnaire given to JAs designed with the intent to weed out loyal American citizens from enemy alien supporters of Japan.
The variety of answers to the controversial Questions 27 and 28 ranged from people who refused to answer, to those — like my grandparents — who proclaimed that “the compulsory evacuation of citizens of Japanese ancestry was unjust, unconstitutional, and a product of racial discrimination and prejudice.” Both types of responses resulted in being sent to the Tule Lake Segregation Center as “No-Nos.”
These responses as well as a simple “no” dictated a period of an unforgettable hardship. I witnessed older generations break a silence that had been withheld since their incarceration. And I witnessed the bitter sentiments that had been harbored towards their situation for years on end.
Then there were the stories about Public Law 405, which was passed in 1944, and directed at the Tule Lake “No-Nos” to encourage them to renounce their U.S. citizenship. Most of the segregation center survivors ended up renouncing their citizenship. While some of the renunciants were expatriated to Japan, most continued to live in the United States as native Americans without citizenship. As I learned from my family, my grandparents received a letter from the U.S. Department of Justice in 1958 regarding Public Law 405. Written by the Los Angeles district director of the DOJ’s Immigration and Naturalization Service, it states:
“In response to your recent inquiry, you are informed that the formal written renunciation of nationality which you executed while at a relocation area during World War II is regarded as having been made involuntarily, and is therefore deemed to be of no legal effect.”
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Date: Jan 04, 2012
Anonymous commented:
Subject: Hasegawa family
My father was a member of the 442 and his parents and three brothers did end up in Tule Lake before repatriating to Japan. It was at the 2009 Tule Lake Pilgrimage that the remaining three brothers (my uncle Min had already passed) first talked in depth about what had happened to their family during WW II. Certainly a time of sharing and healing. My father passed in 2010 - feeling whole and united with his brothers.
Date: Dec 27, 2011
Anonymous commented:
Subject: Beautifully written
Thank God for my friendship with a JA family...not that the JA is more important than the "family." My friend has educated me as to what went on in WWII...we sure didn't learn about Manzanar or Lake Tule in the history books! My Uncle had lots of Japanese furniture and china in his home and gave lots of it to my mom. I now know how the scoundrel came to own these beautiful artifacts. Rather than being a True Patriot, he was an opportunist and racist. At the expense of the JAs sent to internment camps. I had a beautiful piece of Japanese china with cut out designs on the sides; I sold it for $8 which was a steal but the magic of it was that a Japanese woman bought it and held it up to the light as if she had found the ultimate treasure. It was, for her. It made my day. I also found a home for my mom's china...in the home of another JA. I did my very small part of giving back some of what was taken. It is such a small gesture in such a huge wrongdoing of my government. We will hope; Never Again!
Date: Dec 20, 2011
KENZO commented:
Subject: Silver Lining Article
As an older Sansei (76), living thru WW2 as a pre-teen, I know of most of the hardships endured by the JA Community. So many individual stories, prejudice.
indignities, etc.
Nice to hear about acts of kindness also, i.e. Redding, CA. extending support to the pilgrimage to Tule Lake. Thank you, to all involved.
Date: Dec 20, 2011
Anonymous commented:
Subject: Beautiful writing
I am a European American who grew up in Gardena like your Dad. Many of my classmates were JAs. I learned early to love the Japanese culture. Now I am a grandmother of six - one boy (the oldest, 17) and five girls. My primary goal in life is to expand their understanding of the world, to know about things like Segregation Camps. When my own children were teens, we visited Manzanar, standing alone under a brilliant desert sky.
I so agree with the commenter above that racial profiling has reached an ugly state - not sure if it would change if all caucasians were on a no-fly list, but I think it's a good place to start! My three teen grandkids know that another goal of mine is to live long enough to see whites become a minority in this country. I've done my part - all six of the g-kids are mixed race - they have only 25% of my genes, the rest a mix of Filipino, Mexican, Black, and American Indian. We are WELL on the way to a more just world!
My wonderful sister-in-law Helen was at Tule Lake as a child. The stories need to get out there, to be heard, to be relayed to all the generations to come. As we refer to the Holocaust, we can refer to the Segregation Camps and say, "never again."
Thank you for your wonderful journaling of the pilgrimages. Keep writing!
Date: Dec 15, 2011
Anonymous commented:
Subject: Nice Story
My grandparents were transferred from Jerome to Tulelake, as well. I'm 60 years old, however. Both my parents and grandparents are dead. My daughter, only a few years older than the author is another generation removed from the WWII experiences. To hear how Tulelake affects another generation is wonderful. My father was a No-Yes, and he served in the European Theater. In Jerome his friends told him not to voice his opinion, because he might go to prison. His response was, "I'm already in prison." I worked as a Ranger in the area many moons ago, and I attended some of the first pilgrimages. I agree with the author, the concentration camps in the US should not be forgotten.
JACL has to rush to support Muslim Americans, because the US has forgotten its dark history of racism during WWII, that resulted in the loss of civil rights to US citizens of Japanese descent. Now we want to (are) repeating the same sorts of things with regard to racial profiling. I say everyone who looks like Timothy McVeigh (European Americans) should be held accountable. They shouldn't be allowed on planes, and they should all be strip searched anytime they want to get on a plane. (Hyperbole--you know, to create an effect.)