Feeling imprisoned at camp

Lack of political power led to camps Results of being more American than Japanese Family separated in the camps Feeling imprisoned at camp World War II hysteria against Japanese in New York City Institutionalization as a bad aspect of camp Positive experiences with Asian Americans for Action Redress payments to Issei who did not enter camps Waiting for the right time to start Redress Movement State Department records show concern for treatment of Japanese American internees Lack of support from fellow Nikkei lawyers during the war Political motivation to keep the camps open until end of 1944 election

Transcripts available in the following languages:

The loss of freedom, the loss of liberty was something that I felt very strongly there. The lack of the ability to go where you wanted to and do what you wanted to. It almost felt like you were really a captive, in a prison. There was no question about that. And it came home to me very strongly when my sister, who was an Issei who lived in New York, would come to visit us in the camps—we, sisters and brothers who were American citizens. The irony of that just never left me, that she would come to see us, and then we’d be at the gate waving good-bye to her as she went back to New York. It always made me feel—what’s happening here? (laughs)

Date: August 26, 1998
Location: Virginia, US
Interviewer: Darcie Iki, Mitchell Maki
Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

camps discrimination incarceration internment World War II