Getting Out or Not
Crop of Iyo's Application for Leave Clearance page 3, National Archives.
Elena Tajima Creef. Imaging Japanese America. Title Page.
Elena Tajima Creef writes in "Imaging Japanese America: The Visual Construction of Citizenship, Nation and the Body,” about the Japanese American detainee's relationship with their stigmatized cultural and racial positioning and the nation's perception of their loyalty.
The double alienation of the Japanese Americans results in both what W. E. B. Du Bois and Gloria Anzaldua have identified as the specific kind of psychological conflict of people of color who are forced to choose where they must fit in between two or more cultures. Under the intense pressure of wartime racism, the Japanese Americans had little choice but to participate in their own racial and cultural erasure in order to prove their loyalty and lay claim to an American identity. (page 26)
Tajima Creef argues that Japanese American participated in their own racial and cultural erasure in order to obtain and prove loyalty to a country that imprisoned them. Members of this family sure did try to find Caucasian supports outside and made use of their contacts. Kay knew the head of the camp Charles F. Ernst from her days at Cal Berkeley. In a letter dated March 29, 1943, Kay would congratulate and commend Japanese American "relocation students" for dating whites, and saw this as a form of adapting. Feeling at ease or comfortable around whites may have been seen as of prime importance to full assimiation in American society. Did this preference for dating whites reflect a desire to prove loyalty?
Tom in a letter to Kay dated June 3, 1944 wrote to Kay telling her that he wanted to have a social life now, but does not want to meet up with his old nisei friends: "[I] am against any congregating of Japs in general." Did this kind of mind-set of staunch assimilation to the point of eschewing fellow Japanese Americans represent a double consciousness, of seeing oneself through the eyes of suspicious white peers?
Tom in a letter to Kay dated June 3, 1944 wrote to Kay telling her that he wanted to have a social life now, but does not want to meet up with his old nisei friends: "[I] am against any congregating of Japs in general." Did this kind of mind-set of staunch assimilation to the point of eschewing fellow Japanese Americans represent a double consciousness, of seeing oneself through the eyes of suspicious white peers?
Letter from Kay to John, March 29 1944.
Sus' WRA File page 4.
The loyalty questionnaire that was distributed in 1943 divided the detainees. The questionnaire followed a period in which detainees applies for leave clearance to be able to move out of camp and take jobs in the Midwest or East. When the leave clearance form became mandatory, it was used as a loyalty questionnaire. The questionnaire was an attempt to quantify loyalty in terms of degree of adoption of Americanized cultural attributes such as protestant religion and boy scouts. By the same token it measured the degree of erasure of Japanese culture, such as knowledge of the Japanese language or attendance at Japanese language schools, or Buddhist or Shinto religious beliefs. The Provost Marshall Summary document in Sus' FBI file demonstrates how various numbered questions were tallied in terms of loyalty to the U.S. This document strongly suggests that a point system was in place that measured traits deemed American or loyal and traits deemed other. This point system was no doubt used to determine a detainee's ability to receive leave clearance but also segregation into Tule Lake camp for "disloyals". The measurement of loyalty in terms of cultural attributes is disturbing as it implies that cultural difference is related to disloyalty or treason.
Note that the Left Collumn of Sus' Provost General File tallies the "Americanized" or good qualities culled from the Loyalty Questionnaire. The Right Collumn tallies the marks against a detainee, Japanese cultural traits that were assumed to be points towards disloyalty as the WRA defined it. This lay out and marking of points implies that a tally system was used to measure loyalty.
Note that the Left Collumn of Sus' Provost General File tallies the "Americanized" or good qualities culled from the Loyalty Questionnaire. The Right Collumn tallies the marks against a detainee, Japanese cultural traits that were assumed to be points towards disloyalty as the WRA defined it. This lay out and marking of points implies that a tally system was used to measure loyalty.
Ed's Loyalty Questionnaire Page 4. National Archives.
Many did not know how to answer the questions #27 and #28 which asked all detained to forswear allegiance to the Japanese emperor (which would imply that they previously maintained allegiance) and if all detainees would be willing to fight in the war.
Ed Kitow had the confidence to change the wording of Question 28 and answered his own question which he carefully stapled over the question in the form. Did he know how to handle the bureaucracy? Did he wonder if his re-wording of the questionnaire would work? Is this a small cite of resistance? The wording of Question 27 was later revised by the WRA so as not to ask people if they would serve in the armed service.
And yet, there was substantial resistance to the demands put upon the detainees to prove their loyalty while their constitutional rights were witheld. Densho Encyclopedia summed up the response to the loyalty questionnaire in Topaz this way:
Ed Kitow had the confidence to change the wording of Question 28 and answered his own question which he carefully stapled over the question in the form. Did he know how to handle the bureaucracy? Did he wonder if his re-wording of the questionnaire would work? Is this a small cite of resistance? The wording of Question 27 was later revised by the WRA so as not to ask people if they would serve in the armed service.
And yet, there was substantial resistance to the demands put upon the detainees to prove their loyalty while their constitutional rights were witheld. Densho Encyclopedia summed up the response to the loyalty questionnaire in Topaz this way:
With the issuing of the "loyalty questionnaire" in early 1943, inmates pressed to have the questions re-worded, yet even the milder versions of the questions did not compensate for the offense that was felt by the first versions. Many refused to answer as a result. Others responded with acts of violence and threats directed at prominent pro-administration prisoners.[7] Nearly one-fifth of all male registrants in Topaz answered negatively to the original wording of the two loyalty questions. 1,447 prisoners considered "disloyal" were transferred to the Tule Lake Segregation Camp in exchange for a similar number of prisoners from that camp deemed more "loyal."[8] Thirty-six inmates requested to leave for Japan.[9] Some camp observers considered the reaction to the questionnaire to be one of the most strident of all the camps, noting that it drew upon broad support, was well articulated, and was well organized.[10] Whether prisoners felt satisfied that their demands had been heard when the questions were modified or felt forced to enlist to save their future citizenship, the resistance was palpable, but widespread violence was prevented.[11]
Chiz's Loyalty Questionnaire Page 3. National Archives.
Kay only found out about the separating of "loyal" and "disloyal" detainees when she sat in on confidential meetings as part of her work with the Japanese Americna National Student Relocation Council in Philadelphia. She wrote to her folks in Topaz on July 26, 1943 about the matter. She was the only Japanese sitting in on confidential meetings of Placement staff. She told her folks:
I have been increasingly concerned-- since the return of Trudy and Tom from Washington-- as you know or do you? If the folks don't know it's better not to discuss the matter with others- but we are quite certain that there will be a quite a bit of shifting and relocatin to other cetners etc. for the purpose of segregating the disloyal from the loyal - beginning plans with later part of August and actually beginning on September first. One Camp has been chosen for the place where all the disloyal or those who have requested repatriation will be sent- they won't tell us which one- however I know postitively it is not Topaz...If I were you Neich, I would paln to leave not later than the third week in August. Please do because - with Washington red tape and all sorts of things happening in between - so often things get bogged dow nadn what was perfectly alright before becomes not alright- as in the cases of so many heartbreaking experiences with our students.
Detainees in the Utah camp (Topaz) wanted to get out and could only be given permission to leave if they were able to find work and get clearance from the War Relocation Authority and the higher authority of the Western Command. This process eventually included the roll-out of a controversial loyalty questionnaire which divided the detainees and led to confusion and fear. The loyalty questionnaire was analyzed by the Camp Administration and WRA to decide who should get leave clearance. WRA Files were kept in Washington D.C. and are there now in a National Archive.
Student-aged detainees applied to schools and tried to get financial aid. Colleges had to explicitly agree to take Japanese American students. Adults tried to look for work and get jobs outside of camp. The Yamashita siblings’ stories show the wide variety of outcomes.
I have been increasingly concerned-- since the return of Trudy and Tom from Washington-- as you know or do you? If the folks don't know it's better not to discuss the matter with others- but we are quite certain that there will be a quite a bit of shifting and relocatin to other cetners etc. for the purpose of segregating the disloyal from the loyal - beginning plans with later part of August and actually beginning on September first. One Camp has been chosen for the place where all the disloyal or those who have requested repatriation will be sent- they won't tell us which one- however I know postitively it is not Topaz...If I were you Neich, I would paln to leave not later than the third week in August. Please do because - with Washington red tape and all sorts of things happening in between - so often things get bogged dow nadn what was perfectly alright before becomes not alright- as in the cases of so many heartbreaking experiences with our students.
Student-aged detainees applied to schools and tried to get financial aid. Colleges had to explicitly agree to take Japanese American students. Adults tried to look for work and get jobs outside of camp. The Yamashita siblings’ stories show the wide variety of outcomes.
Letter from Kay to Folks, dated July 27, 1943. Page 2.
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