Blog Post 7

The piece of literature that was most important to me in this class was John Okada’s No-No Boy. It demonstrated the depths of discrimination in the US at the time, and the contradictions that went along with it. Ichiro was put in a terrible position, either risk his life for the country that had discriminated against him and forced his family into an internment camp, or be sent to prison for being disloyal to the US. The worst part of the story in my mind was at the end it said “He walked quickly, guilty avoiding a chance recognition of himself by someone who remembered him” (Okada 169). Ichiro was ashamed of his decision. That blew my mind, mainly because I thought he did the right thing. Ichiro’s guilt is a perfect example of the pressure and unfair circumstances that so many Asian Americans experiences because of their appearance.

The historical event that affected me the most was Japanese internment. This may be because I presented on Japanese-Americans, but what I learned about that experience was terrible. I had a basic understanding of what went on prior to this class, but as I learned more about it, the more frustrated I got. This was only 70 years ago, not even one lifetime. It has always seemed distant to me; the US was always the hero of WWII. But this part of the war is not talked about as much, and I see why. The loyalty questionnaires in the camps are some of the most backwards, surreal things I’ve ever heard, it’s hard to believe that happened. I thought the letters Doug’s mom wrote were amazing, how she showed so much strength in that kind of situation. A CRT term that relates to this is cultural nationalism. The people of the US assumed that the Japanese-Americans were more loyal to Japan than they were the US. This is especially ironic because German-Americans were interned in way less numbers. It was just because the Japanese-Americans looked Japanese, rather than the “ideal” white person.

Both examples are important because they show the blatant discrimination of white America, so recently. The government even declared that internment was not necessary or effective, but so many people felt it was justified. The irrationality of this action was proved through the fact that they interned Germans and other whites in much smaller numbers. The decision to intern the Japanese was made from pure racism, and nothing else. All we can do is learn from this experience, and realize that internment is not an effective way of addressing hysteria. The US needs to act rationally in response to fears of certain races, and realize that the US itself is home to people of races all around the world, who are all Americans, not whatever part of the world you associate their skin tone with.