Japanese Americans lived in fear of being relocated from the West Coast

Japanese Americans lived in fear of being relocated from the West Coast

Japanese Americans lived in fear of being relocated from the West Coast, including the American born Nisei’s. Following the death of Yuri’s father, the family also had to move from a well-appointed house to a horse stable at the Santa Anita racetrack. The families across the bay had built fishing colonies from scratch, which belonged to about five hundred Japanese American families. Unfortunately, following the bombing of the Pearl Harbor rumors of how the fishers might guide the Japanese naval vessels through the Pacific waters and the U.S governments and the private industries started targeted them (37). This was followed by freezing of their banks and restriction of movement, which consequently led to businesses collapsing as the people ran out of money. Later, the FBI and local police bombed into the bay and arrested anyone who was still owning a commercial fishing license. The governments then sent evacuation notices to all Japanese American people who were living in the fishing terminal to pack and leave. The governments strategized how to remove Japanese Americans from the West Coast, including the American born Nisei’s. Following the evacuation, the people were instructed only to take what they could carry, but that was a hard decision to make because people did not know what to bring and what to leave. This was, in fact, harder because the people had no idea about their destination.

The evacuation process was an emotional process for the Yuri family and other people when they arrived at the stables, but Yuri had a positive perspective, unlike the others. Life had changed as they were now to start living a communal experience where privacy was limited while eating in army-style mess halls and using community latrines and washrooms (41). Yuri became a source of light for the other people, and she even started a letter-writing campaign. Yuri’s mother was a huge supporter of the campaign while the brother Art had already gone to work. Soon, letter-writing had been accepted into the community as even the older adults participated. With time, they were also writing letters to the soldiers. The notes from the soldiers contained information about military life and news of the war (46). This made it easy for the Nisei people to interact with the soldiers and strengthen Yuri’s campaign. The campaign led to the start of the Nisei USO (United Services Organizations) (48). These crusaders would send messages to Nisei soldiers inquiring about their wellbeing and health, which was a great way to keep in touch and was also a source of light for the soldiers who were working away from their homes. Racisms and discrimination on the Japanese American people continued to become more evident in the letters that were being exchanged, and Yuri’s philosophy gradually changed into a radicalized view. However, Yuri was not conversant with how and why the race was, and racism was a significant reality in the U.S society. Yuri, later on, got a job as a nurse aid, and this helped her mature though it contradicted some of her youthful naïvetés. She, at one point, wrote that “not until I come up against prejudice and discrimination will I understand the problems of the Nisei” (54). Through the nursing experience, Yuri got to be exposed to experiences that opened her mind to possibilities and different opinions

Wrestling the racialized view that the world was forcing her to see with her belief in American equality made her touch on the way to reconcile the contradictory perspectives. She developed the understanding that the conflicting views could be abolished through reforming the systems. This was going to be achieved through struggle, but at least the Japanese Americans, especially the American born ones, could enjoy the same opportunities as the Caucasian, and this led to Yuri becoming a civil activist. The following years saw the camp inhabitants experience a significant crisis that separated families and friends like the War Relocation Authority, which was to determine loyal Japanese Americans so that they could get work out of the camps. Following other crises, violence broke out in different fields as well, and Yuri still condemned these acts despite changes in her political view. Though she was separated from other crusaders, Yuri spent the time to write to Nisei’s soldiers and working in the USO. She applied her journalism experience to writing a column informing the camp soldiers about the conditions that the Nisei soldiers were facing while still boosting the morale of soldiers. She aired the discriminatory concerns of the soldiers encouraging readers to reach out to those in need. She united the Japanese American people while she had become the source of their light through her activism, community service, and column writing.