Semester 2: Honors Blog

Dear Yoshisuke Sakuri,
You are living in North Dakota so I was not sure if you knew about the evacuation of all the American-Japanese on the West Coast. They had only given us a two day warning and we were only able to bring a few of our things with us. It was thievery, the money those rats gave us for our things was close to nothing, but what could we do. They made father leave his job. They took us all to an assembly center, then they took me and mother to one internment camp, and father and my brother, Hashoi, to a different one. Apparently after Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued an Executive Order. The Japanese living in America had been tried and found guilty of something we are not sure about, but we are a threat according to the national security. They think that we are spying for Japan. As far as I know, none of my friends have done anything of the sort, and none of them have been acting any different before this all happened.
We are living in a desert, I have no idea where it is but it does not seem like there are many other people out here other than us. They keep us in these shabby barracks and there is barbed wire fences surrounding us with military men. They have huge rifles and they can be disrespectful to us. Each day the food we get does not taste like food. I have already lost weight and I feel weak and exhausted all the time. The older people are not doing so well here. We have nothing to do, and we can do nothing. It has been three months here and mother is starting to lose hope. We both feel as if we are going to die here. People have died already from malnutrition. They also do not provide medication for the people that need them. We cannot complain or say anything though. If we do anything that they do not like, they will send us to the Tule Lake facility. They also have us take oaths that, for men and boys, we will serve the American army, and for women and girls, they will serve the army as nurses, and if we do not take that oath they send use to the Tule Lake facility too. It is not fair living here. There is no justice for us. I do not feel safe here. The guards have killed a girl because she was being "troublesome". I fear that they can deem anybody troublesome and kill them with no repercussions.
I do not understand why they are punishing us for something we have not done. I wonder about my father and brother all the time. I wanted to tell you all this in case something happens to me. After the war is over I want you to show this to people if I am dead and get justice for all of us that had to go through this.
Sincerely,
Juro Kai.

Sites
http://www.historyonthenet.com/WW2/japan_internment_camps.htm

http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/camp.html

http://www.pbs.org/childofcamp/history/index.html