TOGETHER IN MANZANAR

A World War II homefront action that many Americans would like to forget.

Readers may recall that, several months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, everyone of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast, American citizens included, was ordered to pack suitcases and assemble for “resettlement.” The short notice gave too little time for most to dispose of their property. Slater, a journalist, is Jewish and married to a Japanese man. Her subjects, Elaine and Karl Yoneda, were an identical mixed marriage. Both were political activists. Opposed to fascism (in fact, communists), they hated both the German and Japanese version. Slater emphasizes that almost all Americans, from Franklin D. Roosevelt down, approved of the arrests, convinced that Japanese Americans were a disloyal race sympathetic to saboteurs. In reality, the Yonedas believed that the democracies were fighting for their lives and that winning the war took priority: Dealing with the injustice of internment must wait for victory. Elected leader of his block, Karl made no secret of his position. Most Japanese Americans had considered themselves good Americans, but being treated as possible traitors is not conducive to patriotism. Increasingly unpopular, Karl lost his bid for reelection, and Japanese who opposed cooperation threatened and even attacked Yoneda’s supporters. Ultimately, about 5,000 renounced their citizenship and were repatriated to Japan. From the beginning, Karl had tried to enlist in the U.S. military and finally succeeded in November 1942. Elaine was released in 1943; Karl joined her after the war, having served honorably, and both returned to California to resume their activism and live a long and more or less happy life. The last camp closed in November 1945. Many young men had enlisted; their families returned home to almost universal hostility and some violence, and their farms, shops, and homes, looted by neighbors, were never returned. In 1988, President Reagan signed a bill apologizing for the internment. Each survivor received $20,000. Caucasians, including Elaine, were excluded.

A well-told if disheartening history.