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"Americanization" and Reparations for Internment

Discrimination and suspicion forced Japanese Americans to perform their patriotism in ways that were not required of other Americans or European immigrants, and was crucial to their safety and self-preservation. For example, when white soldiers harassed paroled Japanese Americans in transit to Seabrook, Yager commended the released internees, on behalf of the WRA, for quietly tolerating the abuse with no “argument, disorder, shoving, or man-handling.” At Seabrook, the company constantly captured proof of Japanese Americans’ patriotism and social “rehabilitation” through the propaganda it provided. At Seabrook, the WRA and company officials emphasized a program of social reintegration, an ambiguous concept given the fact that many Nisei had only known the United States as a home, had attended public high schools and universities in California and Washington, and had grown up loving American movies, food, and sports the same as their non-Asian American peers. The Issei sent to Seabrook did not receive the right to naturalize as American citizens until 1952 when the federal statute was changed. Many had children who served in the war, with at least three mothers being rewarded “Gold Stars” – the medal given to those who lost sons in the service.

Some Nisei saw the internment camps and Seabrook as an opportunity to seize leadership from their immigrant parents and to take a more prominent role in defining the needs and interests of the community as a whole. Still, the mixed feelings that released internees had about Seabrook reflected the fact their choices remained limited by racism and their parole status. Yoshiko Hasegawa recalled how the “great Japanese spirit worked so hard so that Mr. Seabrook was able to upgrade his rickety plant.” This fact would resurface in the movements for redress, when largely Nisei activists campaigned for monetary reparations for internment. Testifying before the redress commission appointed by Congress in 1980, William Kochiyama recalled of his experience at Seabrook that, “Any promotions to the top positions were made available to the Caucasians.” Nor is there any evidence that Seabrook backed former internees in their attempts to win redress from the federal government, despite the fact that the company directly benefited from the fact that Issei and Nisei workers were barred from working on their own farms in California and other Western states. Only after years of organizing did incarcerated Japanese Americans receive a formal apology from the government and living survivors received a onetime $20,000 redress payment for the trauma and financial devastation caused by internment. Reparations discriminated against Japanese Peruvians, who, despite having lost all of their assets through internment, only received $5,000 in 1998 as part of a government settlement to a class action lawsuit.

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Gold Star Mothers

The women pictured here are “Gold Star Mothers,” an honorary designation given to women whose sons died in the war. Here, the Japanese Americans Citizens League celebrates their newfound citizenship at a dinner commemorating the ten-year anniversary of arrival of Japanese Americans at Seabrook. More than other internees, the Gold Star Mothers were subject to a particularly horrific and brutal form of irony. At the same time their loyalty was being questioned, their sons were sacrificing their lives as an obligation of their American citizenship.

Seabrook Educational and Cultural Center, New Jersey Digital Highway

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