Legacy of Injustice: Exploring the Cross-Generational Impact of the Japanese American Internment

by Donna K. Nagata

At the age of 6, I discovered a jar of brightly colored shells under my grandmother's kitchen sink. When I inquired where they had come from, she did not answer. Instead, she told me in broken English, "Ask your mother. " My mother's response to the same question was, "Oh, I made them in camp. " "Was it fun?" I asked enthusiastically. "Not really," she replied. Her answer puzzled me. The shells were beautiful, and camp, as far as I knew, was a fun place where children roasted marshmallows and sang songs around the fire. Yet my mother's reaction did not seem happy. I was perplexed by this brief exchange, but I also sensed I should not ask more questions. As time went by, "camp" remained a vague, cryptic reference to some time in the past, the past of my parents, their friends, my grand­ parents, and my relatives. We never directly discussed it. It was not until high school that I began to understand the significance of the word, that camp referred to a World War II American concentration camp, not a summer camp. Much later I learned that the silence surrounding discus­ sions about this traumatic period of my parents' lives was a phenomenon characteristic not only of my family but also of most other Japanese American families after the war.

298 pages, Hardcover

First published July 31, 1993

Reviews

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thorough study of the psychological impact of the incarceration on sansei.

[James Crawford · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donna K. Nagata, 1993

The author discusses what terms to use and prefers the use of the word "concentration camp" and explains why she feels that term is appropriate.

The first chapter of the book is a condensed history of the internment process. The second chapter deals with the "consequences of injustice," starting with economic losses. Then the book goes into the legal maneuvers that happened, then examines the social and psychological effects of all of this on the Issei and the Nisei.

The next chapter is about the details of doing a cross-generational study with such sections as "Methodological Issues in evaluating the Cross-Generational Effects of Trauma."

The fourth chapter deals with a survey taken of the third generation (Sansei) with emphasis on the details of how it was done.

The next chapter deals with details of how the Sansei talked with their parents about the camp experience, comparing numerous factors relating to when the Sansei found out from their parents they had been interned and differences between one-parent and two-parent families and others.

The next chapter continues with the survey studies, dealing with people's attitudes about a possible future internment and notes that the Sansei say, in general, that they would actively resist any such move.

The next three chapters cover other details of various surveys and studies. Chapter 11 goes into the redress movement, again tying that in with more studies of attitudes and behaviors among the Sansei.

A couple more chapters follow and then the survey itself is reproduced, to be followed by an appendix and references.

First, this is a book that will probably interest no one other than someone who is involved in sociological/psychological research studies. I know it's important that science find out as much as it can about how things affect people, but I also feel that it, at times, can take a very important, emotionally-challenging event and reduce it to a nice series of numbers and equations, and I think that is what this book does. It's definitely not for a person with a general interest in the internment itself.