"Well if you want to know, I said 'no' and I'm going to stick to 'no'. If they want to segregate me they can do it. If they want to take my citizenship away, they can do it. If this country doesn't want me they can throw me out. What do they know about loyalty?" —Internee, Manzanar Community Analysis Report, 1943
The Japanese Americans were waiting to get out, waiting for the war to end. The influence where the Japanese would go was the loyalty questionnaire. The loyalty questionnaire was a test of the Japanese individuals allegiance to the United States. Questions 27 and 28 were the major ones, but also caused many disagreements within families. But saying 'yes' or 'no' would trigger something, and you would either stay, sent to Tule Lake, or sent to the 442nd Regimental Combat Force. (To see more of the Loyalty Questionnaire, download the file at the bottom of the page to see the whole thing. Download Adobe Reader if needed.)
The Loyalty Questionnaire
"Most of the internees answered yes to each question, even though the questions caused great tension and anxiety. It demonstrated the government did not trust Japanese Americans even though two-thirds were American citizens. One question asked the internees to swear allegiance to the U.S. as if their loyalty could not be trusted. For those who had immigrated to the U.S., who could not by law become naturalized as citizens, the questions posed a specific problem because it asked them to forswear allegiance to Japan, which meant that they would become stateless because they couldn't become U.S. citizens."~ Bill Yoshino, JACL Midwest Regional Director, Personal Interview, January 10th, 2014
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