"People that answered “No No” were sent to Tule Lake which was the “Segregation Camp”. After the end of WWII, some of the people in Tule Lake were sent to Japan. So answering “No No” had a big detrimental impact on a person’s life." ~ Kanji Sahara, JACL Pacific Southwest District's Civil Rights Chair and Board member, Personal Interview, January 18th, 2014.
Tule Lake opened May 26, 1942, detaining persons of Japanese descent removed from western Washington, Oregon and Northern California. With a peak population of 18,700, Tule Lake was the largest of the camps - the only one converted into a maximum-security segregation center, ruled under martial law and occupied by the Army. Due to turmoil and strife, Tule Lake was the last to close, on March 28, 1946.
"The fence was heavy wire mesh and “man-proof.” The guard towers were turrets equipped with machine guns. The outer perimeter was patrolled by a half-dozen tanks and armored Jeeps. The guards were battle-ready troops at full battalion strength. Half of the 18,000 internees in Camp Tule Lake were children like me."~George Takei |
The Camp |
"If you answered “no” to both questions, the likelihood is that you were transferred to the Tule Lake concentration camp in California that was used to house the so-called dissidents."~Bill Yoshino, JACL Midwest Regional Director, Personal Interview, January 10th, 2014 |
The "No-No's" |