80 years ago, Pearl Harbor was attacked by Imperial Japan. The United States soon declared war, not only on Japan but also approximately 120.000 of its own residents. Out of this number around 80.000 were U.S. citizens. This is the story of one of them.
A challenge to democracy: The exile and incarceration of Minoru "Sam" Araki
By Alexander de Summer-Brason Welford
Chapter I
Part I
The Flight
Fear and fright filled Sam's father as he pulled up at Blaney Estate. He rushed out of his Dogde car, gasping for enough air to explain to Mr. Kirkwood the gravity of the situation he and his family were in.
"Go," Mr. Kirkwood responded composedly to Sam's father's frenzied entrance.
"You tell us what you want packed, and we'll pack it for you, and we're gonna bring the truck to you," he assured him.
Without a moment to spare Sam's father put the car back in motion and set out for Reedley, taking small and twisted roads Sam had never been on before to avoid all the main highways and the attention they brought.
Reedley being on the other side of the demarcation line of Military Exclusion Zone 1 could provide a short moment of respite for the family, Sam's father hoped, as he accelerated further inland.
Three hours later, after having left everything but a mere tent, the family arrived safely at a friend's farm where they set up camp in the barn for the night to stay unnoticed.
Sam could sense the terror twisting behind his father's eyes as he tucked him in.
The family didn't get much sleep that night. The FBI were still right on their tail.
Part II
The Beginning
Minoru Araki was born into a family of farmers. Minoru's father, Sakai Araki, an issei immigrant from Fukuoka, Japan, had come to the U.S. in 1906 as an 18-year-old after his father's sudden passing. After entry, he found work as a gardener on Blaney Estate in Saratoga, California.
The lady of the estate, Mrs. Blaney, quickly took a liking to Minoru's father and let the small family of three stay at the estate.
Minoru's mother, Misano, who, too, had immigrated from Fukuoka at the age of 17, took up work on the estate as a housekeeper.
Blaney Estate, Saratoga, California. 1916.
Blaney Estate, Saratoga, California. 1916.
When Mrs. Blaney passed away without an heir her young nephew, Robert Kirkwood, a Stanford graduate, inherited the estate.
By that time, Minoru's father had developed into more than just a gardener. By that time, he had properly learned how to treat the soil as a farmer.
Mr. Kirkwood recognized this and let the family stay while closely befriending Minoru's father.
As the years went on, Mr. Kirkwood encouraged Minoru's father to buy his own piece of land. In 1935 the family bought twenty acres in West San Jose, California. Minoru's father, bearing the stamp of an alien, had to borrow an American friend's name to secure the purchase.
Through hard labor, Minoru's father eventually managed to set up his own orchard, growing prunes, abricotes, and walnuts.
Sakai Araki on his farm. Circa 1938.
Sakai Araki on his farm. Circa 1938.
On the side, Minoru's father established a fertilizer business to supplement his modest income, importing bat guano from Manchuria and servicing it to all the Japanese farmers from Santa Clara Valley all the way into Salinas Valley.
Minoru being but a child started attending the local grammar school as one of the only Japanese kids in an otherwise predominantly Caucasian district.
Here, the Japanese Minoru ultimately merged into the American "Sam". His peers simply couldn't pronounce his given name properly.
Slowly but surely, the family integrated into their newfound surroundings, consisting predominantly of Italian American farmers.
Eventually, they got their part in the American Dream.
Part III
The Sudden Attack
On December 7, 1941, the American Dream turned into a nightmare for Sam and his family, when Imperial Japan bombed Naval Station Pearl Harbor, a U.S. naval base on the island of Hawaii.
With Sam's father being an active practitioner of Kendo, a Japanese martial arts, the potential repercussions for this association became starkingly clear to him after Pearl Harbor. They had to cut and run.
As Sam's father was packing the farm truck, getting ready for the 177 miles long trip to shelter in Reedley, he was suddenly met by a Japanese neighbor's son, who announced that the FBI had just picked up his father.
Before the words could even sink in, Sam's father packed the family into the Dodge car. No time to waste.
Mr. Kirkwood would be the first stop on the road to safety, Sam's father thought, as he accelerated down the dirt road of his farm, leaving a heavy dust cloud and their entire life behind.
Sam woke up the morning after the family had sheltered through the night in the barn to the sound of a car driving up the road.
Shakily peeking out the door, sheer panic turned into calming relieve.
It wasn't the FBI. Instead, their truck, caring most of their belongings, was pulling up.
The barn in Reedley.
The barn in Reedley.
Mr. Kirkwood stepped out of the truck and was quickly met by Sam's father who came rushing out to greet him.
They embraced, and as emotions settled, Mr. Kirkwood offered to lease their farm while the family were on the run.
"The U.S. is doing the wrong thing, and I'm gonna make sure that you guys are protected," Mr. Kirkwood said, as tears rolled down Sam's father’s cheeks.
As Mr. Kirkwood took off again, Sam's father knew that they were now on their own. Staying at the barn wasn't going to cut it in the long run. A month later it became painstakingly evident why.
"You better move. They're on the move, coming after you," the owner of the farm shouted one early morning, rushing into the barn.
And just like that, the family were on the run again.
Eventually, after the entire Japanese population in Reedley officially got excluded by the state of California, Sam's father finally gave in.
Exclusion Order 107 issued in July of 1942 excluded in total 1.374 persons of Japanese ancestry from the county of Fresno and forced them to be interned in a camp in Poston, Arizona. Sam and his family was three of those 1.374 persons.
Exclusion Order 107 issued in July of 1942 excluded in total 1.374 persons of Japanese ancestry from the county of Fresno and forced them to be interned in a camp in Poston, Arizona. Sam and his family was three of those 1.374 persons.
By the summer of 1942, after having fled from cover to cover from the FBI six times over a time period spanning six months, Sam and his family's exile would come to a painful end as they set course for Arizona to be incarcerated.
Their only crime being their Japanese ancestry.
Chapter II
The War
The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor President Franklin D. Roosevelt obtained a congressional declaration of war against Imperial Japan.
The sudden attack on U.S. soil had left most Americans shell-shocked and raised massive concerns in the public over the possibility of sabotage by Japanese Americans.
Within hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government launched a new set of national security measures deeming Japanese, Germans, and Italians as "enemy aliens."
"How to tell Japs from the Chinese". Published by Life Magazine in December 22, 1941.
"How to tell Japs from the Chinese". Published by Life Magazine in December 22, 1941.
In the years leading up to U.S. entry to the war, the FBI had meticulously collected information on Japanese communities in case of war and created lists of individuals suspected of potential "subversive activity."
This list contained people connected to anything ranging from involvement in Buddhist communities or other Japanese religious and cultural associations to practitioners of martial arts and Japanese language teachers.
When Pearl Harbor happened, this list was immediately armed for war.
Terminal Island, California. FBI agents arrest Japanese civilians, including many community and religious leaders, in the first round of mass removals following the attack on Pearl Harbor. By February 1942, they had arrested 2.192 Japanese Americans.
Terminal Island, California. FBI agents arrest Japanese civilians, including many community and religious leaders, in the first round of mass removals following the attack on Pearl Harbor. By February 1942, they had arrested 2.192 Japanese Americans.
Further squeeze was put on the Japanese community in January, 1942, when U.S. Attorney General Francis Biddle announced the creation of eighty-eight military zones from which all enemy aliens were ordered to leave within twenty-six days. But the public demanded more.
On February 19, fed by long-standing racism toward Japanese immigrants and the findings of the Roberts Commission, which concluded that the attack on Pearl Harbor had been aided by Japanese spies, President Roosevelt caved to public preassure and signed Executive Order 9066.
It stipulated that all Japanese American citizens and immigrants were to be relocated on the grounds of "military necessity."
President Roosevelt signing the declaration of war against Japan. December 8, 1941.
President Roosevelt signing the declaration of war against Japan. December 8, 1941.
In total, this mass relocation involved approximately 120.000 U.S. residents of which around 80.000 were U.S. citizens.
In effect, these Japanese American immigrants and citizens were forced to liquidate their properties and businesses within a week's notice to be incarcerated in hastily built, so-called War Relocation Centers in interior, harsh locations across the U.S.
In addition, over 2.100 Japanese Peruvians and other Japanese Latin Americans were shipped over for American incarceration as "enemy aliens".
This was the consequence of the Declaration of Lima of 1938, spurred on by the U.S., which called for joint hemispheric action in case of an outside attack by Imperial Japan.
Similarly, 22.000 Japanese Canadians were ordered to leave British Columbia and were relocated to remote, so-called Interior Housing Centres all across Canada.
In the U.S., a total of 10 War Relocation Centers were established under the supervision of the the newly established War Relocation Authority.
Of these camps, Poston War Relocation Center, sweating idly under the blazing desert sun of Arizona, was the second largest, confining a total of 17.814 people of Japanese ancestry.
Sam and his family were three of them.
Chapter III
The Camp
Sam and his family were crammed into a one-room barrack with no partitions, pieced together by a single layer board covered by air-gapped tarpaper.
The heat from the desert sun was relentless and made the humidity of the room unbearable.
Standing in the doorway, Sam's father reminisced his old life and the farm in San Jose he had worked so hard to foster.
As the family unpacked the small reminders of their recent life, sweat and tears bogged them down hard into their new one at Poston War Relocation Center.
Life in the camp was like a great equalizer. All the prisoners were in the same boat. To survive, everybody had to make the best of it.
Stores were built. A police department, medical facilities, and a church were established. Cultural centers with music, movies, and art flourished. Sports was played, food was produced, the earth was farmed. Everybody pitched in.
The inmates, as a collective, quickly turned the camp into a society within a society.
The Japanese community banded together to make camp life work.
The Japanese community banded together to make camp life work.
Having been raised in a rural area, Sam was now surrounded by enterprising people and kids his own age.
He attended grammar school where he was taught by the strict Mr. Nakashima. Sam being an average student was more interested in fishing in the nearby Colorado River with his newfound band of Japanese brothers. He relished the weekly outdoor movies. Flash Gordon was his favourite.
Sam's grammar school class in Poston. Circa 1942.
Sam's grammar school class in Poston. Circa 1942.
Being eleven years old, Sam wallowed in the life of this newly established community.
It gleamed with bonding brotherhood and seemingly endless opportunities.
But for Sam's parents, life was very much stripped of a child's innocence.
Initially a policeman, Sam's father pulled through camp life as a janitor making 10 dollars a month.
Somehow he had managed to slip under the FBI's radar upon entry to the camp. Still, he struggled with the humiliation of his family's imprisonment, the extreme heat - with temperatures rising as high as 115 degrees - and the dust storms that regularly ravaged the region.
The camp was fenced in behind barbed wire and guarded by military personnel.
The camp was fenced in behind barbed wire and guarded by military personnel.
He and Sam's mother, who took on the role of housewife, turned to prayer, transitioning from Buddhism to Christianity, becoming active in a Japanese church movement, Seicho no Ie, which practiced positive thinking.
Although Sam spend most of his time being rebellious toward his parents, this attitude eventually rubbed off on him. It was ultimately this frame of mind that made the family survive the total of three years of incarceration in the Arizona desert, relatively unscathed by the wrath of the U.S. government.
Other families, however, were not so fortunate.
Chapter IV
The Loyalty Issue
Living conditions in the 10 War Relocation Centers varied greatly.
Apart from Poston, six other camps were situated in desert areas. The Rohwer and Jerome camps were built on Arkansas swampland, while the two most northern camps, Minidoka and Heart Mountain, suffered from dust storms and temperatures as low as 35 degrees below zero.
In short, the localities of these camps were extremely austere.
The aim with the camps was for the inmates to proof their loyalty as Americans. Essentially, they had to do their part in the war effort by complying and accepting incarceration on the grounds of military necessity.
An Issei farmer and government employee discussing mass removal.
An Issei farmer and government employee discussing mass removal.
But not all complied.
Increasingly, more and more became bitter and disillusioned over their treatment as inmates without any charges made against them other than that of their Japanese ancestry.
Internal unrest started to erupt.
Those who advocated for compliance with the government clashed with those who stirred up dissidence. This conflict of interest eventually resulted in violence throughout many of the camps, most destructively in Manzanar War Relocation Center in California in late 1942 where a riot broke out. Two inmates were killed and nine injured by the hands of U.S. soldiers.
A sketch of the Manzanar riot.
A sketch of the Manzanar riot.
Internal division was furthered when the government issued so-called loyalty review programs in early 1943.
In an attempt to separate the wheat from the chaff, inmates aged seventeen and older were given a loyalty questionnaire.
If answers met the loyalty threshold, an inmate could potentially be released or join the front forces.
Two questions in the questionnaire in particular added further insult to injury for most inmates.
Question 27 asked all draft-aged males if they were "willing to serve in the armed forces of the United States on combat duty, wherever ordered."
Question 28 asked if these males would be willing to "swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America ... and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government, power or organization."
Page 4 of the loyalty questionnaire containing questions 27 and 28.
Page 4 of the loyalty questionnaire containing questions 27 and 28.
For Sam's father the answer to these questions were simple.
"If you come to America, you have to embrace America, and you have to live in the American system, because otherwise you should go back to Japan or wherever you came from," he told Sam when filling out the form.
He did so knowing that those 10 to 15 percent who answered "no" were branded disloyal and send to Tule Lake, a maximum security, segregated camp in California.
Several violent riots broke out in Tule Lake, as military personnel and inmates clashed continuously. Tule Lake, circa 1945.
Several violent riots broke out in Tule Lake, as military personnel and inmates clashed continuously. Tule Lake, circa 1945.
As the likelihood of a Japanese attack on U.S. soil decreased as the war progressed, and the Supreme Court in December, 1944, unanimously ruled that loyal citizens could not be kept in camps, the Roosevelt administration issued Public Proclamation 21, rescinding the exclusions orders.
All camps, except for Tule Lake, which would first close in 1946, were to be closed.
Starting from January, 1945, all incarcerated Japanese Americans could return home. For many, however, there was no home to return to. For most, everything was lost.
To better reintegrate with society the government thus encouraged former inmates to resettle in the northern and eastern parts of the U.S. rather than their former homes on the West Coast.
Thanks to the grace of Mr. Kirkwood, Sam and his family were by March, 1945, heading back to their old farm in San Jose.
Chapter V
The New Beginning
When Sam and his family returned home, the farm was still intact and stable thanks to Mr. Kirkwood.
Money, however, was scarce.
Sam, now 14 years old, started high school. A salvo of degrading questions and prejudice was waiting for him upon entry.
As a result, Sam grew more and more insecure and became more and more an outsider among his peers. Formerly, they had embraced him as a fellow brother of America. Now, they saw him as a foreign enemy from Japan.
Japanese Americans still faced discrimination and bias upon reentering society again. Seattle, 1945.
Japanese Americans still faced discrimination and bias upon reentering society again. Seattle, 1945.
Sam yearned for kinship, a group to belong to, someone to bond with. Consequently, all the Japanese American kids looked to each other as they had done in camp, becoming their own group yet again.
Back home, Sam's father looked on in despair as all the neighboring farms thrived.
Once again, Sam's father found himself toiling up the mountain of racist and economic hardship to get back on his feet.
During the war, farmers had fared tremendously on the farmland formerly owned by Japanese Americans. Forced into incarceration, many had had to sell cheap.
Many of those Japanese Americans informed they would be excluded tried to sell whatever belongings they could.
Many of those Japanese Americans informed they would be excluded tried to sell whatever belongings they could.
One day, when Sam returned home from school with nagging emotions of resignment twisting in his mind, he went to his father on the farm fields.
He could barely feed the family by the modest crop he was able to sell, but with labouring sweat dripping down from his brows his eyes locked with Sam's.
He then uttered words so profound, that they would become a mantra for Sam for the rest of his life:
"We've got to move on, rebuild, and get on with it."
And that's what he ultimately did.
●●●
Epilogue
Minoru "Sam" Araki went on to graduate from Stanford University with a master's degree in mechanical engineering. His father paid for his education.
Sam later established a prestigous career in the aerospace industry, going on to become a major contributor in developing intelligence capabilities during the early stages of the Cold War, using attributes and values - whether consciously or unconsciously - developed and honed during and from his experience of incarceration in Poston War Relocation Center. Later, he would become president of Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space before retiring in 1997.
In 1990, Sam and his mother received a redress payment of 20.000 dollars and an official apology from the U.S. government for their incarceration during the war. His father did not live to see the day of reparations.
Sam is 92 years old today and lives on a small farm of his own with his wife, Anna, in honor of his father's legacy.
Minoru "Sam" Araki, 2012.
Minoru "Sam" Araki, 2012.
