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Following are portions of a letter written by Muriel Kitagawa to her brother, Wes. March 4, 1942 We are Israelites on the move. The public is getting bloodthirsty and will have our blood Nazi-fashion. Okay we move. But where? Signs up on all highways…JAPS KEEP OUT. Curfew. “My father is dying. May I have permission to go to his bedside?” “NO!” Like moles we burrow within after dark, and only dare to peek out of the window or else be thrown into the hoosegow with long term sentences and hard labour. Confiscation of radios, cameras, cars and trucks. Shut down of all business. No one will buy. No agency yet set up to evaluate. When you get a notice to report to RCMP for orders to move, you report or be interned. “Who will guard my wife and daughters?” Strong arm reply. Lord, if this was Germany you can expect such things as the normal way, but this is Canada, a Democracy! And the Nisei, repudiated by the only land they know, no redress anywhere. Sure we can move somewhere on our own, but a job? Who will feed the family? Will they hire a Jap? Where can we go that will allow us to come? The only place to go is the Camp the Government will provide when it gets around to it. Ah, but we are bewildered and bitter and uncertain… When shall we ever meet again if we scatter? Don’t you dare come here!!! I’ll lose you for sure if you do, then where will we be?… The Nisei would have been so proud to wear the King’s uniform! Even die in it. But not as Helots, tied to the chariot wheels of Democracy … And you know that most of the people here call this a ‘damned shame,’ this treatment especially of the Canadian-born? It’s just the few antis who have railroaded Ottawa into this unfairness. Talk about opportunists. Was there ever a better excuse for them to kick us out lock stock and barrel?… So the saga of the Nisei begins. I, too, mean to survive this. This is the furnace where our worth will be tempered to white-hot resilience or not at all … Pray for us all, you who are in ‘safe’ areas. For me, whose faith these last few years is sorely tried and wearing thin. |