At the time of World War II, people of Japanese ancestry living in the United States were called Nikkei (Tunnell and Chilcoat 2). These Nikkei in the U.S. were either

Issei or Nisei. Issei were all Japanese Americans of first-generation immigration, meaning they were born in Japan. Nisei were all Japanese Americans who were born on American soil. At th

On April 30th, General DeWitt organized the posting of the "Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry" all along the West Coast. These notices instructed all Japanese descendants, Issei and Nisei, not to change residences after 12:00 PM on this very day. It also informed them that they all would be evacuated from their homes no later than May 7th, 1942 - only one week later. There were no explanations behind this "evacuation" and there were no explanations as to what was going to happen after such an evacuation (Freeman40).

Hatsue's family had been taken away to an internment camp, even though they had always been peaceful, law abiding citizen. They were stripped of all their valuable possessions that were from Japan and were forced to sell all of their land. When Hatsue's husband is put on trial for murder, he is the subject of some rather viscous racial attacks from the prosecution and the witnesses. Many of the white people in the novel figure that Hatsue's husband is guilty just because he is of Japanese ancestry. Both the parts of the book depicting the unfairness of the internment and the unfairness in the murder trial show just how easily people of the period overlooked justice and based their decisions on prejudice and hysteria.

In recent times, it would be true to say that the majority of Americans realize that the Japanese-American Internment was indeed unnecessary and wrong. However, this statement can only be true for those individuals who have freed their mind of prejudice and pretense. It is these thinkers that can see that the Japanese Americans were not the enemy and that they were indeed loyal citizens of the United States. Now, just as the case is with most situations, there probably are still some people who have the totally opposite view regarding this situation. They feel that the Japanese-American Internment was the only choice to insure American safety. These are the types of people whose minds have been infested with prejudice. These are the types of people who saw someone living in America with Japanese ancestry and saw the enemy. These are the types of people who let the United States government commit one of the greatest civil injustices in American history.

Only in recent decades has America finally realized just how unethical and wrong the internment really was. In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford made Proclamation 4417, which made Executive Order No. 9066 completely void, even though it was no longer imperative after the war. The proclamation was also written to admit that the government had been wrong to treat its citizens with such disrespect. It states that the Japanese Americans were extremely loyal and were unfairly suspected. In 1983, the U.S. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians was produced to provide redress for victims of the internment (Freeman 114). In 1983, Korematsu's case was brought back to court, and this time the ruling went in his favor (113). Then the Civil Liberties Act of 1988 was enacted, which brought about a formal apology and authorized a $20,000 payment to all surviving internees (114). Many of these "victories" for the Japanese Americans were only bittersweet, since many !

The story takes place in Seattle, Washington. It tracks the childhood of two people, Hatsue and Ishmael, up until their separation and then reunion in the late 1940s. When they were young, Hatsue and Ishmael were in love, something that they had to keep secret. Their love would not have been accepted, since Hatsue was a Japanese Nisei and Ishmael was white. The two are tragically separated when Hatsue and her family are forced to move to a relocation

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2474
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page double spaced)