Summary: Pages 155–182

In August 1945, prisoners at the camp learned from a radio announcement that the city of Hiroshima, Japan, no longer existed. Many prisoners became worried about their families in Japan; others thought the news was only propaganda to scare them. People were similarly skeptical when President Roosevelt died. But three days later, Nagasaki was also bombed. Some, like Mama, were inconsolable. The camp was quiet. On August 14, Daddy announced that the war was over—Japan had surrendered. The camp would be closed.

The government cut services to the camp to encourage people to leave, but those who renounced their citizenship were to be deported with other “alien enemies” to Japan. Mama was one.

A lawyer named Wayne Collins challenged Executive Order 9066 and dedicated himself to helping prisoners who had renounced their citizenship because they felt they had no choice in order to keep their families safe. Two days before Mama’s scheduled deportation, Wayne Collins filed habeas corpussuits on behalf of people like Mama, who were unfairly forced to resign their citizenships because of the war. Mama was given a hearing, with the San Francisco ACLU serving as her lawyer. The San Francisco ACLU branch was the only branch of the organization to help Japanese Americans. Of the people who got hearings, almost 90 percent were released—including Mama. Still, it took her years to restore her citizenship. George notes that Wayne Collins determined his destiny.

Those leaving the camps were entitled to a one-way ticket to anywhere in the United States. Eventually they all went back to Los Angeles. Daddy left before Christmas, and the rest of the family followed in March. As the train pulled into Los Angeles, George felt an “instant connection” to the city, though he didn’t recognize anything.

Their LA home was on skid row and smelled of urine and vomit. Nancy wanted to go back to the camp, which felt to her like home. Daddy worked as a dishwasher and opened an employment agency to help returning Japanese Americans find work. Later, the family moved to a Mexican American barrio. Mama received word that her parents survived Hiroshima but that her sister and nephew did not.

George began school, but his teacher, Mrs. Rugen, treated him unkindly, calling him “that little Jap boy.” George felt ashamed and didn’t understand Mrs. Rugen’s animosity. As he recited the Pledge of Allegiance at school, he realized Mrs. Rugen’s attitude toward him was due to the fact that he was a prisoner. He couldn’t understand what he did wrong to become a prisoner, but it made him feel guilty anyway.

As George grew, he looked in history books to learn about Japanese internment, but it wasn’t mentioned. George came to understand Japanese internment as an assault not only on Japanese Americans but also on the Constitution. He had a hard time matching the “shining ideals” of democracy with his actual experience. Today, George sees this as a larger issue: Americans don’t learn about past injustices and therefore don’t learn from the country’s mistakes. He wonders if people like Mrs. Rugen hate people who look like him because their families served in the war. This leads to the realization of another issue—people still view Asian Americans as enemies.

George began to study acting at UCLA. He auditioned for Fly Blackbird!, a musical about Japanese internment. It gave him a chance to be part of something that promoted change for the future. George also met Nichelle Nichols, an actor who became important to him. At one performance of music from the show, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the speaker. After the music, Dr. King talked about the American Dream. He said Americans “proudly [profess] the principles of democracy” but actually practice the opposite. He challenged people to make those ideals a reality. Dr. King’s words had a big impact on George; he went on to march with Dr. King in Los Angeles and took the challenge to heart.

But it was Daddy who planted the seed of activism in George first. The narrative goes back to a conversation about democracy. In it, Daddy told George that American democracy is “participatory,” depending on people who care about it to engage. As an example, he took George to volunteer with a presidential campaign. One day, as George was working on the campaign, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt came by. Daddy had gone home sick, but George realized later his father wasn’t truly ill—he just didn’t want to shake the hand of the wife of the person who locked up his family.

Analysis: Pages 155–182

The war’s end, after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is just as devastating for the Takeis and families like them as its beginning. Mama and Daddy realize the grave mistake made when Mama renounced her citizenship—now as an enemy alien the government is no longer liable for her “care.” George credits Wayne Collins with saving their family. More than that, Collins gives him hope that there are still Americans who will fight for justice. This is the power of American democracy working as it should.

After the Takei family leaves the camp, the reader learns that the underlying racism from before the war is not gone—as a matter of fact, in some ways it is still prominent. George struggles with feelings of shame at having been in the camp, which makes him feel like he has done something wrong. Difficult living circumstances and racism from his teacher make George and his siblings miss the “home” of the camps. For Nancy, the camp was truly the only home she knew.

Daddy continues building community even out of the camp, demonstrating for George the need for people to work together in order for democracy to work. He helps George understand more about the camps when George can’t find information in books, and George develops an understanding that it will be up to people to keep history alive so it isn’t forgotten. As George grows older, he has the opportunity to be involved in the process of democracy through both art and activism, even marching with Dr. King. But Daddy’s slow and quiet activism and his belief that American democracy is special because of the people who engage in it plant the deepest roots in George.