The issue over whether to join the military during World War II or to challenge the incarceration order still simmers in the Japanese American community after more than 70 years.
It’s an issue that regained prominence following the success of the play Allegiance: The Musical by George Takei last year.
Allegiance which set box office records at the Globe Theater in San Diego could be headed to New York as early as spring of 2014. It focused on how the evacuation orders and subsequent recruitment in the military tore families apart.
In a speech to the Japanese American Veterans Association published in Rafu Shimpo, Gerald Yamada writes about the decision of those who chose to serve instead of refusing to volunteer for the military to protest the constitutionality of the evacuation order.
He concludes the decision by 30,000 Japanese Americans to fight for the US military during World War II laid the groundwork for the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, the official apology from the US government for the incarceration camps.
Read his speech in Rafu Shimpo and let AsAmNews know what you think below.
