The Internment of Japanese Americans in United States History Read Free Page B

who disdained them and the Americans who imprisoned them.
    These groups had resentments that smoldered under the surface. In some camps, the resentments would flame into violence.

Chapter 6
    WHAT'S THIS CAMP COMING TO?
    Under a calm surface, tensions boiled in the camps. There was resentment against the low pay, the unappetizing food, the crowded bathrooms. Most of all, evacuees resented the lack of freedom. They hated the censorship that authorities forced upon them. White camp employees read evacuees’ incoming and outgoing mail. Camp residents published newspapers, but they were subject to review by the camp directors. The Manzanar Free Press was free in name only.
    Under these conditions, people became suspicious of each other. Anyone could be an informer, a spy for the administration. Resentments flared against the informers, the camp administration, the United States government that kept them prisoner, and the American people who allowed the government to oust them from their homes. These demonstrations took the form of protests and strikes.
Poston
    Hooded assailants cornered Kay Nishimura at Poston on November 14, 1942. They beat the suspected informer almost to death. Authorities suspected that the camp’s judo club was a headquarters for administration haters. Fifty judo club members were rounded up, but they soon were released. The following night, the parents of another suspected informer were beaten. Judo club members George Fujii and Isamu Uchida were rearrested.
    WRA director Dillon Myer visited the camp the next day. Camp director Wayne Head, Myer, and other top officials left the camp a few hours later. Soon, a crowd gathered in front of the camp jail. They shouted speeches in favor of the imprisoned “judo boys.” They denounced informers, whom they called inu (dogs).
    John Evans, the next in command, let the Issei protesters speak; then he addressed the assembled evacuees. Evans asked everyone to remain calm, but his translator did not repeat the director’s remarks. Instead of relaying what Evans had said, he called for release of the prisoners and a strike by camp residents.
    At nightfall, soldiers marched to Poston’s gates. Some militants wanted to fight the troops. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. Troops and guns withdrew. Both prisoners eventually were released. Dislike, distrust, and turmoil remained, but the bullets stayed outside of the camp.
Manzanar Massacre
    Hatred burned almost immediately at the Manzanar camp. Pro-American, pro-administration members of the JACL formed one faction. A group of Kibei (American-born people educated in Japan) were on the other side.
    Manzanar residents had reason for discontent: White camp employees were stealing their food. Sugar and other supplies were rationed throughout the United States, and many Americans were willing to pay high prices for the scarce black market goods. The employees cheated camp residents out of part of their food supplies, took the surplus into nearby towns, and sold the stolen food at black market prices.
    Evacuee Henry Ueno kept track of the sugar thefts. When he found the camp’s sugar supply to be 6,100 pounds short in October 1942, Ueno confronted camp officials. They promised to make up the shortage in November; Ueno, however, noted continuing food thefts. Instead of being grateful for Ueno’s alertness, camp officials considered him a troublemaker.
    The food crisis erupted on December 4, 1942. “Food was being taken out of camp not by one carton but by the truckloads,” noted Tom Watanabe. “The white drivers coming in were stealing the food. . . . [Ueno] was keeping a record of it and they snatched him.” 1
    Ueno spent the night in jail in nearby Independence, California. Meanwhile, six masked men beat up a JACL leader believed to be an informer. Several suspects were arrested.
    Government agents then returned Ueno to Manzanar and threw him into the camp jail. These arrests drew protests. Hundreds of evacuees