Zarah Ferrari: Tule Lake Segregation Center: Rising Above an Unjust System
Forever will the unjust internment of thousands of Japanese Americans during World War II remain an irrevocable stain on American history that reveals the fraudulent nature of the ideals of freedom, democracy, and acceptance that are fundamental to the American national identity.
Surrounded by towering mountains and stretches of barren land, the Tule Lake Segregation Center and National Historic Landmark, opened in 1946 was the largest of ten internment camps created by the War Relocation Authority, holding 18,000 detainees in a maximum security facility. Previously named Tule Lake Internment camp, the site was later named as a segregation center, made for Japanese Americans who answered ‘no-no’ to question 27 and 28 on a mandatory loyalty test.
These questions were unfair to many Japanese Americans, as answering ‘yes’ to question 27 meant they were willing to enlist in the army, and answering ‘yes’ to 28 was forgoing potential citizenship from a nation that had done less harm to them than America. Those who did not answer ‘yes-yes’, were considered to be disloyal and a danger to the American people. Unjustly detained in a concentration camp of 4,685 acres on semi-arid land, Tule Lake was built to be a completely self sufficient facility complete with housing, farming, schooling, and health care facilities. All enclosed by a barbed wire fence, guard towers, and the threat of military tanks, Tule Lake demonstrates the hypocrisy of a nation that prides itself of being a melting pot of diversity while fearing and forcibly removing from society all that is deemed as 'alien'.
The prison-like design of the camp was intended to degrade the Japanese American internees, cut off communication, and treat them as a dangerous ‘other’ in society. However, through augmenting the landscape of the camp in both physical and immaterial ways, the Japanese Americans revolted against the unjust and hysterical system that sought to dehumanize them.
A Prison By Design
Surveillance and Protection
A Plan of Isolation
Revolting Against the System
Citations
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