No-no boy

Today the people of America see their country as the land of opportunity and freedom for all citizens. “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” (Steve Mount, Web. 7 Jan 2014.) The first amendment was not well followed in the mid 1900’s when it used to be that only white Americans were considered true Americans. Racists were very strict in their beliefs that immigrants were not to be trusted. The Bombing on Pearl Harbor had a big effect on America and an even bigger effect on Americans with Japanese heritage. Before World War two, most of America’s military and upper class people were strictly Nativists. They believed that immigrants and their American born offspring were never to be trusted. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor it set off a panic with the white Americans and they locked Japanese-Americans into internment camps. Men over the age of seventeen were forced to take a survey in February of nineteen forty-three. The questions were meant to test their loyalty to the United States. The twenty-seventh question asked “are you willing to serve the armed forces of the United States, whenever ordered?” and the twenty-eighth question asked “Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government, power or organization?” The men who answered no to these questions were called No-no boys and they were thrown into federal prison. Ichiro Yamada was one of these no-no boys. No-No Boy was written by John Okada and published in nineteen fifty-seven. It is about Japanese-Americans after world war two. Ichiro was a