In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Deserving Empathy? 97 there are two points in ngai’s assertions that require response. Whether or not one places premium value on single-nation citizenship (versus dual citizenship ), one cannot deny that rights and privileges technically inhere in national citizenship. even the un safeguards for individuals’ human rights are bounded by the sovereignty of nation states. it is to the nation-state that the responsibility of protecting the human rights of those within its borders is given. most states make clear distinctions between the privileges of citizenship and those of mere residency, so establishing or securing citizenship is a necessary protection . the protections of citizenship are especially important in times of national crisis, such as war. though the citizenship of the Japanese Americans had been severely compromised during the roosevelt administration, it was precisely the argument of citizenship that lawyers had available to challenge the government. i would submit that though many Japanese American renunciants may have desired the return of their citizenship for sentimental and idealistic reasons and faith in the privileges of u.s. citizenship, they were also undoubtedly clearheaded in realizing that without their citizenship, they would be further compromised in their efforts to reconstruct their lives. (At the time, the Alien land law was still in effect, for instance, and without citizenship, they could not own land.) then as now, the absence of citizenship makes one vulnerable to deportation on the slightest of excuses. the laws are draconian, allowing for precious little hope. my second response is to ngai’s (2004) point about “the influence of dual nationalism” (200) and the possibility that the Japanese Americans held “complicated , divided loyalties” (200). One is ready to accept the notion of dual citizenship today and to recognize that to have sympathies for the ancestral nation does not lead to a betrayal of allegiance to the current nation. the attachments may be layered and serve different ends—cultural and political; one may look to ancestral homelands for cultural fulfillment and yet be firmly anchored in political citizenship in the nation of one’s birth, recognizing one’s rights and privileges, obligations and duties. the case of minoru yasui, one of the four famous challengers to the curfew, evacuation, and detention orders, is precisely such an instance. He looked for a job after his graduation from law school and after he passed the bar exam in Oregon, and when he could not find one anywhere , he took a position with the Japanese consulate in Chicago. the minute that Japan declared war on the united states, he gave up his job there, in a clear understanding of where his political obligations lay and why it was necessary for him to demonstrate his political citizenship to the united states.28 A similar argument can be made for Arab Americans in the u.s. Army or muslim Americans in the u.s. armed forces. the unfortunate case of major nidal Hassan notwithstanding, many of these soldiers are capable of simultaneously negotiating cultural citizenship and political citizenship.29 in moments of political and national crisis, members of groups that are always considered to be not fully assimilable realize that their political citizenship has to be boldly and visibly performed so as to leave no doubt of their attachment to the 98 Chapter 2 united states. the Kibei, who were the Japanese Americans most suspected of continuing loyalty to Japan because of their having been educated in the ancestral country, ironically were heavily used in the intelligence services during World War ii to intercept and decode messages of the Japanese army.30 so in this instance, the state deployed cultural citizenship in the service of political citizenship. the more practical reason that Kibei and nisei may have entertained notions of a continued emotional bond with Japan was that it was clear to them that their issei parents were ineligible for citizenship. Citizenship is a coveted property—it confers on one a whole host of privileges and opportunities . Whatever the issei had been able to acquire and accumulate despite their noncitizen status was stripped away through the processes of curfew, evacuation , and relocation. not until the mcCarran-Walter Act of 1952 were the issei eligible to become naturalized citizens.31 But as the fallout from the evacuation orders proved, economic vulnerability was not limited to the issei. the nisei, too, confronted in mistakable terms the fragility of their citizenship, as they hurriedly sold off property and assets to comply with the five days they were given...

Share