Until Dr. Satsuki Ina began to investigate and research the long-term, multi-generational impact of the trauma to Americans of Japanese ancestry as a result of President Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066, most people didn't give it a second thought. Sure, it was traumatic for an entire population of Americans to be viewed with suspicion. And of course it was indescribably terrible for them to lose everything, including their freedom and civil rights. But when the war ended and the Americans of Japanese ancestry were released from their remote prisons, didn't most of them get right back into the swing of things, without any signs of lingering trauma?
In her new book The Poet and the Silk Girl: A Memoir of Love, Imprisonment and Protest, Dr. Ina uses her parents diaries, letters and poetry journals to document both their resistance and resilience. And she also shares with me about the lingering effects of this level of trauma on those who experienced it firsthad, but also those who would come later.
www.satsukiina.com
ASIAN AMERICA: THE KEN FONG PODCAST