Wherever I Go, I Will Always Be a Loyal American: Seattle's Japanese American Schoolchildren During World War II

Wherever I Go I'll Always Be a Loyal American is the story of how the Seattle public schools responded to the news of its Japanese American (Nisei) students' internment upon the signing of Executive Order 9066 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 14, 1942. Drawing upon previously untapped letters and compositions written by the students themselves during the time in which the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the internment order took place, Pak explores how the schools and their students attempted to cope with evident contradiction and dissonance in democracy and citizenship. Emerging from the school district's tradition of emphasizing equality of all races and the government's forced evacuation orders based on racial exclusion, this dissonance became real and lived experience for Nisei school children, whose cognitive dissonance is best revealed in poignant phrases like "I am and will always be an American citizen."

About the Author :
Yoon Pak is Assistant Professor of Educational Policy Studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Review :
"This outstanding example of scholarship documents Japanese American junior-high students' struggle with societal and institutional racism. Pak's book is an excellnt resource for students and teachers in a variety of disciplines.." -Valerie Pang, author of "Struggling to be Heard: The Unmet Needs of Asian PAcific American Children "Yoon Pak presents a detailed picutre of Japanese Americans' experience inside World War II-era classrooms and skillfully documents this group's struggle to form an American identity.." -Ruen Donato, author of "The Other Struggle for Equal Schools: Mexican Americans during the Civil Rights Era "A must-read for those seeking to unedrstand the effects of war on the capacity of young people to make sense of the world.." -Barbara Finkelstein, author of "Transcending Stereotypes: Dicovering Japanese Culture and Education "That democratic ideals exist alongside undemocratic practices is not a new idea. Historically oppressed groups have known this all too well and for much too long. In "Wherever I Go, I Will Always Be a Loyal American, Yoon Pak documents one of the most disturbing and tragic cases of this disjuncture that can be imagined. Only it wasn't imagined, it happened. Theres much to be learned from the story Pak tells here, with skill and compassion, about what schools can do and what they cannot, the courage of young and old in the face of catastrophe, the persistence of racism amidst democratization, and the difference school teachers and principals can make.." -Walter C. Parker, University of Washington, Seattle, is the editor of Education for Democracy, Information Age Press. "Professor Pak's book is an outstanding work ofscholarship. Her text provides a comprehensive understanding of the historical, sociological and psychological context of the internment and its impact on junior high Japanese Americans. Pak's research carefully documents the lives of junior high Japanese American students from Seattle and their hard reality with societal and institutional racism. The voices of American-born children from the Nikkei community exhibit grave sadness and strain as they attempted to understand how their country which espoused the values of equality and freedom could have incarcerated them for no reason other than they were of Japanese ancestry. An excellent resource not only for professors in history, Asian American studies, ethnic studies, political science, and sociology, but also eachers.." -Valerie Ooka Pang, San Diego State University