Well, when the registration was first introduced
into Heart Mountain, actually, after I read
the thing, I really couldn't believe that
they were asking like question 27 and 28.
It was up to that point I didn't really see
any problem with it.
But it was, I think the heading was, statement
of "Evacuee for Leave Clearance," or something
like that.
I don't remember the exact wording, but the
logo on top of that questionnaire was that
of the selective service system, see?
And when 27 asked about, "Will you go into
combat duty wherever ordered?"
I thought it was very stupid, and a very...
arrogant question to ask of us, after we were
thrown out of our homes and put into these
concentration camps, without even a word about
our citizenship rights or civil rights, or
constitutional rights being restored.
And then question 28 was very, another very
ambiguous and a very senseless question, because
it said, "Will you" -- one of the phrases
was, "Will you forswear allegiance to the
Emperor of Japan?"
And something that we had never sworn allegiance
to the Emperor of Japan, and how can we forswear
something we had never sworn to before?
So that didn't make sense.
And then for the, our parents to forswear
allegiance to Japan, that would have left
them without a country, they'd have become
stateless persons.
So it really made me very angry just reading
that thing, and that's when I got sort of
involved into it.
