The novel Desert Exile by Yoshiko Uchida discusses a Japanese- American family and the trials they encountered during the time of World War II. Uchida begins the book by describing her family, a fairly well off Japanese family in Berkley, California. They were extremely involved in the community and highly regarded by both the Japanese and white families in their neighborhood. The focal point of the narrative is the period this family, along with thousands of other Japanese-American families, spent in an internment camp during the war. .
In February of 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the Executive Order 9066, authorizing the secretary of war and his military commanders to prescribe areas from which "any or all persons may be excluded." In basic terms, this allowed for the removal of Japanese-Americans from their homes to be placed in internment camps, under the guise of "national security." This marks one of the most disturbing events in American history. .
A major question concerning Japanese-Americans today is: "Why didn't these people resist the orders?" It seems to many that the Issei and the Nissei willingly accepted their fates without the smallest amount of resistance. But Uchida answers these questions in the course of her book. First of all, many people felt that it was of their patriotic duty to accept these orders. As law abiding Americans, some Japanese citizens graciously followed the orders of their government to ensure national security. Another reason behind this seemingly cowardly compliance is the fact that many had no choice but to adhere to the rules. What later generations of shameful Japanese-American might not realize is that the politics and racism of the time would not have allowed for even the slightest protest. The radicalism that emerged in the sixties and seventies would not have been tolerated under the anti-Japanese sentiment of the time.