We Are Not Free

Throughout his journey, Shig reflects on a Japanese word over and over again. What is this word and what does it mean?

"Gaman" - Japanese word for persevere, endure, it's a word for when you can't do anything to change your situation, so you bear it patiently... Or as patiently as you can.

As they are packing to leave San Francisco, what does Minnow's mother do with all of her mementos from Japan, and why?

Burns them, she doesn't want to be accused of being a spy or a sympathizer.

Tommy sends Yash a letter saying that radio Tokyo is broadcasting what news, And why does this make Tommy so scared?

Japan is broadcasting propaganda that they are winning the war, And he doesn't know what he's going to do if that happens he's never been to Japan and doesn't even speak Japanese very well.

Who is sent to a prison camp in Santa Fe?

Japanese who have signed renunciation applications - Hokoku members

When Stan was 13 he was with his father in their store. What did the Vandals write on their window?

Japs go home. (shows that there was hostility prior to the war)

Frankie was very upset and had been getting into fights. Who said this quote to him after he was asked to enlist? "You can't fight everything, Frankie. You've got to pick some thing to fight for, or you'll wear yourself out trying to fight the world."

Mas

Who says "I thought I knew why I was here, why I volunteered: to prove we deserved freedom, liberty, and justice, just like everybody else."?

Mas when describing why he enlisted and the injustice of what was happening to Japanese Americans

What drawing did the bullies rip out of Minnow's sketchbook that "caused" Minnow to get beat up?

The drawing of the Golden Gate Bridge, The bullies accused middle of drawing pictures of the bridge to send back to Japan

While they are at Tanforan, Bette describes an evening where they see something for the first time in their lives. What is it?

The first snow fall of their lives

Keiko was staying with her aunt and uncle and Tanforan. It was either that or go with the other orphans to Manzanar. But Keiko isn't actually an orphan. Where are her parents?

The government ahead and present her parents

Yuki plays on the high school girls softball team. When they go to play at a neighboring school and they are on the bus coming back, they stop to get ice cream. What happens at the ice cream store?

The man scooping ice cream refuses to sell ice cream to them because they're Japanese, their coach, who is white, is "traumatized" by the incident and in an odd twits, Yuki ends up consoling her.

When Minnow was being beat up, his friends came to save him. How did the friends know that he needed help?

"Some Chinese guys came running over, saying the white boys were at it again."

Money, clothes, more money. These three things are a list of what?

"The things to bring when it's our turn to leave for the internment camps."

Frankie

19 - (Francis Fujita) angry, reluctantly agrees to enlist because his anger keeps getting him fights

Tommy Harano

19 - Journal entries written in poetry reflecting on the conflict of being Japanese versus American, doesn't want to follow his parents and be loyal to Japan, Aiko's big brother

How long did the government give everyone to pack everything from their home in San Francisco?

5 days

Mas

20 (Masary Ito) - oldest brother, nearly 6 feet tall, tries to be the dad of the family, is the guy others go to for help, was in his first semester at UC Berkeley when their father died, dropped out of college to take over dad's job as a gardener and help the mother with finances, superhero leader of the group who always tries to help and do the right thing, very conflicted about fighting in the war for a country that doesn't accept him

Everyone had to fill out a loyalty questionnaire. What were the two questions?

27. Are you willing to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States on combat duty, whenever ordered?____ 28. Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States of America and faithfully defend the United States from any or all attacked by foreign or domestic forces, and for swear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, or any other foreign government, power, or organization?____

How many years passed from the time Minnow left San Francisco to the time he returned?

3 years

Ike

13 (Aiko Herano) - tomboy, loves to tag along with her older brother Tommy, has a tough father who is a no/no, Tommy's little sister

Minnow

14 (Minoru Ito) - youngest brother, good at drawing, first chapter he is 14, last chapter he is 17

Yuki Nakano

14 - Bette's little sister, plays on the softball team, has an altercation that a local won't let her team buy ice cream on the way back from playing against another local school

Mary Kataumoto

15 - parents are no/no, sent to Tule Lake segregation center- very angry

Yum Yum

16 (Amy Oishi) - girlfriend to Shig, plays the piano - father has been taken and interned in Mazula internment camp, mother is sick, dates Shig

Twitchy

17 (David Hashimoto) - good sense of humor, everyone likes, loves Keiko, yes/yes, enlists and dies in battle in France,

Bette

17 (Hiromi Nakano)- likes to wear a blond wig, optimistic, bought a camera, ends up resettled in New York

Yosh

17 (Kiyoshi) - "boots boy", grew up very poor, when coming home from a movie there were men who stopped the food trucks delivering food to the strike breakers, freezes when Stan is attacked, has a history of freezing, abusive step father

Shig

17 (Shigoe Ito) - middle brother, dates Yum Yum, resettles with Yum Yum in Chicago

Stan

18 (Stanley Katsumoto)- applying to colleges

Keiko

18, staying with her aunt and uncle in Tanforan because her parents have been imprisoned by the FBI - with Twitchie

How many people lived at Tule Lake, and what did they all have in common?

18,000 people who are all no/no

How many people lived at Topaz?

8,000 people

What does Twitchy call a potato masher?

A German grenade

What does Frankie take off of a dead German soldier that he's always playing with and flicking around?

A butterfly knife.

What memento did Twitchy send to Keiko?

A patch, one of the 442d RCT patches, like they wore on their uniforms, with the torch of liberty and the national colors.

What were the three things Frankie writes that they found in Twitchy's pockets?

A photo of Keiko, Minnow's sketches of the boys sitting on Mr. Hidekawa's stoop, an unfinished letter to Mrs. Hashimoto (his mother).

What do twitchy and the other men find in a storage shed?

A secret stash of wine.

What does Minnow give to Twitchy as a goodbye memento?

A signed picture he drew

Everyone who leaves Tule Lake is compensated with what?

A train ticket and $25.00.

What is the word that upsets Shig that they use instead of "citizen"?

Alien and non-alien

Why is Bette able to apply for resettlement but Aiko can't?

Because Bette answered yes/yes in the questionnaire

Why did Mas get all of the bad duties in the army, when they needed someone for kitchen patrol, for latrine duty, or for any of the unsavory jobs they give to army grunts?

Because he got a letter from Stan saying how bad the conditions were back in Tule lake. He felt that he needed to go to his commander to complain. But all the commander said was "get your head out of your ass, soldier. You've got a war to fight, and it's not in f'ing Tule Lake.

Why does Yum Yum think that she hates her father?

Because he told her to take care of the family and the pressure is really too much for her.

Why do the letters that Bette received from her father cause her stress?

Because her father expects a lot from her to take care of the family, which makes her feel a lot of pressure and she doesn't feel that she can do it, she imagines her father's disapproval, even though he writes that he is proud of her, that she's a good girl.

Why do they call Yuki , "whitey" on the softball team?

Because her first name means snow in Japanese

The Topaz Times announces that question 27 and 28 must be answered the same. Why is this a problem?

Because most people don't want to enlist, but they are loyal to the United States. The way the questions are worded by swearing allegiance to the United States you would automatically be also volunteering to enlist.

Mas tells a story to his father of when he was riding a bus. He describes feeling conflicted where he should sit. What caused this inner conflict?

Because the buses were segregated and it was either the whites or the "colored" section and he was neither

When he's leaving, Shig gives Twitchy all the change that he and Minnow could find in the apartment the night before. What did he want Twitchy to buy with it?

Candy for the evacuation the next day to give to the kids

Yum Yum and her little brother Fred fight, and they both say that they hate each other, then Fred disappears. Where does Yum Yum find him?

Curled up at the bottom of his mothers bed in the infirmary.

What was unusual about the letters Keiko received from David after the Western Union Telegram?

David was already dead, but it took a long time for a letter to reach it's destination in the mail.

Who is the real life cartoonist who depicts Japanese in very racist ugly ways?

Dr. Seuss

After the first night that Yum Yum and Keiko go walking around the camp at night, things change for Yum Yum. What changes?

During the day Yum Yum is herself. The obedient daughter, the dutiful sister, the high strong disciplinarian, taking care of her little brother Fred, making sure he is bathed and clothed and fed, picking up toys on the floor, dealing with his tantrums, and putting him to bed. But at night she has someone else who sneaks out after he has fallen asleep, and wanders the camp with the boys, drinking Sake.

What does Yum Yum go to Shig to ask him to help her make?

Furniture

Why wouldn't Yum Yum's father want her to make furniture?

He didn't pay for 10 years of piano lessons for her to ruin her hands on making furniture.

What is wrong about Tommy being Hokoku?

He kept flunking Japanese, broke his arm in Jodo, flinched when he was hit by his father, sang a lullaby to his little sister like a woman.

What does the minnow do to his self portrait he draws?

He lights it on fire

Why does Mas say that he writes to his father?

He started writing to his father the day after his funeral. He wanted to believe that if he wrote to you he wouldn't lose you, but he wasn't gone, that he was here, reading, his ice cream cooling at the corners, or smiling appearing or disappearing, as if you were at the kitchen table looking over my report card.

Twitchy and another soldier he was close with named Bill were advancing through enemy snipers when Bill lunged to protect Twitchy and he was shot and killed. As he was lunging to protect Twitchy from a sniper what did he yell, and what was the irony of his last words?

He yelled "David, get down!" That was the first time he had ever used Twitchy's real first name.

Hirome has been thinking about changing her name for sometime, she feels her name is old-fashioned and hard to pronounce. What name does she go by that she feels is more appropriate for a modern American girl like herself?

Her middle name - Bette

What is odd about Mas writing letters to his father?

His father was dead

What symbol reminds Mas of his father?

His fathers American flag because he took such good care of and fold it up every evening

What handmade sign does Mr. Katsumoto have outside of his store?

I am an American

Who said: "I wanted to believe in right and wrong. Here is what is right. Here is what is it. Here's the line. Here's the question: if I go to war for America, if I kill for America, if I support in America that doesn't support me, am I supporting my oppressors? Am I killing their enemies so they can later kill me? I volunteered. I wanted to serve. But who am I serving, Dad? What am I doing here?"

Mas when reflecting on the poor treatment of Japanese in America during the war.

They throw a party for the three boys who are leaving for basic combat training. Who are those boys?

Mas, Frankie, and Twitchy

Stan and his father were out for a walk, and Stan's father was bragging to everyone that his son was invited to apply to university. What happened on this walk that changed him and caused the camp to protest?

Mr. Uyeda was playing fetch with his little dog and one of the guards shot him for no reason. When Stan tries to go running to him to try and help his father tackles him to keep him from also being shot.

How many colleges did Stan apply to for an application, and how many applications to get back?

One application received, six colleges written to.

On April 24, 1942 the headquarters of western defense post the "Civilian Exclusion Order Number 20". What does this notice detail?

One responsible member from each Japanese family must report to the Japanese American citizens League Auditorium, it is the beginning the removal of Japanese internment camps

What special thing did Mas, Shig and Minnow's father used to make that they can't take with them? Hint: the mother throws the shoebox away and Shig finds it in the garbage and rescues it.

Origami creations that he then hands out to the kids on the bus as they're leaving to the Internment Camp.

What President of the United States of America established the War Relocation Authority, a federal agency that's supposed to be in charge of figuring out how to get the Japanese out of military zones where the government doesn't want them?

President Roosevelt

Why did Minnow walk home thru unsafe areas when he had been told to take the bus?

The bus never stopped for him.

Every chapter is told from a different perspective except for one. What is the topic of that one chapter?

Registering the news of Twitchy's death.

Stan is always looking for the letters in the mail, what do these letters contain?

Request for applications for universities.

Tommy's mother listens to Radio Japan and hears Japanese propaganda. What does she think will happen at the end of the war?

She believes the rumors: If true Japanese return to the homeland, they will be endowed with property, jobs, accolades, gestures of gratitude, from the emperor himself.

Bette sends Yuki A postcard from New York City after she has arrived. How does the postcard say things are going on the other side of the country?

She can't find anyone who will be willing to rent her a room and she is still sleeping on her brothers couch

That is dance card is nearly full, she's very excited to dance with Joe Tanaka. Why does she never get a chance to?

She gets food poisoning from the Thanksgiving dinner gravy, and gets really sick

Why does Keiko call Yum Yum Kobachas (boobies)?

She said it jokingly when they first got there and were being checked for lice.

Which two boys ended up in the stockade at Tule lake when they went under martial law?

Stan first for being a suspected agitator and then Yosh for violating curfew by 5 minutes

What was the thing that stands help for a grand total of six minutes when he was younger?

Stan's father had let him hold the katsumoto company deposit bag on the way to the bank

When the train stops in Lyon, France, Frankie and the other men get off the train. What do they find that they quickly load on the train to take back with them?

Supplies - cans of C rations that they raid and take.

What do the boys distribute to the kids when they're being evacuated?

The origami figures that his father made

This quote is Twitchie's answer to a question that one of his fellow soldiers asked him, what was the question? "I want to say, hai, hai. It ancient bushido technique called kusottare. You want know how? But then I think of Ma and Pa and my siblings back in Topaz and I wanna say there is no secret. There is no secret, you jut gotta do the job, you just gotta get out there and do the thing you were trained for, the thing you volunteered for, because there's a bunch of people back in America counting on you, and they're in camps, they're in f'ing camps, they were forced outta their homes, they were put in stables like ******* animals, they had their jobs taken, their families, their liberties, and you're here as evidence that all that shit was wrong because the ketos won't see they've ****ed up until they see Nisei boys spilling blood over it."

The question asked was "How is it you 442nd boys don't got an ounce of fear, what's your secret?"

What is the headband emblem of the Hokoku?

The rising sun worn by the sons of Japan.

What does the Western Union telegram addressed to Kaori Hashimoto dated 11/23/44 say?

The secretary of war desires me to express his deep regret that your son Private First Class Davide Hashimoto (Twitchy) was killed in action in the performance of his duty and service of his country.

According to Tommy, what remains "untouched as new snow"?

The signature line of his renunciation

Stan sends a letter to Mas, he tells them how they imprisoned them, isolated them, made them sick with poor conditions and treatment, and put them on a ration of only bread and water after Yash had instigated everyone to stand up for what was right. How did the prisoners retaliate?

They decided they weren't going to eat at all and went on a hunger strike until they got fair trials, and they stopped treating them like they were less than human.

How do they segregate the people in the camp?

They ship the no/no's to Tule Lake, CA which has more guards and worse conditions.

Finish this quote from Twitchy about fighting: "I mean, can you believe that? White boys go AWOL 'cause they're scared. Nisei boys go AWOL because _______"?

They want to keep fighting.

Keiko is angry because in her mind she mistakenly calls their quarters in the internment camp "home". What was this home really?

They were in a horse stable, a 9 x 12 stall.

Shig makes lists, one of his lists has three things on it: my humor, my courage, my joy. What is the title of the list?

Things that don't take up any space at all

Shig makes a list of three things while he's packing to leave: my home, my friends, my community. What is the title of this list?

Things they've taken

The following is from which book on our list: "I don't know a lot of Issei who yell, but dad used to love it I think it was one of the most American things about him, how he seized up on the freedom to be loud, to be heard, to claim his own space, even if his space and coach than everyone else in earshot. I mean if throwing your freedom around like that isn't quintessentially American, I don't know what is."

This book! This is Stan talking about his father

Hokoku began in Tule Lake as the camp swelled with misinformation. What is Hokoku?

To be true Japanese, speak Japanese, study Japanese, wake at dawn, run the camp, serve the emperor, obey your parents.

A letter from Tommy instructs Mas, Shig, and Minnow about things to expect when they get to Tanforan. What extra things does the letter tell them to bring to the camp that they wouldn't have thought of?

Tools to make furniture because there isn't any.

Who wrote We are Not Free?

Traci Chee

What does yum yum start to do at night?

Wander the camp

Yosh has a handkerchief full of rice that is confiscated by internal security. Where did he get this rice?

When they came with the food trucks they just dumped the food off the truck and the rice spilled all over the ground. Since their food was previously confiscated out of their barracks by the patrol, they had nothing to eat so he picked the grains of rice out of the dirt one at a time.

Mr. Morimoto, the judo teacher, is very respected in the stockade and a leader. When they come for him to take him into the bullpen the lieutenant tells everyone "if anyone else wants to join him, you can step right up." What is the result of this?

Yash steps up which is very surprising because up until this point he would freeze every time there was confrontation, and the result of his stepping up to go with Mr. Morimoto causes everyone else steps up as one in protest.

Fred Oishi

Yum Yum's little brother who she has to care for when her mother gets sick

Fred

Yum yum's little brother, favorite toy a teddy bear names Kuma

Keto

slang for Caucasian people, the bullies