The Emotional Crisis of Registration
Among the sea of institutionally created troubles that befell Nikkei families in incarceration, arguably the most catastrophic was the family conflict and separation generated by the “loyalty questionnaire,” an administrative debacle which churned violently through the ten camps, splitting apart families and communities for generations to come. Like so many programs of the War Relocation Authority, registration was hastily conceived, inadequately planned, and poorly executed. The fear that they would be forced out of the camps empty-handed into resettlement in unknown and likely hostile locales was a primary reason for many choosing segregation, a choice that should be understood not so much as the Nikkei’s rejection of the United States as the Nikkei’s appraisal of their rejection by the United States. Social workers were involved in all aspects of the registration and the subsequent segregation program, responsible for interviewing all those who opted for segregation and organizing their transfer.