We Are Not Free

Kiyoshi Tani, 17. November-December 1943.

Kiyoshi attends a movie with Mary, Aiko, and Stan. When the movie lets out, they are walking back to their barracks when the internal police arrive and begin dragging people off the streets. Stan tells the others to run, but Kiyoshi is shocked and dissociated, “drifting out of my body” (199). Stan has to shake him back to reality, insisting he takes the others to safety. When Kiyoshi looks back, Stan is being arrested. Kiyoshi is overwhelmed with guilt, especially when the Katsumotos go nearly two weeks before they learn Stan is being held in the stockade.

Tule Lake is placed under martial law. There is a raid on Kiyoshi’s block. A man down the block is arrested for contraband; Kiyoshi admires his calm dignity. A few days before Thanksgiving, Kiyoshi helps Mrs. Katsumoto pickle vegetables, and, when he arrives home, he surprises his mother with several jars. Moments later, Kiyoshi is arrested because he was five minutes late for curfew. In the stockade, Kiyoshi finds Stan, who helps him learn the ropes. Kiyoshi apologizes to Stan for letting him get arrested, but Stan dismisses him.

On December 30, two prisoners are taken to the bullpen, a tent with no heat, for no reason. Mr. Morimoto, a judo teacher and unofficial leader of the prisoners, asks that the men be returned. The lieutenant says the prisoners will be returned if they will clean the bathroom. Mr. Morimoto does so despite having no cleaning supplies. The next day, the lieutenant tells Mr. Morimoto he’s to go to the bullpen. Kiyoshi surprises himself by standing up for Mr. Morimoto and encouraging the others to do so as well.

Mas, 22. January-March 1944.

This chapter is presented through letters that Mas writes to his late father—a habit he got into after his father’s funeral, in an attempt to keep him close. Mas writes about boot camp, how his battalion is fighting hard to prove they are as good as any other battalion. When Stan told Mas about the conditions at Tule Lake, he went to his superiors to get help—but they only assigned him the jobs no one else wanted to do. Mas’s battalion runs maneuvers and does well. Unfortunately, one of the men in his unit was killed when they were crawling under live fire and the man lifted his head too high.

Mas thinks often about a flag his father used to fly outside their house, and how much it meant to his father. He remembers how happy his father was that Mas got into UC Berkeley, and how he’d wanted more for his boys than he’d had himself. At the same time, Mas discovers segregation in Mississippi and befriends a Black man, comparing the racism they both endure. Mas thinks a lot about his family, worrying about Shig who’s decided to file for resettlement in Chicago. He thinks about the possibility of his own death when he learns his battalion is going to Europe. He thought once that he would be honored to die for his country, but “I don’t know if I want it now” (241).

Keiko, 18. March 1944.

Keiko narrates the chapter in second person. Twitchy is back at the camp, on leave before going to Europe. Keiko, Twitchy, and others crash a wedding, dancing and stealing tastes of the cake. Shig is going to Chicago in two days, so the group goes to Mrs. Ito’s barracks to help him pack. “Yuki cranks up Mas’ Silvertone radio” (248), and Keiko thinks of how music fills so many of her memories of her friends. They dance for a time, then everyone starts to leave. Twitchy agrees to walk Keiko home, but once they arrive there, she encourages him to keep walking with her. They steal some strawberries from the commissary icebox and retrieve a bottle of Jack Daniel’s that Twitchy hid nearby. They sit in one of the guard towers and talk for a long time—then they kiss before sitting together in silence. When it is time for Twitchy to leave, Keiko makes him promise to write to her.