No-no Analysis in They Called Us Enemy

“No-no” is the term for prisoners in Japanese internment camps who answered no to two particular questions on a government questionnaire judging their loyalty to the U.S.

No-no Quotes in They Called Us Enemy

The They Called Us Enemy quotes below are all either spoken by No-no or refer to No-no. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:

American Democracy and Civic Engagement Theme Icon

).

Question 27 wanted us to pledge our lives for a country that had upended our families and put us behind barbed-wire fences.

Question 28 rested on a false premise: that we all had a racial allegiance to the emperor of Japan. To answer “yes” would be to agree that we had such a loyalty to give up. Yes or no, either response would be used to justify our wrongful imprisonment—as if they’d been right to call us “enemy aliens” and lock us up in the first place.

Related Characters: George Takei (speaker)

Page Number and Citation: 115

Explanation and Analysis:

Though they responded in different ways—caring for their families...

Fighting on the battlefield...

Or serving time for their principles—all these Japanese Americans showed incredible courage and heroism.

They proved that being American is not just for some people. They all made difficult choices to demonstrate their patriotism to this country even when it rejected them.

Related Characters: George Takei (speaker), Mama, Senator Daniel K. Inouye, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Page Number and Citation: 123

Explanation and Analysis:

No-no Term Timeline in They Called Us Enemy

The timeline below shows where the term No-no appears in They Called Us Enemy. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Mama and Daddy answer no to both questions, which gets them labeled “no-nos.” George explains that question 27 asks them to give their lives to a country that... (full context)

Family, Community, and Trauma Theme Icon

...George why they’re at Camp Tule Lake, George says it’s because Mama and Daddy are no-nos. Henry doesn’t know what this means. (full context)

George Takei explains to readers that many Japanese Americans responded no-no on the questionnaire. Though a few applied for repatriation, most people didn’t want to go... (full context)

George explains that anyone who answered no-no on the questionnaire, even in protest like Mama and Daddy, is lumped in with real... (full context)

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No-no Term Analysis

No-no Quotes in They Called Us Enemy

No-no Term Timeline in They Called Us Enemy

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