No-No Boys

The “enemies” had to be punished for not being “loyal.”

July 1, 1944: The first group of No-No Boys are sent to federal prison for refusing to serve, while their families remained incarcerated.

On July 1, 1944, a group of young Japanese American men were taken from the Tule Lake concentration camp and transferred to a federal prison. Their crime wasn’t violence. It wasn’t treason. It was refusing to be drafted into the U.S. military while their families remained behind barbed wire.

These men, already labeled, “enemy aliens” after Pearl Harbor by the government, had answered “no” and “no” to Questions 27 and 28 on the government’s so-called loyalty questionnaire:

Q27: Will you serve in the U.S. armed forces wherever ordered?

Q28: Will you swear unqualified allegiance to the United States and forswear any form of allegiance to the Japanese emperor?

A “segregant” being processed at Tule Lake, September 1943. Young men like him were transferred here—and later tried in federal court—for answering “no” and “no” to two loyalty questions.
A “segregant” being processed at Tule Lake, September 1943. Young men like him were transferred here — and later tried in federal court — for answering “no” and “no” to two loyalty questions.
Photographs of incarceree Toshio Kuratomi and Mitsuo Kimura. Kuratomi was admitted to Tule Lake from Jerome, Arkansas on September 30, 1943.
Photographs of incarceree Toshio Kuratomi and Mitsuo Kimura. Kuratomi was admitted to Tule Lake from Jerome, Arkansas on September 30, 1943.
Page 4 of the notorious Loyalty Questionnaire – Answer “yes” and submit to injustice, or answer “no” and become labeled a threat.
Page 4 of the notorious Loyalty Questionnaire – Answer “yes” and submit to injustice, or answer “no” and become labeled a threat. Credit Densho
For refusing to fight while their families remained imprisoned behind barbed wire, many “No-No Boys” were sent to one of America’s most infamous maximum-security prisons, Leavenworth, Kansas
For refusing to fight while their families remained imprisoned behind barbed wire, many “No-No Boys” were sent to one of America’s most infamous maximum-security prisons, Leavenworth, Kansas
This remote prison, McNeil Island Corrections Center, once held labor leaders, conscientious objectors — and Japanese American draft resisters.
This remote prison, McNeil Island Corrections Center, once held labor leaders, conscientious objectors — and Japanese American draft resisters.

Many who answered “no” to both were immediately labeled “disloyal.” But for many of these resisters, the answers were more complicated than the questions allowed. Some objected to being drafted while still imprisoned. Others were offended by being asked to renounce loyalty to an emperor they had never claimed in the first place.

Rather than obedience, they chose protest.

As punishment, the federal government rounded them up and sent them to prison. Some would spend years in federal penitentiaries like Leavenworth and McNeil Island.

At the time, these young men were called many things: “troublemakers,” “disloyals,” or “segregants,” because they were sent to Tule Lake, which had become the segregation center for those deemed problematic by the War Relocation Authority.

The now-common phrase “No-No Boys” did not exist yet. That name only came years later, after John Okada’s 1957 novel No-No Boy began to gain recognition during the Asian American civil rights movement in the 1970s. For decades, even within the Japanese American community, these draft resisters were shunned and forgotten.

Designated as a high-security camp, Tule Lake was surrounded by eight-foot fences, multiple guard towers, and armed patrols.
Designated as a high-security camp, Tule Lake was surrounded by eight-foot fences, multiple guard towers, and armed patrols to isolate anyone labeled “disloyal.”
Those who spoke out, protested, or resisted camp authorities were thrown into this jail, located within the Tule Lake Segregation Center itself — a prison inside a prison.
Those who spoke out, protested, or resisted camp authorities were thrown into this jail, located within the Tule Lake Segregation Center itself — a prison inside a prison.
John Okada’s No-No Boy, published in 1957, was the first novel to center the experience of Japanese Americans who refused to serve in the U.S. military while their families were imprisoned in camps.
John Okada’s No-No Boy, published in 1957, was the first novel to center the experience of Japanese Americans who refused to serve in the U.S. military while their families were imprisoned in camps.
The men from Tule Lake WRA Camp Block 42 were illegally arrested at gun point for refusing to register for the controversial draft questionnaire, 1943
The men from Tule Lake WRA Camp Block 42 were illegally arrested at gun point for refusing to register for the controversial draft questionnaire, 1943

Today, many see them in a different light.

They weren’t traitors. They were young men demanding dignity, justice, and equal treatment under the Constitution.

And they paid the price for it.

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