Citizen 13660 is a comic-like, autobiographical documentary which includes in-text and descriptive drawings depicting the lives and experiences of Japanese-Americans that were forced to relocate to camps during World War II. This was seen from the eyes of evacuee and author, Miné Okubo. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the United States declared war on Japan, and many Japanese-American citizens and “aliens” of the Japanese ancestry became targets of racial hatred and distrust. Because of this, the army’s Wartime Civil Control Administration (WCCA) organized a protective custody, an evacuation amongst the Japanese population, particularly from the West Coast. These immigrant aliens and citizens were taken to temporary assembly centers at horsing …show more content…
Imagining how one could respond to such a situation would be very difficult, especially for someone who has never been placed in such a position. Internees did their best to function as a normal society and work together as a family. They became very capable of taking care of themselves and improving their own living conditions by using what little resources they had. During the heat, straw hats were made. For privacy, curtains and boards were put up. For entertainment, talent shows and dances took …show more content…
Any hint of bitterness, or any other emotion, is absent from the pages and illustrations. It is in the sketched images that the rare expression of emotion is given, and often, these images convey more than the narrative itself. For example, in the sketch shown on page 10, without reading the in-text and focusing on the image, Okubo’s self-character seems to be severely frustrated, and all around her are harsh phrases that read, “A Jap is a Jap, Aliens, Can’t Trust Them, Don’t Trust a Jap.” From the images and the in-text, the reader can assume the situation pretty accurately. It is as if the author seeks mainly to inform and not to seek pity or sympathy. Okubo wanted this book to be accessible to as large an audience as possible, from children in grade school to college. When the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians was established, this book had already been recognized as an important reference on the Japanese-American evacuation and