1. What reason did the Government give for placing Japanese Americans in internment camps? Do you think that the Government was justified in its actions?

2. What rights did the U.S. citizens of Japanese descent in the internment camps claim had been violated?

3. Do you think it was appropriate for the Government to make reparation payments to the internment survivors?

4. Some Japanese American men in the camps chose to resist the draft; others chose to serve in the armed forces, even while their families remained in the camps. What would you have done in their position?

5. Can you describe how you felt when you saw the pictures of Japanese American families on their way to the internment camps?

6. Senator Inouye said that it took courage for Japanese Americans to fight for the United States, but that it also took courage to resist the draft. Can you explain what he meant?

7. Do you think the courts handled the Japanese American draft resisters fairly?

8. Do you think what happened to Japanese Americans in World War II could happen again to some other group of American citizens at a similar moment of national crisis?

9. After one performance of this reenactment, a member of the audience questioned the use of the term “concentration camp” to describe the facilities to which the Japanese Americans were sent. He said that the use of the term was inappropriate, and that the term should be reserved for the concentration camps established by the Nazis before and during World War II. Do you agree or disagree with him?

Additional resources:

• http://www.heartmountain.org/history.html
• http://www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/brief-history-heart-mountain-relocation-center
• http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/personality/landmark_korematsu.html