The Poet and the Silk Girl: A Memoir of Love, Imprisonment, and Protest

In 1942, newlyweds Itaru and Shizuko Ina were forcibly removed from their home and incarcerated in wartime American concentration camps solely because of their Japanese ancestry. When they renounced their American citizenship under duress, the War Department branded them enemy aliens and separated their family across the U.S. interior. Born during their imprisonment, psychotherapist and activist Satsuki Ina weaves together her parents' story using diary entries, photographs, clandestine letters, and haiku. Through this family's experience, the book illustrates how Japanese Americans resisted racist oppression, fought for restoration of their rights, and maintained their humanity during World War II-era hysteria. Ina examines the generational legacies of trauma while connecting her family's ordeal to modern-day mass incarceration at the U.S.-Mexico border. The memoir combines psychological insight with historical documentation to chronicle resilience during one of the severest blows to American civil liberties, serving as a cautionary tale about preventing the repetition of such atrocities.