25 Jun American Studies Association Executive Committee Statement regarding John Okada’s “No-No Boy”
The ASA released a statement in support of Univeristy of Washington Press’s edition of John Okada’s “No-No Boy.”
Here’s an excerpt:
“We encourage our members to use the occasion of this renewed attention – however contestatory – to No-No Boy to (re)engage the novel. The themes prominent in it, including the inextricable links between the securing of U.S. sovereignty and racism under the banner of national security, and the conditions and characteristics giving rise to militaristic masculinity and that justify militarism, resonate strongly certainly in the current context, but also in our apprehension of the history of the U.S. nation as a whole. We are reminded of the histories of removal, confinement, and dispossession of indigenous peoples; we are reminded of the differential citizenship assigned to Black people; we are reminded of the camps proliferating on the U.S. nation’s southwestern border; we are reminded of the separation of family members from each other; we are, in short, reminded of the violence that has always and continues to proceed in the name of national security. In short, we remind all of us of the novel’s importance to our collective efforts as scholars, teachers, and students, to deepen understanding of U.S. culture and politics.”