On December 7th, 2015, Donald Trump likened the Muslims of today to the Japs of 1941. He suggested Muslims would come out of the camps, as docile and obedient and quiet as the Japanese did in when the last camp closed when Hector Watanabe, the last man interned and stripped of his Peruvian citizenship, walked out of,State Dept camp at Crystal City, Texas in 1949. The camps lasted longer than the JapaneseAmerican experts know.
Yellows of the Japanese persuasion have you tracked the talk on the tube about Japs since December 7th? And what did the JACL do then? What are they doing now? What's different?
As the dates roll on, the past comes clear. AA art of all the yellows is pretty disposable and cheap. Whites treat all the coloreds all the races with contempt for any idea of culture, and civilization that doesn't echo White supremacy. The Blacks have layers of art, culture and history reflected in their art, the Mexicans have a culture and history heard in their music. Other Browns, Burnt Sugar, and Light Coffees have arts of their own. Only the Yellows have smarts but no art that isn't repellent to White decency. Whatever that is. What art of a colored people isn’t repellant, laughable, and non-recognizable to the people being depicted in color on the Hollywood screen?
(Minoru Yasui)
YASUI, Minoru (1917-1988) "Why We Should Support Test Cases." Undated Mimeograph leaflet distributed inside Minidoka Relocation Center, by the Civil Liberties League.
"As a lawyer well founded upon the principles and theories as well as the intricacies of the law, and as an American citizen, I could not tolerate the illegal and unconstitutional efforts to wear away the right of American citizens. I strongly felt, and still believe , that it is the duty as American citizens to resist any infringement upon the basic principles of our nation.
"This is our duty as American citizens, as much as it to fight and die on the battlefronts in defence of our nation. We owe it to the men and boys who are fighting the war to preserve the thing that they are fighting for at home, so they can come back home to 'a land of the three and the home of the brave.'
-------."Good Law v. Good Publicity." April 17, 1942.
"THE BIG AIIIEEEEE!" ed by Chan, Chin, Inada & Wong. New York: Meridian. 1991. (pp 449-460) And in original mimeograph Seattle:Special Collections:University of Washington Library.
Yasui answers "JACL Bulletin 142" paragraph for paragraph.
(Mike Masaoka)
Masaoka had suggested Yasui ( his unnamed "self-styled martyr out to win headlines") was out to ursurp control of the JACL. The following suggests that Yasui expected the members of the JACL to support the idea of test cases and force a referendum on JACL policy:
However, it is submitted that whether or not such policy is actually conducive to the 'greatest good for the greatest number' is neverthertheless subject to questions, and moreover, althoguht the National can be convinced, thru legitmate means, that not only a substantial majority, but an overwhelming majority of the inidividual members, demand certain affirmative actions, that the National would be compelled to take such steps. If such effort is construed to be an usurpation of the preogatives of National, then it is submitted that National Headquarters would be failing in its primary function of representing the organization. ..."
Yasui argues that good law is more important than good publicity:
"If the National is willing to sacrifice certain fundamental rights of citizenship establishing a precedent whereby those rights may be deprived of American citizens without protest, then is it not possibly contributing to the destruction of the very fundamental basis of this country?...If it be tyranny to impose unreasonable restrictions upon the people upon the arbitrary and discriminatory basis of race, then it is just as shameful to submit to such unreasonable restrictions.
George Takei’s show on Broadway, set in the camps took offense. The Yellows doing the news all over the country, took no notice.
Trump started a day to day comparison of today’s news and news from 1941 into 42. The Japanese weren’t prepared for a repetition of 194 1, though that’s all that itches them all over.
February 18th passed without a peep leaking out of a Yellow politician, jurist, lawyer, newspaper artist. Roosevelt’s signing of EO-9066 is never a word said across Yellow lips. Lewis Milestone’s THE PURPLE HEART with Dana Andrews, Henry Hathaway’s WING AND A PRAYER, with Don Ameche, Delmer Daves’s DESTINATION TOKYO with Cary Grant and John Garfield are old movies as art and patriotism flashing from space into the electronic air of April.
The Koreans vs North Koreans and the Chinese didn’t make for good old movies. The Vietnam war against another Yellow country gave Whites old movies that question the White American self and doesn’t see the Yellows they look on with doubt.
February dribbled without intellectual activism or activity from the AA Studies from sea to shining sea into March.
The Japanese Hotel Association was a group of Issei who owned hotels for transients, railroad or cannery contract laborers for the salmon fisheries in Alaska. John Okada grew up with his family in a family run hotel. Monica Sone also grew up in a Pioneer Square hotel. The hotels were sealed ships at sea, and the Japanese owner manager was the captain. No female visitors allowed. They describe life in Seattle NihonMachi of the 30’s as pretty much like Guy Gabaldon growing up in Japanese-American L.A. of the 30’s in HELL TO ETERNITY is I REMEMBER MAMA set in strong family with a narrative sense of family and race and beyond.
APRIL IS THE CRUELEST MONTH-
April 1942- Minoru Yasui, in jail for violating the Army Curfew Order on all persons of Japanese ancestry, writes an appeal to the JACL for support of his case against the application of citizen’s civil rights being racially selective, that un-constitutionally allows for citizen Japs being singled out as pariahs.
It was in April Mike Masaoka, answered Yasui. He said JACL was against support of test cases at this time. Good publicity was more important than good law.
Mildred Bartholomew of the Portland YWCA writes the JACL asking why the JACL is not providing support for JACL member Min Yasui’s case testing the constitutionality of the Army’s orders. She is bewildered.
Okada answers lamely- also bewildered-and overwhelmed by Masaoka’s lie about Bendetsen’s speech to the San Francisco Commonwealth Club. Bendetsen had two plans. One if the JACL co-operates and another to round everybody up within 24 hours. An impossibility.
The un-doctored docs tell me Masaoka betrayed Min Yasui. Yasui was fighting the orders in court. Masaoka went against the civil rights he represented. He argued that good publicity was more urgent than good law. He could have separated supporting a JACL champion of Nisei civil rights, from the co-operation with the Army evacuation
OKADA, Hito. (1907-1984) "Letter on JACL Letterhead To: Miss Mildred Bartholomew c/o Young Womens Christian Ass'n, Broadway at Taylor Streets, Portland Oregon." Salt Lake: JACL National Headquarters. Dec. 4, 1942.
(The treasurer of the national JACL, Hito Okada tries to explain to an old friend, why the Portland JACL is following Mike Masaoka's direction to not support Portland's own Minoru Yasui's challenge of the curfew order:
Miss Mildred Bartholomew
c/o Young Women Christian Ass'n
Broadway at Taylor Street
Portland, Oregon
Dear Miss Bartholomew:
I received your letter of December 2nd and it does me good to know that our friends in Portland are with us. The Min Yasui's case and its resultant opinion handed down by Judge Fee was called to our attention while the Japanese American Citizens League was in a special emergency conference here in Salt Lake City with delegates from ten reloaction centers and also delegates from our free zone chapters.
Many of our members are sympthetic to Min on the steps he is taking to test the constitutionality of the curfew as pertaining to American citizens.
Briefly stating the J.A.C.L. stand on the matter of evacuation, we opposed evacuation up until it was decreed that there was military necessity for it and that the Army would take the necessary steps. Professing as we did that we were good Americans, there was no alternative for us but to prove our loyalty by cooperating with the evacuation. As Bendetson stated in one of his speeches, the Army had two plans as to evacuation, 1st , the plan that was followed through, and 2nd, evacuation of all Japanese within 24 hours if it was so required.
I sincerely believe that our cooperation with the Army and other governmental agencies has brought us a desire on the part of the governmental agencies to assist us in every way possible for resettlement. Work furloughs, indefinite furloughs, student relocation and resettlement are some of the things that I believe we obtained through cooperation with the government. I am sure that if we did not cooperate, the Army would not have acceded to giving us these concessions which are so essential to the settlement of our postwar problems.
Now, at this time, to change our policy of cooperation to that one hindering the purpose of the Army in the defense of the west coast would not be in line with the stand that we have taken to date and also the provisions we have for the future. As Dillon Myer said to us in a closed session, "Do not irritate the Aarmy", I feel that we should not undertake any projects at this time that may hinder the Resettlement Program as announced very recently by tye W.R.A. We must get these people who are so desires out of the relocation centers and establish them in the Middle West as soon as possible, as every day spent in relocation centers shows the deterioration of the splendid background of the evacuees.
Min is a personal friend of mine and, since the trial, I have had several letters from him. I have explained to him the position of the J.A.C.L. and believe he fully understands why we cannot aid him at this time. My outlook on the matters may not be those involving that which we call great principles, however, taking a realistic viewpoint, I personally cannot assist in any program that would jeopardize the future resettlement of the people if the relocation centers.
I hope that this will give you a clear picture of wgat the J.A.C.L. stand is on Min Yasui's case. Our young people have flocked to his cause, however, I believe that they do not see the broader aspects of how it may affect the Resettlement Program being pushed by the W.R.A.
Prior to evacuation, I talked to Min Yasui and, at that time, I was quite worried as to his ability to carry through his decision to test the curfew. He advised me that he had funds enough to carry the case to the Supreme Court if necessary and, knowing Min as I do, I believe he would not have started as action that he could not see to the ultimate conclusion on his own initiative.
Our present plans in regards to these test cases are to in some manner appear as a friend of the court especially in matters referring to the question of citizenship and as things progress, I shall be glad to keep you informed as to not only this matter, but also Min Yasui's case.
Thank you very much for writing fo me and kindly give my regards to my dear friends of the Evacuation Committee.
Sincerely,
Hito Okada
YASUI, Minoru (1917-1988) "Why We Should Support Test Cases." Undated Mimeograph leaflet distributed inside Minidoka Relocation Center, by the Civil Liberties League.
"As a lawyer well founded upon the principles and theories as well as the intricacies of the law, and as an American citizen, I could not tolerate the illegal and unconstitutional efforts to wear away the right of American citizens. I strongly felt, and still believe , that it is the duty as American citizens to resist any infringement upon the basic principles of our nation.
"This is our duty as American citizens, as much as it to fight and die on the battlefronts in defense of our nation. We owe it to the men and boys who are fighting the war to preserve the thing that they are fighting for at home, so they can come back home to 'a land of the three and the home of the brave.'
-------."Good Law v. Good Publicity." April 17, 1942.
"THE BIG AIIIEEEEE!" ed by Chan, Chin, Inada & Wong. New York: Meridian. 1991. (pp 449-460) And in original mimeograph Seattle:Special Collections:University of Washington Library.
Yasui answers "JACL Bulletin 142" paragraph for paragraph.
Masaoka had suggested Yasui( his unnamed "self-styled martyr out to win headlines") was out to usurp control of the JACL. The following suggests that Yasui expected the members of the JACL to support the idea of test cases and force a referendum on JACL policy:
However, it is submitted that whether or not such policy is actually conducive to the 'greatest good for the greatest number' is nevertheless subject to questions, and moreover, although the National can be convinced, thru legitimate means, that not only a substantial majority, but an overwhelming majority of the individual members, demand certain affirmative actions, that the National would be compelled to take such steps. If such effort is construed to be an usurpation of the preogatives of National, then it is submitted that National Headquarters would be failing in its primary function of representing the organization. ..."
Yasui argues that good law is more important than good publicity:
"If the National is willing to sacrifice certain fundamental rights of citizenship establishing a precedent whereby those rights may be deprived of American citizens without protest, then is it not possibly contributing to the destruction of the very fundamental basis of this country?...If it be tyranny to impose unreasonable restrictions upon the people upon the arbitrary and discriminatory basis of race, then it is just as shameful to submit to such unreasonable restrictions.”
MASAOKA, Mike ."Letter To Milton S. Eisenhower, Director, War Relocation Authority." San Francisco: JACL National Headquarters. April 6, 1942. National Archives Record Group 210; and Berkeley: Bancroft Library, call number 67/14, the Japanese Evacuation and Resettlement Study Recoards collection, file T6.10 "JACL Staff Correspondence."
We believe that all projects should be directed to create "Better Americans in a Greater America"
We do not relish the thought of "Little Tokyos" springing up in these resettlement projects, for by so doing we are only perpetuating the very things which we hope to eliminate: those mannerisms and thoughts which mark us apart, aside from our physical characteristics. We hope for a one hundred percent American community.
One thing is certain: there should be no Japanese language schools. Special stress should be laid on enunciation and pronunciation of words so that awkward and "Oriental" sounds will be eliminated.
Masaoka categorizes his recommendations in order of importance and describes an indoctrination and behavior modification program to make the Nisei fit for the draft:
(1) Draftee Status: (2) Public Relations; (3) Education; (4) Religion; (5) Sports and Recreation; (6) Publications and Radios; (7) Health and Medical Facilities; (8) Japanese Professional and Specially-Trained People; (9) Business and Industry; (10) Organization (Self-Government); (14) Private Projects; (15) Induction or Assembly Centers; (16) Semi and Permenent Resettlement Projects.
MASAOKA, Mike ."Japanese American Citizens League, Bulletin 142. RE: Test Cases." San Francisco. April 7,1942. Berkeley: Bancroft Library. Japanese Evacuation Resettlement Study T1.34
The Min Yasui case in Portland, Oregon, is gaining considerable attention. The facts seem to indicate that one Minoru Yasui, a Nisei attorney who worked for the Japanese consulate in Chicago as late as last December 7th, registered with the State Department as a propoganda agent for a foreign government, and a reserve lieutenant in the United States Army, deliberately violated the curfew regulations and surrendered to the police with the declared intentions of legally determing the right of the authorities to impose such restrictions upon American citizens of Japanese extraction. Yasui contends that such actions are discriminatory and constitutional.
At the present time, he is "out" on bail and is said to be circulating a petition among the Portland Chapter members demanding that the National Organization take some definite stand on the question of constitutional rights of the Japanese Americans.
In regard to this particular case, as we as all other test cases of this nature...this office releases the following statement:
The national JACL stands unalterably opposed to test cases to determine the constitutionality of the military regulations at this time. We have reached this decision unanimously after examining all the facts in light of our national policy of: "the greatest good for the greatest number.”
April 6th
.Japanese America, you have three days to raise a hero and put the cartoon Blond Hitler in his place with REVENGE OF THE TRUTH.
FCC
