Supreme Court test cases and the Tokyo executions, April 1943

Vol. 16, No. 17, April 29, 1943. 8 pages. View this issue

The coming Supreme Court hearing on the evacuation test cases led the news. The National JACL will file a friend-of-court brief in the Hirabayashi and Yasui cases, and A. L. Wirin, special JACL counsel, will take part in oral argument on May 10. Inside, the Fred Korematsu case was certified to the high court, and Saburo Kido wrote three columns on organized effort, loyalty and the race-baiters. Bill Hosokawa and Peter Wood answered Tokyo’s execution of American airmen, and Eleanor Roosevelt’s visit to the Gila River center drew a report and an editorial.

Other pages followed the strong opposition to returning Japanese Americans to the West Coast, including a Senate bill by Tom Stewart. Marengo, Illinois, was the scene of protests over Japanese American farmers, and other stories covered Camp Shelby soldiers buying war bonds, Topaz volunteers called to Fort Douglas, and a new Idaho WRA office. Minidoka, Jerome and Poston each appear in short items.

What’s in this issue

National

• National JACL to File Briefs in Evacuation Test Cases Before U.S. Supreme Court, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The National JACL will file a friend-of-court brief in the Hirabayashi and Yasui evacuation test cases before the Supreme Court on May 10. A. L. Wirin, JACL special counsel, will argue the cases alongside the ACLU’s efforts in the Korematsu case.
• California Legislature Asked to Investigate Return of Evacuees, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Senator Hugh Donnelly asked the California senate to appoint a legislative committee to investigate the prospective return of Japanese Americans from relocation centers. His resolution carries a $5,000 expense appropriation.
• Senator Murray Favors Releasing Evacuees For Work, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Senator James Murray argued that the nation cannot afford to keep 106,000 Japanese and Japanese Americans idle. He urged release of all FBI-cleared evacuees for outside work.
• Nisei Form Invaluable Element in U.S. Population, Declares Ambassador Grew, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Former Ambassador Joseph Grew praised loyal Americans of Japanese ancestry as an invaluable element of the population in a commencement address. He also argued that Japan’s militarists must be crushed to free the Japanese people.
• Move to Modify Chinese Exclusion Act Gets Backing, by P.C. Staff, page 1. House immigration committee chairman Samuel Dickstein led a push to modify the Chinese exclusion act, with eight bills scheduled for consideration. The bills aim to remove racial discrimination against Chinese, who are allies, in the 1924 statute.
• Pacific Citizen Editorial Is Quoted by OWI Director in Broadcast on U.S. Networks, by P.C. Staff, page 3. OWI director Elmer Davis quoted a Pacific Citizen editorial in his national radio broadcast on the Tokyo executions of American airmen. He said it showed Japanese American citizens feel the same outrage as all other Americans.
• Senator Stewart Revives Bill To Intern Japanese Americans, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Senator Tom Stewart revived his bill to strip Americans of Japanese ancestry of citizenship and deprive them of 14th amendment protections, citing the Tokyo executions. The Pacific Citizen reports the speech as a pretext for revoking civil rights.
• Oregon Grange Leader Opposes Return of Evacuees, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Morton Tompkins, master of the Oregon State Grange, criticized proposals to return loyal citizens of Japanese descent to the Pacific Northwest to ease farm labor shortages. He called for passage of a bill placing all persons of Japanese ancestry in custody.
• House to Hold Hearings on Jackson Plans, by D. Harold McGrath, page 4. Representative Henry Jackson has been promised house rules committee hearings in mid-May on his resolution to investigate the Japanese problem. If approved, Jackson would head the investigating committee.
• Induction of Nisei Into Army Opposed by San Mateo Board, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The San Mateo County board of supervisors adopted a resolution opposing induction of nisei into the armed forces or their release from relocation centers. The resolution cited sabotage danger and detriment to the nisei themselves.

Incarceration & Redress

• Leupp Camp To Be Used in Segregation of Troublesome Evacuees, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The War Relocation Authority plans to use the former Leupp, Arizona school and hospital as a segregation camp for evacuees deemed troublesome. The facility is planned to hold 300 men under strict military guard.
• First Lady Visits Gila River Center, Finds No Evidence of Coddling of Evacuees by WRA, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Eleanor Roosevelt spent a full day at the Gila River center and reported seeing no pampering of evacuees. She said the sooner young evacuees are out of the camps the better.
• Korematsu Test Case Certified To High Court, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Ninth Circuit certified the Fred Korematsu case to the Supreme Court on whether the lower court could hear the appeal of a defendant not fined or imprisoned. The court denied a request to set up the whole record for review of the evacuation order.
• Denver Post’s Charges Denied At WRA Center, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Heart Mountain project director Guy Robertson denied Denver Post charges of food hoarding, stating the $261,333.51 food inventory was not excessive. Mills and Pitts were sent to investigate the allegations.
• Jerome Center Crews Work on Huge Canal, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Evacuee crews at the Jerome relocation center have completed five miles of an eight-mile drainage ditch to open 25,000 acres of swampland for cultivation. The $223,000 drainage project is expected to finish by July 1.

Military & Veterans

• Nisei Soldiers Answer Tokyo Warmakers, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Japanese American soldiers at Camp Shelby bought $100,000 in war bonds after learning of the Tokyo executions of American airmen. The purchase represented most of a month’s pay for the 3,000 men in training.
• Captain Kinoshita Now Serves As Member of Medical Corps, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The Medical Soldier profiles Captain Robert Kinoshita, a Hawaiian-born nisei who refused to return to Japan with his parents and later became an army physician. Despite repeated requests, he was held on the reserve list after Pearl Harbor until his evacuation.
• Topaz Center Volunteers Will Be Inducted, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The first group of ten Topaz volunteers for the nisei combat team received orders to report to Fort Douglas. Physical qualifications were lowered and rejected applicants were granted re-examination.

Community

• WRA Removes Nisei Farmers From Marengo After Protests, by P.C. Staff, page 2. After local resentment in Marengo, Illinois, the WRA temporarily removed three Japanese American truck gardeners and the Curtiss Candy Co. canceled plans for 13 more. Officials said the newcomers were college-trained, native-born citizens rigorously screened before release.
• Fire Demolishes Mess Hall, Barrack at Poston Center, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Mess hall 44 and barrack 14 at the Poston relocation center were destroyed by fire on April 17, with total losses estimated at $8,000. The blaze was checked by fire departments from Units 2 and 3 after the Unit 1 engine was disabled.
• Evacuees Surprised To Find Townspeople Object to Presence, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Three Japanese American farmers in Marengo, Illinois, said they were surprised to learn residents objected to their presence after being assured the community would accept them. They had been cutting seed potatoes while awaiting a larger group of 16 evacuees due that week.
• Pasadena Committee to Strive to Maintain Civil, Economic Rights of Japanese Americans, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The Pasadena Committee for Fair Play voted to affiliate with the Pacific Coast Committee on American Principles and Fair Play. Dr. Remsen Bird spoke against scapegoating Japanese Americans and argued for their eventual return to former status.
• Poston Youth Drowns in Colorado River, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Masao Kajioka, 24, drowned while swimming in the Colorado River at Poston on April 18. His body was recovered two hours later by a search party from Unit 3 police.
• Huge Victory Garden Planted by Minidoka Center Residents, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Residents of the Minidoka relocation center cleared 320 acres of sagebrush to plant vegetables for the center’s summer needs. The garden is being worked by volunteer crews amid a developing labor shortage as residents leave for outside jobs.
• Spinal Meningitis Cases Reported At Poston Center, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Three evacuees at the Poston center are being treated for spinal meningitis, and a non-resident girl is hospitalized there in serious condition. The affected area has been quarantined as a safety measure.
• WRA Establishes District Offices in Idaho, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The War Relocation Authority established three Idaho district offices to help employers hire evacuees from relocation centers. Evacuees are thoroughly investigated before release, and the program has approval from the Justice and War departments.
• Girl From Center Marries Soldier at Kentucky Army Post, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Florence Shikami, formerly of the Manzanar center, married Pvt. Karl Nakazawa at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. The couple was welcomed by a local family who hoped to show community acceptance.

Commentary

• They Are Americans, Too!, by P.C. Staff, page 2. This reprinted editorial from the Chicago Sun urges Marengo residents to reconsider their opposition to Japanese American workers. It argues that these native-born citizens have been thoroughly vetted and that labor shortages make barriers against them shortsighted.
• Events Prove Need For Organized Effort, by Saburo Kido, page 4. Kido argues that evacuees must recognize that events in relocation centers affect all nisei and issei, and that organized effort is essential. He says the JACL was unfairly blamed for the evacuation and that disunity has been fostered by whispering campaigns.
• Nisei Must Spread Gospel of Loyalty, by Saburo Kido, page 4. Kido urges every resettling evacuee to act as a missionary about Japanese American loyalty, since public judgment rests on individual appearance and conduct. He says the nisei must combat California race-baiters while recognizing that the true American voice is being heard in Washington.
• Coast Race-Baiters Must Be Combatted, by Saburo Kido, page 4. Kido calls for coordinated public relations work by all evacuees, in and out of the centers, to defeat race-baiters. He argues that the individualistic tendencies of evacuees must give way to collective action.
• Missionary in Congress, by P.C. Staff, page 5. This editorial praises Representative Walter Judd’s proposal to repeal Asian exclusion provisions in US immigration law. It argues that racial bias in immigration policy plays into Japanese propaganda.
• On Answering Gen. DeWitt, by P.C. Staff, page 5. This editorial responds to General DeWitt’s statement that a Jap is a Jap regardless of citizenship, noting that the army’s record shows its faith in Japanese Americans has grown. It urges nisei to answer hysteria with reason rather than name-calling.
• Mrs. Roosevelt Investigates, by P.C. Staff, page 5. This editorial summarizes Eleanor Roosevelt’s visit to the Gila River center and her finding that there was no pampering of evacuees. It suggests that planned immigration policy could prevent future racial minority problems.
• Canada’s Nisei Evacuees, by P.C. Staff, page 5. This feature examines Canada’s mass evacuation of Japanese Canadians from British Columbia and compares it to the US program. It notes that Canadian housing projects provided a more normal community life than American relocation centers.
• Vagaries Noted, by Peter Wood, page 5. This column covers the expected reinstitution of nisei selective service, sports and propaganda notes, and the Stewart bill timing. It also notes nisei soldiers in the army and the use of Japanese language broadcasts.
• Geography Makes No Difference to Fascists, by Peter Wood, page 5. Wood condemns Japanese murder of American airmen, comparing it to the Nanking atrocities. He describes the Doolittle raid details and Doolittle’s vow to strike Japan again.
• Executions Reveal Nature of Warlords, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa argues the Tokyo warlords executed captured fliers to intimidate Americans and revive flagging national morale. He contends this barbarism reveals the feudal, primitive values of Japan’s militarists.
• Church Leader Urges Nisei to Leave WRA Centers, by P.C. Staff, page 5. Dr. E. Stanley Jones writes to the Pacific Citizen urging Japanese Americans to leave the camps for individual resettlement. He reports growing public sympathy and argues that loyal Japanese Americans will win acceptance.
• Tokyo Executions Denounced In Heart Mountain Newspaper, by Bill Hosokawa, page 6. Bill Hosokawa’s lead editorial in the Heart Mountain Sentinel denounced Japan’s execution of American fliers as unwarranted barbarity. He argued that the warlords miscalculated if they hoped to intimidate Americans.
• Nisei Students at Temple U Want to Help Win U.S. Victory, by P.C. Staff, page 6. A Philadelphia Record feature reports that nisei students at Temple University want to fight for America. Students Murase, Hayashi and Igarashi say they would fight as hard against Japan as against Germany.
• Attempt to Revoke Citizenship of Nisei Scored by Attorney, by Clarence E. Rust, page 8. Oakland attorney Clarence Rust, in a KLX broadcast, condemned efforts to strip Japanese Americans of US citizenship as a philosophy founded on racial pigment. He warned that such discrimination threatens the rights of all minorities.
• Coast Evacuation Endangers Other Minorities, Declares Dr. Cushman, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Cornell’s Dr. Robert Cushman warned that unless courts clearly rule on the evacuation’s military necessity, other minority groups could face similar persecution. He noted that most evacuees cleared for release have been found loyal by the FBI.

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