The fight against Proposition 15, the Alien Land Law measure

Vol. 23, No. 15, October 19, 1946. 8 pages. View this issue

Proposition 15 and the California Alien Land Law amendments filled this eight-page issue. The state CIO Political Action Committee announced its opposition, and Southern California community leaders backed the JACL regional office’s campaign, as reported by Eiji Tanabe. Delegates from fourteen Northern California chapters pledged support at a San Francisco meeting, where Mike Masaoka urged cooperation with the CIO and other groups. An editorial, “Validating Racism,” took on H. J. McClatchy and the Joint Immigration Committee. A Los Angeles settlement in a land law case, praised by attorney A. L. Wirin, ran on the front page.

Elsewhere, editorials backed Proposition 11 for a state Fair Employment Practices Commission. Bill Hosokawa’s column urged Nisei to take pride in their record. Several pieces dealt with Canada’s refusal to admit two Japanese American soldiers, with letters from a Japanese Canadian ex-serviceman and Cyrus Noritake. The issue also carried news of a new JACL chapter in the Coachella Valley, a coast conference planned for December, and bowling league results.

What’s in this issue

National

• California CIO Announces Opposition to Alien Land Law Proposition, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The California CIO-PAC announced its opposition to Proposition 15, the validation of Alien Land Law amendments, on the November ballot. David Hedley, state secretary for CIO-PAC, declared the union’s opposition to any form of racial discrimination.
• Hawaii University President Notes Nisei War Record, by P.C. Staff, page 1. University of Hawaii president Gregg M. Sinclair stated that statehood for Hawaii would enhance democracy in Asia. He pointed to the wartime record of Americans of Japanese ancestry as proof of their loyalty.
• Northern California JACL Delegates Pledge Support to Campaign Against Land Law, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Delegates from fourteen chapters of the JACL in Northern California pledged support to defeat Proposition 15 at a district council meeting in San Francisco. Mike Masaoka urged cooperation with the CIO, the Council for Civic Unity, and other liberal groups.
• Los Angeles Daily News Urges Defeat of Proposition 15, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Los Angeles Daily News urged California voters to defeat Proposition 15, calling it a measure that sanctions racial discrimination. The paper also urged an affirmative vote on the Fair Employment Practices initiative.
• Denver Post Raps Canadian Ban on Entry of Nisei Visitors, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Denver Post editorialized that Canadian refusal to admit Japanese Americans runs counter to American concepts of fair play. It cited incidents in which Nisei were barred from British Columbia despite having proper papers.
• CIO Auto Workers Union Will Initiate Campaign Against Anti-Nisei Prejudice on Jobs, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The CIO United Auto Workers will launch a California campaign against job discrimination against Japanese Americans, particularly Nisei workers. Official Wilmer H. Oliver urged Californians to vote for Proposition 11 creating a state FEPC.

Community

• Southern California Citizens Back JACL Campaign to Defeat Alien Land Act Proposal, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A group of prominent Southern California community leaders endorsed the regional JACL office’s campaign against Proposition 15. Eiji Tanabe named the citizens who have already pledged opposition to the measure.
• Japanese Canadian Evacuee Communities Seen in Ontario, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Approximately 50 Japanese Canadian families are being relocated to permanent communities at Opasatika and Smooth Rock Falls in Ontario by the Spruce Falls Power company. The projects call for employment facilities for the relocated families.
• Political Candidates Will Discuss Issues at Chicago Meeting, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Independent candidate Mrs. Dorothea Allen and Democratic candidate Joseph De La Cour will speak at the Chicago JACL meeting on Oct. 28. Both candidates are expected to address housing, restrictive covenants, employment and minority rights.
• Coachella Valley Nisei to Organize JACL Chapter, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Nisei in the Coachella Valley took the first steps toward forming a JACL chapter on Oct. 4, selecting district chairmen for the Oasis and Indio districts. JACL staff members Mike Masaoka, Eiji Tanabe and Sei Tsuchiya assisted in the organization.
• San Francisco Nisei to Hold Conference on Situation One Year After War’s End, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The first conference of Japanese Americans in the San Francisco Bay area will consider resettlement problems of returned evacuees one year after the war. Workshops will address employment, housing, recreation, education and legislation.
• Helper Youth Elected School President, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Kayo Niwa was elected president of the Helper high school student body in Utah over three other candidates. The young Nisei is active in school athletics and plays halfback on the Helper eleven.
• Ex-Wrestler Files Suit Over Accounting of Wife’s Funds, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Setsuzo Ota, former professional wrestler, filed suit objecting to the approval of an accounting of his late wife Lucy Banning’s $463,000 estate. Ota was married to Lucy Banning in 1926, and their honeymoon ended in her death from flu in Italy.
• Nisei Girl Elected to High School Post in Salt Lake, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Lily Kumagai was elected to a student body office at West High School in Salt Lake City. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. A. Kumagai.
• Double 10 Rites Held in San Francisco, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Ruby Dewa and Joe Grant Masaoka of the JACL laid a floral wreath at the Sun Yat-Sen statue in San Francisco to mark China’s Double 10 day. The JACL representative called Americans of Japanese descent a unique bridge in the democratic future of Asia.
• Radio Forum Announces Change in Broadcast Time, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The Pacific Forum radio program, sponsored jointly by the JACL and the Council for Civic Unity, will be heard at 7:30 p.m. instead of its previous time. Participants will discuss minority rights, health and housing.
• Cecil Yanaura Starts Chick-Sexing Business in Georgia, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Cecil Yanaura, a Denver-born businessman, is opening a chick-sexing school in Georgia, one of the first Nisei enterprises in the state. He is assisted by his wife Misae and Don Cooley, an ex-air force sergeant.
• Santa Maria JACL Reactivated, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The Santa Maria Valley JACL chapter was reactivated in Guadalupe, California, with a membership of 35 persons. Harold Y. Shimizu is in charge of membership for the Guadalupe and Santa Maria districts.
• Orem Farmers Take Lead in Salt Lake Bowling League, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Orem Farmers regained first place in the Salt Lake City JACL winter bowling league as handicaps were introduced. Larry Tajiri posted the high series of 551.
• Wally’s, Pagoda Teams Lead New Girls’ Ten-Pin Loop, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Salt Lake Nisei girls bowling league opened on Oct. 13 with six teams. Dora Kuwabara posted the high series of 472.
• Nisei Veterans Seek Right to Occupy Homes, by P.C. Staff, page 7. In a Los Angeles court, Judge Alfred Paonessa heard suits by veterans Shinobu Saito and Tom Amer challenging restrictive residential covenants that barred persons of Oriental ancestry. The case addressed whether such covenants are legal.
• Thousand Nisei Troops Train as Linguists and Missionaries for Future Duty in Occupation, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Col. Elliott R. Thorpe reported that a thousand Nisei soldiers at the Presidio in Monterey are being trained for duty in Japan. He told a Watsonville audience that Japan regards the United States as liberators rather than conquerors.
• Seek to Recover Films Seized After Outbreak of War, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Katsuma Mukaeda, secretary of the Nichibei Kinema company, went to Washington to seek recovery of 1,000 rolls of films seized by the Treasury Department after the outbreak of war. The Japanese-language film company filed suit in federal court.

Military & Veterans

• Four Canadian Nisei Reported on Japan Duty, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Four Japanese Canadian soldiers are attached to Allied occupation troops in Japan, where they work translating in war crimes investigations. A number of other Japanese Canadians serve with British Empire units in Asia.
• Canada Refusal to Admit Nisei GI’s Protested, by P.C. Staff, page 1. An Army official told Rev. U. G. Murphy that the refusal of British Columbia authorities to admit two Japanese American soldiers from Hawaii is being taken up with higher authorities. Murphy had written to the commanding general at Fort Lewis protesting the incident.
• Fresno Banquet Fete Nisei Veterans, by P.C. Staff, page 2. A veterans testimonial banquet in Fresno on Oct. 25 will honor returned Nisei war veterans. Lieut. Col. Cairns will speak on the contributions of Japanese American soldiers in the China-Burma-India theater.
• New York Veterans Plan Organization, by P.C. Staff, page 2. A committee in New York organizing a Nisei veterans group opposed segregation of minority members in national veterans organizations. The group will be dedicated to mutual comradeship and the principles of democracy.
• Japanese American Soldiers Train as Linguists and Missionaries for Japan Duty, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Col. Elliott R. Thorpe said a thousand Nisei soldiers at the Presidio in Monterey are being trained as linguists for future duty in Japan. He spoke at a banquet honoring Pajaro Valley Nisei veterans at the Japanese Presbyterian church in Watsonville.
• Colorado Nisei War Veteran Returns With Belgian Bride, by P.C. Staff, page 3. T/4 George Akiyama returned to Colorado with his Belgian wife Georgina, whom he met while stationed with the 930th Military Police unit in Belgium. The couple married in Antwerp in June 1946.
• Nisei Soldiers Sweat Out Occupation on Duty Along Morgan Line, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Hundreds of Japanese American soldiers, many 442nd combat veterans, remain on occupation duty in Italy and the Venezia-Giulia area. Many are eligible for redeployment home but are still awaiting orders.
• Official Nisei Veterans Invited to Join Post in Salt Lake, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4355 in Salt Lake City invited Nisei veterans to join, according to Commander Glen E. Thompson. The post had considered a separate Nisei post but decided to encourage Nisei membership instead.

Obituaries

• Florence Walne Farquhar Dies of Heart Attack, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Mrs. Florence Walne Farquhar, assistant professor of Japanese at the University of California, died of a heart attack at her Berkeley home. She headed the Navy’s Japanese language program that employed many Nisei and resident Japanese aliens as instructors.
• Death of a Soldier, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial mourns General Joseph W. Stilwell, who died at Letterman general hospital in San Francisco after receiving the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. It recalls his defense of Japanese Americans and his statement that the Nisei bought America a big hunk with their blood.

Incarceration & Redress

• ACLU Rewards Hotelman for Information on Terrorist, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The American Civil Liberties Union presented a thousand dollar reward to hotelman Marchisio for information leading to the conviction of Robert F. Hailey, who shot into the homes of two returned evacuee families in Centerville in 1945. Hailey is serving a one-year jail sentence.
• Stipulation Settlement Hailed as Victory by Wirin; $75,000 Paid to Clear Title to Land, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A stipulation settlement in Los Angeles resolved an Alien Land law case in which Mrs. Fumiko Mitsuuchi paid $75,000 to clear title to 71 acres of farmland. Attorney A. L. Wirin hailed the settlement as a victory for the Japanese American families involved.

JACL

• Coast Conference of JACL Groups Set for December, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The first coast-wide conference of JACL chapters is tentatively scheduled for December 1, probably in San Francisco. Delegates from active and reactivating chapters in California, Oregon, Washington and Arizona are expected to attend.

Arts & Entertainment

• Santa Fe Artist Has Exhibit Planned in Denver Store, by P.C. Staff, page 2. An open house exhibit featuring paintings by Miki Hayakawa of Santa Fe, New Mexico, is scheduled for Oct. 20 at Kober’s Book Store in Denver. Hayakawa has exhibited in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sacramento and the 1939-40 World’s Fair.

Commentary

• Validating Racism, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial condemns H. J. McClatchy and the Joint Immigration Committee for race-baiting in their campaign for Proposition 15. It refutes McClatchy’s claim about Japanese land laws, noting Milo Rowell’s findings that Japan’s restrictions have been repealed.
• California’s FEPC, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial urges California voters to adopt Proposition 11 creating a state Fair Employment Practices Commission. It argues the measure guarantees equal opportunity in training, union membership and employment for workers of minority ancestry.
• The Yellow Peril Fizzles Out, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The editorial observes that anti-Japanese racism has largely disappeared from California’s 1946 election campaigns. It credits the wartime record of Nisei soldiers and a changed public attitude for the shift.
• News-Letter, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The column tells the story of Harry, an Issei who proved his loyalty to America but was repeatedly denied recognition by government agencies. It argues Congress should pass a bill granting citizenship to loyal Issei.
• From the Frying Pan: Nisei Win Recognition in Many Fields, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Bill Hosokawa encourages Nisei to take pride in their heritage and cites their achievements in the professions, arts, trades and athletics. He argues Japanese Americans have much to be proud of despite the trouble they have faced.
• Japanese Canadian Veteran Protests Racial Fanaticism of British Columbia Officials, by Ex-Serviceman, page 5. A Japanese Canadian ex-serviceman protests the refusal of British Columbia immigration officials to admit two Japanese American soldiers. He contrasts this with the hospitality he received from Americans during a hitchhiking trip to California.
• Canadian Passage, by Cyrus Noritake, page 5. Cyrus Noritake of Seattle writes that Nisei are admitted to British Columbia on the same basis as other U.S. citizens if they carry proof of citizenship. The editors note that policy varies among Canadian immigration offices.

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