1947: a secret loyalty file, housing bans and Nisei in the courts

Vol. 25, No. 14, October 11, 1947. 8 pages. View this issue

A secret loyalty file on Japanese Americans led the news. Civil Service Commission president Harry B. Mitchell admitted at a House hearing that the file lists American citizens by Japanese ancestry. Elsewhere, the paper followed fights over restrictive covenants, from a three-point program announced by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith to a suit over South Pasadena’s deed policy. It also covered the Oyama alien land law case headed to the U.S. Supreme Court, renunciants at Tule Lake seeking restoration of citizenship, and JACL Anti-Discrimination Committee work led by Mike Masaoka. Larry Tajiri’s editorials looked at stranded Nisei in Japan and the wartime service of Issei.

Columns by Bill Hosokawa and Koji Ariyoshi appear on page five, along with a short story by Junco Asakura. Harry Farrell profiled Frank Shimada, a disabled 442nd veteran who found work in San Jose. The sports pages cover bowling leagues, Hawaii football and a push to change ABC eligibility rules.

What’s in this issue

National

• Secret Loyalty File on Japanese Americans Revealed by Civil Service Commission, page 1. Civil Service Commission officials admitted at a House hearing that a secret loyalty file listing American citizens by Japanese ancestry exists. The JACL Anti-Discrimination Committee had earlier protested the use of ‘Japanese’ as a classification for discharging federal employees.
• B’nai B’rith Group to Fight Housing Bans, page 1. The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith outlined a three-point program against racial and religious restrictive covenants in Beverly Hills, Burbank, Pasadena and parts of Arizona. The program includes legal action, legislative support and adult education following the California Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene in cases involving Japanese American property owners.
• Suit Challenges California Alien Fishing Ban, page 1. A petition filed in Los Angeles Superior Court challenged the legality of a 1945 California law barring fishing rights to aliens of Japanese ancestry. The suit was brought on behalf of 142 alien commercial fishermen who say the law deprives them of their livelihood.
• Report Encouraging Job Prospects for Nisei Women Workers in California, page 1. A northern area meeting of the California Council for Civic Unity reported that Japanese American women show encouraging employment prospects in clerical and semi-skilled work, better than before the war. Nisei men, however, were often forced into manual labor or migration east, while CIO was praised for openness compared to AFL craft unions.
• Miners Enter Float in Bingham Parade, page 1. Copper workers of Japanese ancestry entered a float featuring cherry blossoms in the Galena Days celebration parade in Bingham Canyon, Utah. The float was a feature of the mining community’s parade.
• Suit Filed Against Policy of Restrictive Covenants Instituted in South Pasadena, page 2. Ernest and Ethel Chamberlain filed suit challenging South Pasadena’s policy of inserting racial restrictive covenants in deeds for city-acquired properties, which barred non-Caucasians except as servants. Attorneys A.L. Wirin, Saburo Kido, Fred Okrand and Frank Chuman represented the plaintiffs with support from the NAACP and American Jewish Congress.
• AFL President Gets Protest Over Anti-Nisei Discrimination, page 2. Joe Grant Masaoka of the JACL Anti-Discrimination Committee filed a protest with AFL President William Green over discriminatory practices barring Japanese Americans from full union membership. Masaoka cited building trades unions on the west coast and noted inconsistent treatment of Orientals among AFL cannery workers unions in different cities.
• Attorney Leaves for Role in Oyama Case, page 3. Attorney A.L. Wirin left for Washington to participate in oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Oyama alien land law case, scheduled to be heard Oct. 21. Wirin will also meet with State and War department representatives regarding Nisei stranded in Japan.
• Minato Elected to Executive Board of CIO Union, page 3. George Minato, former JACL regional director in the Pacific Northwest, was elected to the executive board of Local 7 of the Cannery Workers and Farm Laborers Union in Seattle. The election results were seen as a victory for the administrative committee that took over after the previous leadership was ousted for anti-democratic activity.
• Fresno Judge Rules CIO Union Not Guilty of Discrimination, page 3. Superior Court Judge Arthur Shepard ruled that charges of racial discrimination against Japanese Americans by CIO Food, Tobacco and Agricultural Workers Union Local 78 were unfounded. The ruling also absolved the union of alleged picket line violence at the Ensher, Alexander & Barsoom farm near Mendota.
• Legality of California Intermarriage Ban Questioned in Suit, page 3. The California Supreme Court took under advisement the constitutionality of a law banning intermarriage between whites and persons of Negro, Mongolian or Malayan ancestry. The case was brought by Sylvester Davis Jr. and Andrea Perez after Los Angeles County refused to issue them a marriage license.
• Ask Supreme Court to Bar Race Restrictive Covenants Against Veterans, page 8. Two Oriental American veterans, Tom Amer (Japanese ancestry) and Dr. Yin Kim (Korean ancestry), asked the Supreme Court to declare invalid restrictive covenants preventing them from living in homes they purchased after returning from overseas service. The JACL and ACLU are cooperating through attorneys A.L. Wirin, Fred Okrand and others in the case.

Community

• Prof. Ikuo Oyama Leaves for Japan, page 1. Prof. Ikuo Oyama, a political refugee in the U.S. for 15 years and former Northwestern University faculty member, departed for Japan with his wife. He had fled Japan in 1932 as chairman of the Farmer Labor party under threat of assassination.
• Peninsula Civic Unity Council Aids Housing for Minorities, page 1. The Redwood City Council for Civic Unity, led by Mrs. Elizabeth Eisenberg, set up a housing bureau to connect minority buyers with sellers after a real estate dealer proposed excluding minorities from the peninsula. The bureau has successfully listed unrestricted properties in Redwood City and Palo Alto.
• First Nisei Named to Federal Jury in Sacramento, page 1. Aiko Koyama, an employee of the Sacramento Army Signal Depot, was named to the Federal Grand Jury in Sacramento. She is the first non-Caucasian ever named to a Federal Grand Jury there.
• Land Law Repeal Wins Support at Ex-GI Parley, page 1. A resolution supporting repeal of California’s Alien Land Law was passed at the Conference of Eastside Veterans Organizations in Los Angeles. Twenty-five Nisei veterans attended among 450 persons representing Legion, VFW and AVC groups.
• Cyclist Injured, page 1. Yukie Tanaka, 14, of French Camp suffered severe injuries when struck by a speeding car on Highway 40 near Mathews Road. The accident occurred on Oct. 4 in Stockton, California.
• Nisei Cashier Outwits Holdup Man in Chicago, page 1. Frances Kanda, a cashier at a North Clark Street cafe, foiled a robbery attempt by Lester Ervin Brown by stepping into a back room and calling police instead of handing over funds. Brown, who was unarmed, was arrested by two policemen.
• Elinor Umezawa Joins Stockton Church Staff, page 2. Miss Elinor Umezawa of Denver joined the staff of Clay Street Methodist Church in Stockton as parish worker. She will assist with the church’s interracial development program under Rev. Andrew Juvinall.
• Lili Uyematsu Weds Corp. John Briscoe, page 2. Lili Uyematsu of Caldwell, Idaho, married Corporal John Maxwell Briscoe in Walla Walla, Washington, culminating an eight-year romance. The couple was celebrated with family dinners and an old-fashioned charivari by about 50 friends.
• Nakamura Named President of Young Buddhists, page 2. Ben Nakamura of Fowler was named president of the Central California Young Buddhists Association. A full cabinet of officers was also announced, to be installed at the fall conference in Fresno on November 9.
• Canadian Minister Speaks in Chicago During U.S. Tour, page 2. Rev. Goichi Nakayama, an Anglican priest from Canada, made three speaking engagements in Chicago about the Japanese Canadian evacuation. He is currently on a tour of the United States.
• Dr. Wataru Sutow Opens Practice, page 3. Dr. Wataru Sutow, a pediatrics specialist and former resident physician at Salt Lake County General, opened his practice in Los Angeles associated with Dr. M. Murase. He moved from Salt Lake City with his wife and two children.
• Veteran’s Store, Business Destroyed in California Fire, page 3. A fire destroyed the grocery store and meat market owned by war veteran Jack H. Oda in Walnut Grove, California, along with an adjoining boarding house. The loss was estimated at $25,000, though all occupants escaped safely.
• Seeks Sister, page 6. Lefty Kobayashi of Denver is seeking the address of his sister, Mrs. Helen Yukiko Murakami, believed to be living in Los Angeles. He can be reached at the Airdale hotel in Denver.
• Japan Brides of GIs Arrive in Hawaii, page 6. Seven Japan-born brides of American GIs arrived in Honolulu aboard the Army transport Admiral H.T. Mayo, the first to arrive since passage of the GI Brides Act amendment. The amendment permits entry of ‘ineligible alien’ spouses married before August 1947.
• Widow of Man Killed in Crash Files Suit, page 6. The widow and three children of the late Mitsutaro Fujikawa filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking $100,000 in damages for his death in a June 23 automobile accident. Mrs. Rose Fujikawa claimed the family was deprived of his society, comfort and services.
• Thanksgiving Dance, page 6. The ELLEs scheduled their second annual Thanksgiving dance for Nov. 27 at the Marigold ballroom in Fresno. Velma Yemoto will chair the event with committee members handling tickets and publicity.
• Engagement: Suzuki-Sabusawa, page 6. The engagement of Mary Suzuki of Cressey, California, to Harry Sabusawa of Chicago was announced at an informal tea in Chicago. Suzuki works for the Chicago YWCA and is active in the Chicago JACL, while Sabusawa works for John Sexton company and the Lawson YMCA.
• Denver Radio Series Will Discuss Nisei Group Problems, page 6. A new radio series called ‘Liberty Calling’ on station KLZ will feature editors James Omura of the Rocky Shimpo and F.I. Kaihara of the Colorado Times discussing minority group problems in Denver. The series aims to foster better public understanding of discrimination issues faced by Japanese, Negro, Mexican, Jewish, Italian and Greek communities.
• George Akahoshi Named Agent for Occidental Life, page 6. George Akahoshi, formerly of Los Angeles and previously employed by the War Labor Board, was named a special agent of the Occidental Life Insurance Company in Chicago. His business address is 1 North La Salle street.
• Address Wanted, page 6. George Shimizu of atom-bombed Nagasaki, Japan, is seeking a friend, S. Itow, in Denver. A letter was received by Mrs. Estelle Niblo from her son in Japan regarding the inquiry.
• Work of Community Chest Agencies Noted in Annual Campaign, page 6. Community Chest campaign chairman Hugh B. Terry confirmed that member agencies serve Japanese Americans among all races, including camping programs, visiting nurses, and family welfare services. Nisei mothers reportedly participate in well-baby clinics and immunization services.
• Helen Nitta Named to Staff of Buchanan YM-YWCA, page 6. Helen Nitta, choir leader and pianist at Pine Methodist Church, was named to the staff of the Buchanan Street YM-YWCA in San Francisco. She will oversee teen-age programs and assist with adult activities.
• Letter Held, page 7. A letter from Japan for Hideo Haruta, formerly of 166 South 1st West St., Salt Lake City, is being held at the Pacific Citizen office. Haruta is asked to claim the letter.
• Community Council, page 7. Formation of a community council with representatives from every Nisei and Issei organization in Santa Clara County was urged by the United Citizens League president at a September meeting. The proposal aims to coordinate community organizations.
• Civic Unity Councils Hold Regional Meet, page 8. San Francisco and East Bay representatives attended a regional conference of the California Council for Civic Unity at International House in Berkeley, covering housing, civil rights, employment and community education. Numerous Nisei JACL members attended and Joe Grant Masaoka served as official reporter for the community education panel.
• Spokane Church Holds Celebration for 45th Anniversary, page 8. The Grant Community Methodist Church in Spokane, formerly the Japanese Methodist mission, held its 45th anniversary celebration with over 300 attendees at a community banquet. Speakers included Rev. T.J. Machida, Rev. W.S. Burgoyne, and Dr. C.A. Richardson, with musical performances by the church choir.
• Fellowship Aids in Relief Drive, page 8. The Fresno Christian Fellowship is sponsoring an overseas relief drive with four competing teams captained by Lillian Goto, Rose Hiraoka, Ted Inouye and Harold Masada. The fellowship also held a relief program featuring speakers on conditions in Korea and American Friends Service committee work.
• Nisei Serves on Staff of Denver Community Center, page 8. Shig Ariki serves as associate director in charge of club work at the Grace Community Center in Denver, a popular gathering place for Nisei social functions. The center, supported by the Community Chest, saw especially heavy Nisei activity during the war years.

Arts & Entertainment

• Nisei GI’s Story Will Be Told in War Heroes Film, page 1. RKO is planning a film titled ‘The Unknown Soldier’ featuring nine episodes about war heroes including a Japanese American soldier of the 442nd Combat Team. Studio chief Dore Schary is consulting with the War Department on casting, noting difficulty finding a Nisei lead actor in Hollywood.
• Serisawa’s Portrait Wins Prize at L.A. Exhibition, page 2. Sueo Serisawa’s portrait ‘Mar’ won a $250 purchase award in an exhibit of Los Angeles region painters at the Beverly-Fairfax Community center. Another Serisawa portrait is also showing at the Dalzell Hatfield galleries.
• The Paraffin Medal, by Junco Asakura, page 5. A short story follows Tom Kobayashi, a veteran returning home to Sacramento to his modest railroad shack family home, feeling disillusioned by the gap between his wartime dreams of home and reality. He wanders into the city’s West End feeling lost and disconnected before resolving to hope tomorrow will feel better.

Incarceration & Redress

• Renunciants Ask Restoration of Citizenship, page 1. Toshiko Ichikawa and Hisashi Inouye, who renounced citizenship at Tule Lake, filed suit in Federal District court seeking restoration of citizenship rights following a ruling by Judge Charles Cavanah. The judge had found that renunciations at Tule Lake were made under coercion and mental stress rather than free choice.
• Nisei War Objector Given Suspended Jail Sentence, page 1. Andrew Shiga of Seattle, a conscientious objector who had volunteered for public service tests, received a suspended sentence in Federal court for refusing assigned duties at a CPS camp. Shiga had previously served as a test subject in survival experiments on an open-sea raft.
• Seventeen Internees Win Paroles, page 1. Seventeen alien Japanese held at Seabrook Farms, N.J., under a ‘relaxed internment’ policy were paroled into the custody of their attorney, Wayne M. Collins of San Francisco. The release was reported this week.
• Aged Woman Returns to U.S. From Japan, page 3. Mrs. Tomi Muraoka, 77, widow of Rev. Kikusaburo Muraoka, was among 23 war-stranded persons of Japanese ancestry who returned to the U.S. from Japan on the Marine Swallow. She plans to settle in Stanton, California with her son after being stranded since 1940.
• Japanese Canadian Held in Vancouver on Arms Charge, page 3. Akihide Otsuji, 19, was arrested in Vancouver with two Canadian companions for carrying firearms, in an area still barred to persons of Japanese ancestry. Otsuji had reportedly been posing as Chinese Canadian and had previously been jailed for returning to the evacuated area.
• 159 Holdouts Still Stand Pat in Japanese Canadian Hostel, page 3. Fifty-eight holdouts against Canada’s eastern dispersal program remained at the Moose Jaw hostel despite discontinued government food services, continuing their protest to return to British Columbia. A government labor official visited the hostel to talk with the holdout leaders.

Military & Veterans

• Hawaii GI Killed, page 1. T-5 Shoichi Yoshida of Waipahu, T.H., died in an auto accident at Mito in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan. The death was reported in Tokyo on Sept. 15.
• Nisei Veteran Leads Way to Jobs for Other Disabled Ex-GIs in Laboratory, by Harry Farrell, page 3. Frank Shimada, a disabled 442nd veteran wounded by a German grenade in Italy, found work at Electronic Radiation Laboratories in San Jose after being unable to continue farming. His employer Herb Fehler adopted a policy of hiring disabled veterans, giving them freedom to work without close supervision, which proved successful.
• Report Nisei GI’s Suicide in Berlin, page 3. Sgt. Shin Fujisaki, 25, an army mail clerk from Alaa, T.H., shot and killed himself in the mail room of the 16th Constabulary Unit in Berlin. Investigators said he had been despondent after receiving a letter from home.
• Amvets Convention Supports Naturalization Privileges for Loyal Resident Japanese, page 3. The third national Amvets convention unanimously approved a resolution supporting naturalization privileges for parents of Japanese American GIs and other resident Japanese aliens of proven loyalty. The resolution was introduced by Charles K. Yamamoto, a 442nd veteran and Utah Amvets vice-commander who also served as an ADC observer.

JACL

• Venice Chapter Initiates Drive for ADC Funds, page 2. The Venice chapter of JACL voted to launch the ADC financial drive in the Pacific Southwest JACL district council with a goal of $1,000. ADC regional director Eiji Tanabe and national vice president George Inagaki spoke at the cabinet meeting.
• Midwest JACL Workshop Will Train Leaders, page 2. A three-day leadership training workshop of the Midwest district council opened at Hull House in Chicago under chairmanship of Mari Sabusawa. Speakers included Mike Masaoka, Dr. T. Yatabe, and various leaders in racial relations fields, covering membership building, fund raising, community action and publicity.
• Masaoka Describes ADC Work at Denver Chapter Dinner, page 3. Legislative Director Mike Masaoka described the JACL Anti-Discrimination Committee’s efforts to pass evacuation claims and naturalization bills at a Denver chapter dinner meeting. He met with Governor Knous and Congressman John A. Carroll during his visit and planned to continue his tour to Minneapolis and St. Paul.
• Okada, Masaoka Will Attend Meeting of Chicago ADC Group, page 3. National JACL president Hito Okada and ADC director Mike Masaoka planned to attend the Oct. 15 meeting of the Chicago Anti-Discrimination Committee. Masaoka will report on ADC work in Washington during the last congressional session.
• Philadelphia JACL to Hold First Fall Meeting, page 6. The Philadelphia chapter of JACL will hold its first fall meeting at the International Institute with guest speaker Carmen Rivera discussing Puerto Rico. The meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 15.
• Roger Baldwin Will Speak to JACL in Pennsylvania City, page 8. Roger Baldwin of the American Civil Liberties Union will speak to the Philadelphia chapter of JACL on Nov. 23. He is expected to discuss his recent trip to Japan and the status of stranded Nisei there.

Commentary

• Minority of the Week: Saved by a Turban, page 2. A column recounts the story of a Middle Eastern student at UC Berkeley who used a turban to avoid discrimination in the American South, illustrating how certain minorities can escape prejudice through appearance while others cannot. The piece also covers a St. Louis archbishop’s fight against segregation in Catholic schools and notes UN-related and restrictive covenant news.
• Evacuees in the West, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. An editorial reviews the 1942 Salt Lake City conference where western state officials largely opposed resettlement of Japanese Americans, leading to the establishment of WRA camps, contrasted with later praise from Governors Knous and Maw for Nisei contributions. The piece credits evacuees with agricultural development and improved race relations in the inland west.
• Stranded Citizens, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. An editorial discusses Nisei in Japan who forfeited American citizenship under coercion, lack of knowledge, or parental naturalization during the war. It argues that innocent individuals among them deserve the opportunity to return to the United States.
• Issei in Wartime, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. An editorial highlights the largely suppressed wartime contributions of Issei who, though barred from citizenship, aided U.S. war agencies through linguistic and special knowledge. The Committee for Equality in Naturalization is seeking case histories of such service for a planned handbook.
• Nisei USA: Time for Provincialism, by Koji Ariyoshi, page 5. Koji Ariyoshi reflects on his wartime service in China, contrasting the corruption of Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang with the popular support enjoyed by Chinese Communists in Yenan, and criticizes General Hurley’s abrupt shift to backing the Kuomintang. He expresses hope that future U.S. policy will better serve the interests of the Chinese people rather than a failing regime.
• From the Frying Pan: Machine Age in the Harvest, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Bill Hosokawa describes the mechanization of the Rocky Mountain sugar beet harvest, contrasting it with 1942 when evacuees from WRA camps provided crucial labor. He also profiles Mike Masaoka’s evolution from a brash young man to a skilled Washington lobbyist, and notes a Seattle Times salmon derby that once excluded Japanese Americans but now welcomes them.
• Vagaries, page 5. A column notes Wat Misaka’s appearance in a Columbia short film about Utah’s championship basketball team, and tracks former anti-Japanese agitators Fred McCargar and John Lechner in their postwar careers. It also mentions Ben and Shige Kuroki naming their baby and Hizi Koyke’s acclaimed opera performance in Chicago.

In-Depth

• Obituary—Delayed: Sadakichi Hartmann, page 4. A tribute to Sadakichi Hartmann, a Japanese-German artist, poet and critic who died in Florida months earlier after a remarkable life among Bohemian artistic circles in San Francisco and Hollywood. The piece recounts his prolific output, friendships with figures like Gene Fowler and John Barrymore, and his fading obscurity despite his historical significance.
• Nisei USA: Little Flower, page 4. A column recounts how Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia’s opposition to Japanese American resettlement in New York stemmed partly from feeling betrayed by xylophonist Yoichi Hiraoka, who had been fired from NBC as an ‘enemy alien’ after Pearl Harbor despite LaGuardia’s earlier on-air support. Hiraoka ultimately repatriated to Japan on the Gripsholm before LaGuardia learned the full story and revised his stance.

Sports

• Bay Region Nisei Bowlers Start Play, page 6. First round play began in the Bay Region Nisei Winter bowling league with ten teams from both sides of the bay competing at Downtown Bowl. The league will bowl Tuesday nights for 27 weeks.
• Hawaii Bowlers Seek Revision of ABC Eligibility Regulations, page 7. Honolulu bowling leagues plan to send two 5-man teams to the 1948 ABC national tournament in Detroit, one all-Caucasian and one composed of non-Caucasian ‘ineligibles’ including top Japanese and Chinese bowlers, to challenge ABC rules barring bowlers by race. Local businesses are raising $8,000 to finance the trip and a good-will tour of mainland bowling centers.
• Kurumada, Kaizumi Duo Lead Men’s Doubles League, page 7. Dr. Jun Kurumada and Maki Kaizumi led an undefeated team with a 1156 doubles series in the Salt Lake Nisei traveling leagues. Main Jewelry and Appliance took a commanding lead in team play after blanking OK Cafe.
• Asato Brothers Score Against Portland Eleven, page 7. Jimmy and Dick Asato each scored touchdowns as the Honolulu All-Stars defeated Portland University 14-6 at Multnomah Stadium. Hawaiian players Isao Ito and Masayoshi Gunda were also on the All-Star roster.
• Nisei GI Scores Upset in Net Match, page 7. Pfc. Yukimasa Shiaki of Koloa, T.H., upset favored Pfc. Stash Diamond of Brooklyn 6-4, 6-4 in the opening round of the Ninth Corps tennis tournament in Sendai, Japan.
• Dawn Noodle Leads Women’s Bowling With Eight Wins, page 7. The Dawn Noodle team rolled a scratch 2038 series to move into first place in the Salt Lake City JACL women’s league by defeating the Aoki team 4-0. Mieko Kusaba rolled high series and high game for Dawn Noodle.
• Johnny Naguwa Hawaiian Star Cinches Spot on Trojan Backfield, page 7. A sports column notes Hawaiian players making marks in mainland football, including USC’s backfield, and profiles the University of Hawaii Rainbows football team which lists eleven players of Japanese ancestry on its roster. The piece lists out a hypothetical all-Nisei lineup and notes team captains Unkei Uchima and Watasaki are 442nd Combat Team veterans.
• San Jose League Bowling Results, page 8. The Joseph Kiser company swept three games from George’s Barber with a 2684 series to lead the United Citizens League bowling league in San Jose. Sixteen teams compete in the league on Tuesdays or Thursdays.

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