Protests against anti-Nisei films and the ‘Firelight Reader’

Vol. 44, No. 18, May 3, 1957. 8 pages. View this issue

JACL pushed back against how Japanese Americans were portrayed. Sen. Henry M. Jackson and Rep. Arthur J. Younger pledged support for the national campaign against televised wartime films that impugn Nisei loyalty, and four Denver stations told the Mile-Hi chapter they would not show them. National president Dr. Roy Nishikawa asked California parents to protest the Fuzz Young story in the Firelight Reader, which uses a derogatory term for Japanese. Harry Honda covered the congressional hearings on temporary Japanese farm labor, and wrote a column looking back at the 1956 convention debate.

Elsewhere in these eight pages, Larry S. Tajiri criticized a Tulsa Tribune editorial against Hawaiian statehood, and Mike Masaoka reported on the civil rights showdown in Congress. Kelly K. Yamada, PNWDC chairman, wrote about losing two secretaries and previewed the district’s convention plans. Nisei jockey George Taniguchi was set to ride in the Kentucky Derby, and the Mile-Hi chapter passed 500 members.

What’s in this issue

Community

• Wanted: Two Secretaries for PNWDC Chairman, by Kelly K. Yamada, page 1. Pacific Northwest District Council chairman Kelly Yamada reports losing two secretaries to marriage and relocation, and seeks volunteers. He also previews the upcoming PNWDC meeting, convention plans, and Northwest JACL activities.
• Denver TV Stations Promise No Showing of Anti-Nisei Films, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Four Denver television stations told the Mile-Hi JACL chapter they would not broadcast anti-Nisei wartime films. The stations responded to JACL’s concerns, with one station commended for screening Gentlemen’s Agreement.
• Civic Week Festival Features San Jose JACL Participation, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The San Jose JACL participated in a weeklong Civic Week festival promoting intercultural brotherhood. Judo students under instructor Moon Kikuchi gave an exhibition at the IES Hall.
• Model UN Assembly of Utah Students See Japan Consul-General Present Flag, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Japanese Consul General Akira Nishiyama presented a Japanese flag at the third annual Model UN Assembly at the University of Utah. He spoke to 700 high school students about youth leadership for world peace.
• Sansei UC Co-ed Wins Campus Post, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Jean Shinoda was re-elected senior representative to the Associated Student Body of the University of California with 1,816 votes. She advocated removing discriminatory clauses from student group constitutions.
• Stockton Activist Recommended for City Postmaster Post, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Mrs. Marie de Carli, an active Stockton JACLer and junior high teacher, was recommended by Senators Knowland and Kuchel for acting Stockton postmaster. The recommendation followed months of speculation about the appointment.
• L.A. Nisei Republicans Elect Kawa President, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Taro Kawa was elected president of the Japanese American Republican Assembly in Los Angeles, succeeding charter president Henry Tsurutani. Other officers were also named following a mail balloting.
• Denver Public Schools Visited by JACLers, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Mile-Hi JACL members visited public schools attended by their children during Colorado Public School Week. Chapter president Leonard Uchida was invited to visit Manual High School by its principal.
• Orange County JACL Proposes Organized Effort for Building Community Center, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The Orange County JACL and the Santana Wind publication called for an organized effort to build a Japanese American community center. They cited the social needs of Nisei youth and the prewar history of Japanese language schools built by Issei.
• Sansei Violinist to Play for PSWDC Conventioners, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Roy Tanabe, an 18-year-old Sansei violinist studying at USC, will perform at the PSWDC Convention luncheon at Disneyland Hotel. He won a 1956 Bank of America fine arts award and a four-year USC scholarship.
• Mile-Hi Chapter Passes 500 Mark, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The Mile-Hi JACL reached 542 members as of April 25, only 74 short of its all-time record set in 1956. The chapter ranks second nationally in membership standings.
• Farm Labor Program: Before & After, by Harry K. Honda, page 5. Harry Honda reflects on the contentious 1956 JACL convention debate over importing temporary farm workers from Japan. He notes that recent congressional hearings found no supported complaints and that the program benefits all concerned.
• Pocatello JACL Building Planned to Honor Issei, by Ronald Yokota, page 5. The Pocatello JACL is planning a new building to replace its 1918 wooden frame structure, honoring the Issei pioneers who established the original building. A special committee was appointed to negotiate disposal of the present property.
• Seabrook Chapter Picks Mrs. Josie Ikeda as 1957-58 President, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The Seabrook JACL in New Jersey installed Mrs. Josie Ikeda as its president for 1957-58 along with other cabinet members. Board of governors members were also named at the ceremonies.
• Clergymen to Participate at PSWDC Convention, by P.C. Staff, page 5. Two clergymen and a Nisei bridge expert will participate in the May 18-19 PSWDC biennial convention at Disneyland. Father Clement of Maryknoll and Rev. Clinton Swengal will offer invocations and benedictions.
• Fremont JACL Changes Name from Southern Alameda County Chapter, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The Southern Alameda County Chapter of JACL voted to rename itself Fremont JACL, effective May 1, to reduce confusion with the Alameda Chapter. The name change was spearheaded by immediate past president Isao Handa.
• Cortez JACL Sponsors Student for Conference, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The Cortez JACL sponsored two students, Haruka and Ilene Narita, to attend a Conference of High School Students where Justice William Douglas spoke on freedom. The girls said they were encouraged by the civic engagement of other youth.
• Sukiyaki Featured at Milwaukee JACL Bazaar, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The Milwaukee JACL annual bazaar featured a sukiyaki dinner and white elephant sale at the local YWCA. Numerous volunteers worked on food and sale committees.
• Downtown L.A. CL-ers Case New Police Bldg., by P.C. Staff, page 5. Downtown Los Angeles JACLers dined at San Kwo Low before touring the new Los Angeles Police Building. Yoichi Nakase served as program chairman.
• Wash Offs Cop D.C. Bowling League Title, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The Wash Offs team from the Washington JACL Office won the D.C. JACL Bowling League championship over the Hi Jinx squad. Tosh Enokida posted the season’s high series of 702.
• Twin Cities JACL Attains 50 Percent of Membership Goal, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The Twin Cities JACL reached half of its 300-member goal for 1957 after one month of membership solicitation. The chapter said no fund drive would follow if the goal was met.
• Los Angeles Newsletter: The KEEP Story, by Henry Mori, page 7. Colonel Paul Rusch, director of the Kiyosato Educational Project, visited Los Angeles to raise funds and report on progress developing farmland in Japan. Local supporters including George Aratani held a banquet in his honor.
• Priest William Frygare First American Ordained Buddhist Priest in Japan, by P.C. Staff, page 7. William Frygare, a Roosevelt College graduate, became the first American ordained to the Buddhist priesthood in Japan and is now chief priest of a Kyoto temple. He also lectures at Otani University.
• Mile-Hi JACL Remits $1,000 Surplus Fund to National Headquarters, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The Mile-Hi JACL sent $1,000 to National JACL Headquarters from its recent chapter benefit. Treasurer John Masunaga and president Leonard Uchida pledged to meet the chapter’s remaining financial obligations.

Military & Veterans

• Congressmen to Support JACL National TV Protest, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Sen. Henry M. Jackson and Rep. Arthur J. Younger pledged support for the JACL campaign against televised wartime films that impugn Japanese American loyalty. Both expressed their interest in helping eliminate such films from television.
• Texas Nisei Pair Die in Mexican Highway Accident, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Calvin Minoru Shimotsu and K. Kamitani were killed instantly in a head-on collision with a bus on a Mexican highway. The two men, employed by a Japanese cotton exporting firm, had swerved to avoid a cow.
• Nisei Jockey George Taniguchi to Ride in Kentucky Derby, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Nisei jockey George Taniguchi will become the first Japanese American to ride in the Kentucky Derby. He qualified by finishing fourth aboard Indian Creek in the Derby trials.
• Calif. Farm Wages Top National Average, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Labor official J. J. Miller told a congressional subcommittee that California farm wages exceed national averages, and that the Japanese worker program was not meant to replace Mexican labor. Wage data compared room-and-board and non-board figures.

National

• Congressional Hearings End on Use of Temporary Japanese Farm Labor, by Harry Honda, page 1. Congressional subcommittee hearings in San Francisco, Indio, and Los Angeles examined the temporary Japanese farm worker program, with growers supporting it and organized labor opposing it. No specific documented complaints of abuse were presented during the hearings.
• Parents of Grade School Pupils Urged to Protest Use of ‘Firelight Reader’, by P.C. Staff, page 1. National JACL president Dr. Roy Nishikawa asked California Nisei parents to write letters protesting the Fuzz Young story in the Firelight Reader, which uses the derogatory term ‘Jap.’ The State Curriculum Committee meets in May to consider reprinting the reader.
• Japan Will Not Seek Treaty for Temporary Farm Labor Program, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Japanese Premier Nobusuke Kishi told the Diet that the temporary farm worker program to California will continue without a formal treaty. He also dismissed reports of Japanese workers going to Siberia as Soviet propaganda.

Obituaries

• Active Chicagoan Mike Hagiwara Dies Unexpectedly, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Michael Y. Hagiwara, an active Chicago JACL member and attorney, died suddenly of a coronary thrombosis on April 25. Approximately 1,000 people attended his memorial service at the Church of the Redeemer.
• Mike Hagiwara Services Held in Chicago, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Services were held for Chicago JACL member Michael Y. Hagiwara, who died suddenly of a coronary thrombosis. He was an attorney, active in multiple civic organizations, and left a widow and three children.

Commentary

• Anti-Nisei Editorial, by Larry S. Tajiri, page 3. Larry Tajiri criticizes an anti-Nisei editorial by Tulsa Tribune publisher Richard Lloyd Jones Sr. opposing Hawaiian statehood. He argues the editorial reflects longstanding racial bigotry and connects Jones to far-right organizations.
• Civil Rights Showdown, by Mike Masaoka, page 8. Mike Masaoka’s Washington Newsletter examines the congressional civil rights showdown after the Easter recess, including Southern Democrat resistance and procedural maneuvers. He warns that delay favors filibuster tactics in the final days of the session.

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