Vietnam, urban unrest and a JACL convention a week away

Vol. 65, No. 8, August 25, 1967. 6 pages. View this issue

Vietnam and the unrest in American cities ran through this six-page issue. Rep. Spark Matsunaga reported after a ten-day tour of Hawaii that Vietnam was the most pressing concern among constituents, and he defended President Johnson’s policy and the National Guard’s role in suppressing the riots. Patrick Okura defended the federal anti-poverty program against charges that it fueled the riots, and Yosh Hotta wrote on revitalizing core cities. A. L. Wirin remembered civil rights lawyer Loren Miller, and national president Jerry Enomoto opened the paper with a column called “A Start.”

The joint EDC-MDC Convention in Chicago was one week away, and the issue previewed its events. Bill Hosokawa recalled the 1950 National Convention. Elsewhere, B. D. Colen profiled Los Angeles police officer Robert K. Koga and his weaponless control method. Attorney J. Garner Anthony spoke in Honolulu about military control of civilians in Hawaii after Pearl Harbor. Youth columns from Alan Kumamoto and Jeffrey Matsui also appeared.

What’s in this issue

Commentary

• A Start, by Jerry Enomoto, page 1. Enomoto argues that people only become emotionally engaged with social injustice when it touches them directly, but that efforts to help others, however modest, are a beginning. He calls for reasoned moderation rather than extremist rhetoric in public life.
• Chicago Convention, by Bill Hosokawa, page 2. Hosokawa reflects on the 1950 National Convention in Chicago and the upcoming EDC-MDC Convention, which will commemorate 25 years since the West Coast evacuation. He highlights Japan’s postwar transformation and the JACL’s role in ending discriminatory immigration and naturalization laws.
• What the Negro youngsters hear of ‘black’ race, by Yosh Hotta, page 3. Hotta relays a Black community worker’s account of how Black youth are taught history, emphasizing the origins of the term Negro and slavery’s legacy. The piece reflects on the struggle to reclaim cultural identity.
• Chapter comments on JACL role in anti-miscegenation repeal, by Ray Jenkins, page 3. Dayton JACL president Ray Jenkins praises JACL’s role in helping to remove anti-miscegenation laws following a Supreme Court decision. He argues this illustrates why a national organization is valuable.
• Loren Miller, Civil Liberties Champion, by A. L. Wirin, page 3. Wirin remembers Loren Miller, a lawyer who won landmark civil rights cases including the outlawing of housing covenants and school segregation. Miller also worked with the ACLU on cases affecting Japanese Americans and others before his death in 1967.
• Role of Organization, by Alan Kumamoto, page 4. Kumamoto reflects on a Jr. JACL Youth Council meeting that debated how the youth organization should be structured and whether it should follow the adult JACL model. He stresses the importance of goal-oriented programs over membership growth.
• Change, by Yosh Hotta, page 4. Hotta considers generational gaps between Issei, Nisei, and Sansei, noting that change is inevitable and need not signal decline. He argues that organizational activity and new approaches should be welcomed.
• The ‘Bride’ Community, by Jeffrey Matsui, page 4. Matsui argues that Los Angeles Nisei have largely ignored the Japanese war brides and their families, who often need support during adjustment. He suggests JACL should develop outreach to this community.
• Mixed, by P.C. Staff, page 4. A short item on Italian American identity drawn from a New York Times Magazine article by Mario Puzo, comparing it with Nisei experience. The piece notes the Red Cross syndrome and the Italian American Anti-Defamation League.
• Furyo Gaijin, by Jim Henry, page 6. Henry examines rising crime by foreigners in Japan, particularly narcotics smuggling, and the difficulties police face in investigating and prosecuting them. He also addresses the plight of mixed-blood children of postwar Japan who face discrimination.

Community

• DC-MDC Convention: It Won’t Be Long Now!, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Joint EDC-MDC Convention at the Pick-Congress Hotel in Chicago is one week away, with a reception, board members, and social events previewed. Organizers promise a varied program including a Sayonara Ball and a souvenir booklet.
• UC health survey area extended, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The UC School of Public Health has extended its Japanese American health questionnaire survey from San Francisco into Marin and Contra Costa counties. The study aims to compare results with similar data from Hawaii and Japan.
• Watsonville JACL helps city plaza, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Watsonville JACL raised $708 from the Japanese American community toward a city plaza beautification project, representing 13 percent of the citywide total. The city praised the contribution.
• MIS Reunion roster contains 850 names, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The MIS Reunion committee published a roster of about 850 former U.S. Army language school students and instructors. Interested persons were directed to the committee in San Francisco.
• Consecration Sunday, by Bill Hosokawa, page 3. Hosokawa describes the consecration of Simpson Methodist Church’s new suburban building in Arvada, Colorado, built largely by a Nisei-led congregation. He notes the significance of the move and the welcome extended by the community.
• Wada creates Summer Work-Play School concept, by Will Stevens, page 3. Yori Wada’s Buchanan YMCA runs a summer school in San Francisco’s Western Addition that employs young counselors, some with juvenile records, to teach younger children. The program, funded by an OEO grant, emphasizes patience and individual attention.
• PSWDYC seeks adult help for orphanage project, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The Pacific Southwest District Youth Council is repairing the Christian Hacienda Orphanage in Tijuana, B.C., and is seeking adult donations for tools and materials. Youth also collected food and clothing for the children.
• Anti-poverty program defended, by Patrick Okura, page 4. Okura argues that anti-poverty agencies promote law and order rather than unrest, citing 12,128 OEO-funded workers with few arrests. He also quotes Sargent Shriver on the need to overcome the ghetto of the mind.
• Sakura Sei…, by P.C. Staff, page 6. A roundup of Hawaii news items including congressional comments on foreign policy, a Univ. of Hawaii summer commencement, church dedications, and a Maui traffic fatality. Several other brief notices are included.

National

• Military role over civilians during wartime not functional, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Attorney J. Garner Anthony told an American Bar Association dinner in Honolulu that military takeover of civilian affairs in Hawaii after Pearl Harbor should never be repeated. He recounted the case of an aged Issei wrongly suspected of espionage over a broken radio and poison, whose charges were later dismissed.
• Japanese specialty store attractively groomed may be way for stemming core city deterioration, by Yosh Hotta, page 1. Hotta describes a successful San Francisco Japanese grocery store as a model for revitalizing urban cores threatened by deterioration. He draws on Victor Palmieri’s monograph calling for massive federal aid and integrated housing to avert black-island core cities.
• Vietnam involvement weighs most on minds of citizens, defends president, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Rep. Spark Matsunaga, after a ten-day tour of Hawaii, reported that Vietnam was the most pressing concern among constituents. He defended President Johnson’s policy and said domestic programs would be limited until the war is resolved.
• Sparky sticks up for Guard in riots, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Rep. Spark Matsunaga defended National Guard performance in suppressing Mainland riots, noting Guardsmen are citizen soldiers who were mobilized on short notice. He said critics overlook these basic facts.
• Use of JACL name in survey unauthorized, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Midwest JACL office warned members that someone was using the JACL name to conduct an unauthorized telephone survey. Members were advised not to give out information.
• Japan awarded 1971 world scout jamboree, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Japan was selected to host the 1971 World Boy Scout Jamboree at the 21st Boy Scout World Conference. Tamotsu Murayama of Tokyo was among those instrumental in securing the bid.
• Anti-poverty program not responsible for city unrest, by Patrick Okura, page 3. Okura defends the federal anti-poverty program against charges that it fueled urban riots, citing Omaha’s experience and OEO testimony. He notes that few anti-poverty workers were arrested during this summer’s disturbances.
• Calif. FEPC to hear rental bias charge, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The California FEPC will hold a public hearing on a complaint that a Hayward apartment owner refused to rent to a prospective tenant because he was Negro. Conciliation efforts failed to resolve the matter.

Military & Veterans

• Sansei police officer doesn’t rely on arms in arrests, by B. D. Colen, page 1. Los Angeles police veteran Robert K. Koga has developed a weaponless control method emphasizing self-control and judo-based techniques to reduce reliance on firearms. Interest in his training has grown among police departments since the Watts riot.

JACL

• Chicago Human Relations Committee submits report as EDC-MDC workshop prelude, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The Chicago JACL human relations committee reports on its activities, including a benefit theater party, a Jr. JACL coffee event, and task forces formed for publicity and legislation. A special October meeting was scheduled to inform members.
• Hori wins Seattle JACL golf tourney, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Frank Hori won the Seattle JACL golf tournament, held on three courses with 140 competitors. Other flight winners were also named.

Obituaries

• Mrs. Misu Togasaki, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Mrs. Misu Togasaki of Tokyo died after an accident while vacationing at the family cabin in Gotemba, Japan. Her priest-son was granted leave from Maryknoll to attend to family matters.

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