The Bakke case, Topaz, and a bill for Nisei retirement credit

Vol. 85, No. 17, October 21, 1977. 12 pages. View this issue

The Supreme Court’s hearing in the Allan Bakke case drew the issue’s attention, with the JACL raising concern that Asian Americans were overlooked in discussions of special admissions. Rep. Norman Mineta’s bill to give federal retirement credit to Nisei employees forced into camps during World War II advanced in committee, and Wayne Horiuchi wrote about its prospects. The front page also showed Utah JAYs touring Topaz, and reported that San Mateo JACL was helping neighbors respond to a rash of home burglaries.

Columns include Bill Hosokawa on book ideas, Raymond S. Uno on the 1978 national convention in Salt Lake City, and Barry T. Saiki on middle-class life in Japan. Frank Okusako recalled his 1945 effort to free his parents from Tule Lake. A profile follows Richard Okabe, named National JACL Youth Director, and a news item reports that Amy Doi is suing the National JACL.

What’s in this issue

Community

• Topaz—Utah ‘ghost town’ toured by Mt. Olympus-Salt Lake JAYs and advisers, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Mt. Olympus-Salt Lake JAYs and advisers toured historical ghost towns Eureka City and Topaz in southern Utah. Photos show the damaged Topaz historical marker plaque being removed for repair and the barbed wire fence being restrung around it.
• JACL called to help cut down home burglaries in San Mateo, by P.C. Staff, page 1. San Mateo homeowners in the North Central district, many of them Japanese and Chinese American, protested rising burglaries at a city council meeting and a neighborhood meeting co-sponsored by the San Mateo JACL. Police urged neighbors to cooperate with police in identifying suspects.
• Many leaders head national drive for Okubo-Yamada fund, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A 26-member honorary committee of prominent JACL and civic leaders was named to lead the national Okubo-Yamada fund drive to pay legal appeal expenses in a civil suit. Funds will not be used for attorney fees, and district governors and chapters were asked to designate local chairmen.
• Nisei heads Tacoma Transit System, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Yoshio Kosai, Tacoma’s city traffic engineer for 24 years, was named head of the Tacoma Transit System, the first Nisei to lead a major department in Tacoma city government. Kosai was a former Puyallup Valley JACL president.
• Civil rights commission backs affirmative action, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights issued a 12-page statement urging numerical goals for minority admissions to professional schools and defending affirmative action ahead of the Bakke arguments. The commission said the Justice Department’s brief was consistent with its position.
• Acquittal urged for Filipino nurses, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Union of Pan Asian Communities of San Diego County called for acquittal of two Filipina VA nurses convicted in Ann Arbor, Mich., of poisoning patients. UPAC argued the convictions rested on circumstantial evidence and reflected legal discrimination against Asian Americans.
• Canadian Nisei form ’29ers club, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Nisei in Vancouver born in 1929, called the lost generation, have formed a ’29ers club during Canada’s Japanese centennial year. The club recognizes the many Japanese Canadians born in that year.
• Sunstar women golf classic slated in L.A., by P.C. Staff, page 8. A $100,000 Sunstar women’s pro golf tournament will be held at Rancho Park in Los Angeles, the first major women’s pro golf event in the city. Sunstar’s Yasuyoshi Kaneda and Mayor Tom Bradley announced the event.
• Ray appoints Tuai to bench, by P.C. Staff, page 9. Brief news items on chapter events and related community matters.
• Milwaukee JACLer An Ethnic Exception, by Alice Anne Conner, page 9. Alice Anne Conner profiles Victor Heinemeyer, a non-Japanese Milwaukee man deeply involved in JACL and Japanese culture through the bonsai society. Heinemeyer’s generosity and cross-cultural engagement are highlighted before he moves to Illinois.
• Richard Okabe: JAY member, adviser, now director, by P.C. Staff, page 9. Richard Okabe, a Chicago Sansei who was interim youth director since December 1976, was named permanent National JACL Youth Director effective Oct. 1. He discusses the challenges of identity and reaching Japanese American youth through the JAY program.
• Fulfilling a community need: Japanese American Curriculum Project, by P.C. Staff, page 11. The Japanese American Curriculum Project, a San Mateo non-profit founded in 1969, is observing eight years of developing and distributing educational material on Japanese Americans. Its volunteer educators have produced filmstrips, books and teacher workshops, and have received national recognition.
• Japan-Texas air route most urgent, by P.C. Staff, page 12. Japan-Texas Assn. meeting in Tokyo urged the U.S. government to give highest priority to a Japan Air Lines route serving Texas. Texas was presented as a gateway to the South American market.

Military & Veterans

• Ray appoints Tuai to bench, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Gov. Dixie Lee Ray appointed Seattle attorney and former city council president Liem Eng Tuai to a King County superior court position effective Nov. 1. Tuai is a Seattle JACL board member and legal-legislative committee chairman.

National

• Bakke argument takes two hours, Asian American question raised, by P.C. Staff, page 1. At the U.S. Supreme Court’s Oct. 12 hearing in the Allan Bakke case, attorneys argued over the constitutionality of UC Davis’s minority admissions program. The JACL raised concerns that Asian Americans were overlooked in special admissions discussions.
• Honda may build autos in Ohio, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Honda Motor Co. announced it will build a $25 million motorcycle assembly plant near Marysville, Ohio, and may later expand to automobile production. Ohio is contributing about $2.5 million in public improvements for the plant area.
• Internment credit bill advances, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The House Post Office and Civil Service Committee unanimously approved Rep. Norman Mineta’s bill HR 9471, which would grant federal civil service retirement credit to Nisei employees forced into camps during WWII. Mineta hoped the full House would act before the session ended.
• Amy Doi suing JACL for $62,000, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Former project coordinator Amy Doi is suing the National JACL for $62,000 over her firing from a $75,000 Catholic Conference grant project, alleging loss of reputation and libelous statements. Co-defendants include national officers, board members and a consultant.
• Senate committee favors Hawaii reparations bill, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved the Inouye-Matsunaga bill SJR 4 to study claims by Hawaiian natives against the U.S. for the 1893 overthrow of their kingdom. The bill would create a commission to validate claims and report to Congress.
• U.S. Interior Dept. opposes whale ban, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The U.S. Interior Department opposed an International Whaling Commission ban on hunting the bowhead whale, citing the needs of Alaskan Eskimos for whom the whale is essential to diet and culture. The Commerce Department supported the ban, leaving resolution to the State Department and President Carter.
• Hayakawa charges Civil Rights Commission with intrusion into book publishing, by P.C. Staff, page 10. Sen. S.I. Hayakawa and four other Republican senators criticized the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for requesting textbook publishers’ author guidelines in a study of textbook bias. Hayakawa called the inquiry an improper intrusion into private publishing.

Commentary

• International Relations, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial responds to cartoons depicting Japanese planes attacking America with cars and TV sets by urging reactivation of a JACL international relations committee. It traces JACL’s evolving policy on U.S.-Japan affairs from 1954 through the 1970s.
• Bakke Case, by Letter to the Editor, page 4. A reader argues that the most qualified students should be admitted to professional schools regardless of race, warning that lowering standards would drive qualified students abroad. The letter contends that ability and motivation, not race, determine educational success.
• JACL Principles in Practice, by Raymond S. Uno, page 4. Raymond Uno previews the 1978 National JACL convention in Salt Lake City, proposing workshops open to the whole Japanese American community rather than JACL members only. He argues JACL must first define its own identity and purpose before it can help others.
• Tokyo standing in society: $10,000 separates the middle class, by Barry T. Saiki, page 4. Saiki compares middle-class status in Japan and the United States, citing a Prime Minister’s Office survey in which over 90% of Japanese considered themselves middle class. He concludes that Japanese middle-class living standards differ from American ones in housing, cars and cost of living.
• Of Authors and Books, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa discusses three book ideas of interest to Japanese Americans: a history of Nisei language specialists, a story of Japanese expatriates in OSS and OWI service, and a translation of Issei writings from a Denver Japanese newspaper. He notes the difficulty authors face finding funding.
• Mineta’s CIC Bill, by Wayne Horiuchi, page 5. Wayne Horiuchi reports that the House Post Office and Civil Service Committee unanimously approved Rep. Norman Mineta’s civil service retirement credit bill for Japanese Americans interned in WWII. He expresses hope for House passage before the session ends and Senate action the following year.
• Gains ‘partial victory’ in job bias case, by Bill Andronicos, page 6. John Yoshino, a Japanese American GS-14 at the Federal Highway Administration, won a partial settlement in his discrimination suit against two black supervisors, receiving $5,800 and attorney fees. He accepted the settlement reluctantly, as it required withdrawing his promotion application.

Incarceration & Redress

• Five Miaka te/u/n Road out of the Tule Lake, by Frank Okusako, page 5. Frank Okusako, a Nisei 442nd veteran, recounts his 1945 effort to secure the release of his parents from Tule Lake Concentration Camp, where they had been caught in a dispute over renunciation. He describes meeting Attorney General Tom Clark with help from military officers.

In-Depth

• Teriyaki for Scholarship, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The Fremont JACL held a Charity Mall Bazaar on Sept. 17 selling beef teriyaki to replenish its chapter scholarship fund. Photos show chapter members at the food counter.

Arts & Entertainment

• Sansei’s prize play about Japanese evacuation, by P.C. Staff, page 10. A. Lowell Morishita’s play Glittering of Spring, dealing with the Japanese American evacuation, won a Utah competition and was entered in the American College Theater Festival. Morishita, a Utah Sansei, is developing his skills as a playwright.

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