Redress debate and the Day of Remembrance, February 1979

Vol. 88, No. 31, February 23, 1979. 12 pages. View this issue

Redress was the thread through this 12-page issue. Sen. S.I. Hayakawa, in a KNBC taped interview, defended the wartime relocation and opposed the JACL redress plan’s $25,000 payments. In his Chiaroscuro column, Ken Hayashi answered him, calling the World War II incarceration (often called internment) a product of racism and political opportunism. March Fong Eu unveiled an exhibit on the Japanese American experience in California in Sacramento, timed with the Day of Remembrance.

Elsewhere, composer Paul Chihara was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his ballet score Shinju. Gov. Brown named six Japanese Americans to a Japan-California economic council. Sachi Seko recalled her work on the Gila News-Courier, Ronald Ikejiri wrote about being asked where he was from, and Joseph Harrington’s Yankee Samurai series covered Nisei linguists and the fighting at Guadalcanal and Buna.

What’s in this issue

National

• Six Japanese Americans Named to Japan-California Economic Advisory Council, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Gov. Brown appointed six Japanese Americans to his 22-member Japan-California Economic Advisory Council, which advises on trade with Japan. The appointees include attorneys and corporate executives from San Francisco and Los Angeles.
• Special Admissions Programs Being Rewritten Because of Bakke Decision, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Following the Bakke decision, the University of Hawaii is revising its special admissions programs, including its law school pre-admission program. The article reviews several minority and disadvantaged student programs at the university.

Commentary

• Hayakawa Interview on Relocation, Redress, and Re-election, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Sen. S.I. Hayakawa, in a KNBC taped interview, defended the constitutionality of the wartime relocation and opposed the JACL redress plan’s $25,000 payments. He also indicated he plans to seek re-election in 1982.
• Letters to the Editor on Redress, Ojii-san, and Student Relocation, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Readers wrote on redress as a legal issue, on tactics for the campaign, on the Ojii-san usage, and on the role of the Student Relocation Council in opening colleges to Nisei during the war.
• Higher Education IV, by Nobuyuki Nakajima, page 4. Nakajima discusses how students can assess and develop their intellectual talent, advising them to choose courses within their capability and to build relationships with professors. He recommends working through difficulties rather than avoiding them.
• Where Y’All From?, by Ronald Ikejiri, page 5. Ikejiri recounts a Capitol elevator exchange in which a stranger asked the group where they were from, and each answer failed to satisfy him. The episode underscores that Sansei still face the perception of being outsiders in America.
• From Happy Valley: Gila News Courier and Sasha, by Sachi Seko, page 5. Seko reflects on her wartime years working on the Gila News-Courier and reconnects with its former editor Wat through a letter. The memories evoke the closeness of the staff during camp life.
• Chiaroscuro: Threat of Filibuster, by Ken Hayashi, page 6. Ken Hayashi criticizes Sen. S.I. Hayakawa’s opposition to redress, calling the wartime incarceration a product of racism and political opportunism. He argues the Evacuation Claims Act was inadequate and that monetary redress is justified.

Arts & Entertainment

• Sansei Composer Paul Chihara Nominated for Pulitzer Prize, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Seattle-born UCLA composer Paul Chihara was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his score Shinju, written for the San Francisco Ballet based on a Chikamatsu bunraku play. The score blends taped Gagaku music with orchestrated Western music.

Community

• Seed Money Campaign Underway for San Diego Kiku Gardens, by P.C. Staff, page 1. San Diego JACL is raising seed money for Kiku Gardens, a proposed 100-150 unit senior apartment complex, with about $42,000 of a $60,000 goal raised. The project has support from numerous local community groups.
• March Fong Eu Unveils Japanese American Experience Exhibit, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Secretary of State March Fong Eu unveiled an exhibit on the Japanese American experience in California in Sacramento, timed with the Day of Remembrance. The exhibit draws on State Archives, JACL, and other sources and runs through March 21.
• Nisei Veterans Plan Chicago Banquet March 3, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Chicago Nisei veterans will hold a March 3 banquet featuring Mike Masaoka and Hawaii Sen. Spark Matsunaga, with Canadian Nisei veterans expected to attend. Friends from the Chicago area also plan to attend the Hawaii reunion in June.

JACL

• Fujimoto Named President of West Los Angeles College, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Dr. M. Jack Fujimoto, president of Sacramento City College, was appointed president of West Los Angeles College effective July 1. He previously served as dean of instruction at LA Pierce College and held administrative posts in local community colleges since 1965.

Military & Veterans

• Army Probes Recruiting of Illegal Aliens After Korean Times Report, by P.C. Staff, page 2. A military investigation found illegal foreign nationals were recruited into the U.S. Army, including 102 Koreans, and smaller numbers in the Navy and Marine Corps. Five Army recruiters were suspended and fraudulent enlistment schemes were uncovered.
• Yankee Samurai: Japanese Americans in the Pacific War, by Joseph Harrington, page 8. Harrington describes the formation of the Allied Translator and Interpreter Service and the Nisei linguists who served in the Pacific, from New Guinea to Guadalcanal. The installment also covers the controversial loyalty questionnaire and the Nisei’s wartime experiences.
• Yankee Samurai Continued: Battles of Guadalcanal and Buna, by Joseph Harrington, page 11. The installment covers the Guadalcanal campaign and the Buna-Gona fighting, including the Army’s role in saving Henderson Field. It also describes Nisei volunteers from camps and the controversy over their service.

In-Depth

• College Nisei Update Calling on Evacuees for Questions, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Dr. Robert O’Brien and Amy Iwasaki Mass of Whittier College are updating their College Nisei study to include those whose education was interrupted and older Nisei unable to use training. They pose nine questions to Nisei in their fifties about evacuation, life afterward, and redress.
• Florida’s Issei Colony: Yamato Colony Research Request, by P.C. Staff, page 5. Bernie Ward is researching the Yamato colony of Japanese farmers established near Delray, Florida around 1904, and asks readers for leads on families. The column also notes a San Diego County Japanese American history project by Donald and Toshiye Estes.

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