A commissioner’s slurs, a Manzanar reunion and redress resolutions

Vol. 105, No. 7, September 11, 1987. 8 pages. View this issue

The front page carried George Johnston’s report that California Transportation Commission member Joseph A. Duffel had made a public apology for using a racial slur twice at a July meeting in Santa Barbara. JACL National Director Ron Wakabayashi wrote to Gov. Deukmejian about the matter. Alongside it, the paper covered the Manzanar All Camp Reunion in Los Angeles, where more than 600 people marked the Constitution’s 200th anniversary and honored guests including Sue Kunitomi Embrey and William Hohri.

Inside, the paper reported on redress. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution urging Congress to adopt H.R. 442 and S. 1009, and Bert Nakano’s speech made the case for passage. A UC Berkeley conference on the wartime incarceration was announced for Sept. 19-20, with Fred Korematsu and Gordon Hirabayashi among the scheduled speakers. Other pages include Sen. Spark Matsunaga’s award from the Planetary Society, a review of Hiroshima’s album Go, and JACL internship openings.

What’s in this issue

National

• Duffel Apologizes for Racial Slurs Made at Meeting, by George Johnston, page 1. California Transportation Commission member Joseph A. Duffel confirmed he made a public apology for using the ethnic slur “Jap” twice at a July meeting in Santa Barbara, as reported by a local newspaper column. JACL National Director Ron Wakabayashi wrote to Gov. Deukmejian asking him to communicate his position on the matter, but no action had yet been taken due to the holiday backlog.
• Planetary Society Honors Senator, page 1. Sen. Spark Matsunaga (D-Hawaii) was honored by the International Planetary Society in Kona, Hawaii for his leadership in promoting international space cooperation, receiving the award from astronomer Carl Sagan. He was cited for legislation renewing the U.S.-Soviet space cooperation agreement and for proposing the International Space Year 1992, including a Pacific Space Expo and a space camp named for astronaut Ellison Onizuka.

Incarceration & Redress

• Manzanar All-Camp Reunion Celebrates U.S. Constitution, by George Johnston, page 1. Over 600 people attended the Manzanar All Camp Reunion in Los Angeles, which celebrated the 200th anniversary of the U.S. Constitution and honored guests including Walter and Millie Woodward, former Bainbridge Review editors who denounced the wartime internment. Other honorees included Sue Kunitomi Embrey, Shi Nomura, Dr. Gordon Hisashi Sato and William Hohri, and exhibits included camp models, photos and artwork.
• Conference About Camps to Be Held, page 2. A two-day conference titled “Views From Within: The Japanese American Wartime Internment Experience” will be held at UC Berkeley Sept. 19-20, coinciding with the U.S. Constitution’s bicentennial. Scheduled speakers include scholars Richard Drinnon, Ronald Takaki, John Dower and Alexander Saxton, along with coram nobis case figures Fred Korematsu, Gordon Hirabayashi and others.
• Redress Resolution Passes City Board, page 2. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors passed a resolution urging Congress to adopt redress legislation H.R. 442 and S. 1009 for Japanese American internment victims, authored by Supervisor Tom Hsieh and co-sponsored by nine other supervisors. Hsieh said the internment was “a blot on our nation’s history” and hoped the legislation would aid the healing process.

JACL

• Program Encourages Leadership for JACL Members, by Laurie Mochidome, page 1. The first annual Los Angeles Program on Public Affairs, sponsored by PSW JACL and LEAP, brought ten JACL members together from Aug. 23-26 to learn about public and private sector decision-making in Los Angeles. Participants met with civic leaders including Councilman Mike Woo and DA Ira Reiner, and organizers said the program helped outreach JACL into mainstream policy affairs.
• JACL Taking Entries for Internships, page 7. The National JACL Scholarship Committee is accepting applications for a $1,000 Washington D.C. internship and a $500 San Francisco internship for JACL members or Americans of Japanese ancestry. The D.C. internship runs Sept. 20-Oct. 3 and involves national conference coordination, while the SF internship exposes participants to national headquarters operations in fall 1987 or spring 1988.

Community

• Yukihiro Receives Medal of Valor, page 1. LAPD officer Richard T. Yukihiro was awarded the department’s highest decoration, the Medal of Valor, after sacrificing his safety to push a motorist out of harm’s way during a 1986 incident, resulting in severe injuries. Yukihiro is believed to be the first Japanese American LAPD officer to receive the honor.
• Migration of Asian Women Topic of Takaki’s Lecture, page 2. UC Berkeley professor Ronald Takaki will give a lecture titled “They Also Came: Asian Women and the Migrations East to America” at the Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco on Sept. 18. The talk will analyze the emigration of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, East Indian and Filipino women to Hawaii and California from 1850 to 1934.
• Inouye to Speak at AAJA Dinner, page 3. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye will keynote the closing dinner of the Asian American Journalists Association’s national convention on Sept. 26 in Los Angeles. Inouye, who chaired the Senate Iran-Contra hearings and previously served on the Watergate committee, will speak at the AAJA’s first national convention expected to draw 300-500 journalists.
• CIIA Meetings Focus on Business, page 3. Twenty members of Century II Associates, a support group of the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, met with Japanese Consul General Taizo Watanabe at a luncheon to discuss internationalization and communication between Japanese and Japanese Americans. The group regularly meets with business and civic leaders and plans a tour of the wholesale flower market with Frank Kuwahara next.
• ‘Speaking Up’ Course Slated by UCLA, page 6. UCLA Extension, in cooperation with the Asian/Pacific Women’s Network, is offering a two-day course called “Speaking Up! Effective Communication Skills for the Asian Woman” on Sept. 25-26. The workshop covers cultural barriers to assertive communication and includes videotaped practice sessions.
• Service Center Receives Grant to Assist Parents, page 6. The Little Tokyo Service Center received a $2,000 grant from Pacific Bell to provide counseling for parents of developmentally delayed Japanese American children. The grant will fund a bilingual, bicultural clinical psychologist to offer individual counseling and training for parents.
• AAIP Project to Identify Artists, page 7. The Asia Society’s Asian Artists Identification Project is seeking to identify professional Asian and Asian American performing artists in traditional and creative disciplines living in the United States. The resulting resource center will provide information on these artists to cultural organizations nationwide.
• Hara Wins Contest for Top Managers, page 7. Lloyd Hara, Seattle City treasurer and JACL chapter president, was named to the “All Pro Management Team” in a City and State magazine contest recognizing the nation’s top managers. Other honorees included San Francisco Mayor Diane Feinstein and LA City Manager Keith Comrie.
• Nikkei Appointed, page 7. Setsu Ota-Gee was appointed by Gov. George Deukmejian to the State Council on Developmental Disabilities. She serves on the board of the Association for Retarded Citizens and the advisory board of Asian Developmental Disabilities and Asian Mental Health.

Commentary

• The Crucial Year 1944, page 4. This editorial recounts JACL’s pivotal activities in 1944, including opening membership to all Americans, lobbying efforts, public relations tours by Thomas Yatabe and Ruby Yoshino, and legal support for evacuees including the amicus brief in the Korematsu case. The piece reflects on how far Japanese Americans have come since that era and looks ahead to the upcoming millennium-themed holiday issue.
• Some Would Say Column’s Errata Is Long Overdue, by Word of IRO IRO, page 4. The columnist corrects several past errors in his “East Wind” column, including a mistaken Columbus landing site and incorrect kanji etymology for “koshi” and “fugu,” with help from readers Chaote Lin and Ray Okamura. He reflects on the nature of errata and invites further reader corrections.
• Convention a Success!, by Art Moriya, page 4. A letter to the editor praises the 1987 Tri-District JACL Convention organized by President Bob Sakaguchi and the Mile-Hi JACL as a huge success. The writer credits Sakaguchi’s vision and community spirit for bringing unity and predicts he will gain significant support.
• In Search Of…, by Phyllis C. Noel, page 4. A reader writes seeking help locating a friend named Charmaine, possibly surnamed Hashi, who lived in Daly City and worked in San Francisco before possibly moving to Hawaii in 1947. The writer has been unsuccessfully searching for her for some time.
• Latinos Progress and Asians Same, by George Johnston, page 4. This column contrasts the improving media portrayal of Latinos in films like “La Bamba” and TV shows like “Miami Vice” with the continued poor treatment of Asian Americans, citing a planned yellowface casting of Roddy McDowell in “Remo Williams.” The author laments that while Latinos can now play Latino roles, Asians still cannot play Asian characters in Hollywood productions.
• JACL Has Every Reason to Survive, by Ron Wakabayashi, page 5. National Director Ron Wakabayashi discusses discriminatory university admissions policies affecting Asian Americans, referencing a Newsweek-style study on declining achievement correlated with assimilation, and JACL’s involvement in the Asian American Task Force on University Admissions. He argues JACL has many ongoing roles beyond redress, including fighting racially-motivated violence and anti-Asian sentiment as long as racism persists.
• The U.S. Constitution: An Ideal Not Matched in Deeds, by Bert Nakano, page 5. In this speech excerpt from a NCRR redress lobbying delegation to Washington D.C., Bert Nakano argues for urgent passage of H.R. 442 and S. 1009 as internees and veterans continue to pass away. He connects the camps’ legacy to current anti-Asian racism, citing hate mail against Sen. Inouye and revelations about Oliver North’s contingency plans for detention camps.

Arts & Entertainment

• Echoes 4: A Collection of Art and Writing, page 4. This book review covers Echoes 4, the fourth installment of the Japanese American community journal Echoes from Gold Mountain, which features a new gallery section of Los Angeles-based artists and a theme of nuclear awareness. The issue includes an interview with a hibakusha by Naomi Hirahara and poetry from writers including Velina Hasu Houston.
• Family Photographs Focus of Exhibit, page 6. The traveling exhibition “Turning Leaves, The Family Album of Two Japanese American Families” is on view at Cal State LA through Sept. 30, documenting the photo collections of the Nagano family of Los Angeles and the Miyamura/Uyeda family of Gallup, New Mexico. Developed under Lynne Horiuchi’s direction, the exhibit explores cultural identity and American assimilation across generations.
• Hiroshima’s Album ‘Go’ Stalls, by George Johnston, page 7. This review critiques Hiroshima’s fifth album Go as technically polished but ultimately forgettable and unfocused, lacking memorable melodies despite strong musicianship and June Kuramoto’s signature koto work. The reviewer suggests the band may need new collaborators or a sharper creative direction to reclaim their earlier impact.

Obituaries

• Ruby Yoshino Schaar, page 6. Ruby Yoshino Schaar, 74, an Alameda-born Nisei singer and voice coach, died Aug. 26 in San Francisco of cancer. She served as New York JACL president and executive director in the 1970s and as a Pacific Citizen Board member from 1974-80, working on Asian American issues and performing arts.

Military & Veterans

• Retired Capt. Stanley T. Uyeda, page 6. Retired Navy Capt. Stanley T. Uyeda, 79, of Del Cerro, California, died July 19. Formerly of Honolulu, he was the first Japanese American to receive a commission in the Navy Dental Corps.

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