Wen Ho Lee, Santa Anita barracks and Nisei Week, 1999

Vol. 129, No. 9, August 27, 1999. 8 pages. View this issue

The Wen Ho Lee case ran through this eight-page issue. An Associated Press report quoted former counterintelligence officer Robert S. Vrooman saying the physicist’s ethnicity was a major factor in the investigation. National JACL wrote to Attorney General Janet Reno and Energy Secretary Bill Richardson, and JACL President Helen Kawagoe compared the case to the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans. The front page also covered Pasadena City College’s plans to part with a barrack from the Santa Anita Assembly Center, with a companion piece by Martha Nakagawa drawing on survivors’ recollections, and Steven Tanamachi’s report on Blacklava at Nisei Week.

Other items include Emily Murase on the Nikkei 2000 conference in San Francisco, an essay on divisions within Nikkei society, and letters responding to Frank Chin. Duane Kubo was named the 1999 Steve Tatsukawa Memorial Award recipient. Also inside are the Florin JACL Women’s Day Forum and an Idaho heritage tour with a visit to a Minidoka building.

What’s in this issue

Community

• College Plans to Part With Detention Center Barracks, by Martha Nakagawa, page 1. Pasadena City College is considering removing a wooden barrack structure that stands as a remnant of the Santa Anita Assembly Center, where Japanese Americans were detained in 1942. Community members and organizations like the Japanese American National Museum are exploring whether the barrack can be preserved or relocated.
• Blacklava Erupts Hereandnow at Nisei Week, by Steven Tanamachi, page 1. A group called Blacklava, combining a clothing line, spoken word, theater, and music, set up a booth at Los Angeles’s 59th annual Nisei Week festival to engage young Asian Americans. The festival’s theme, ‘Bridging Tradition with Diversity,’ emphasized reaching younger, increasingly diverse generations of Japanese Americans.
• San Jose Educator Duane Kubo to Receive 1999 Steve Tatsukawa Memorial Award, by John Esaki, page 4. Duane Kubo, a filmmaker and educator, will receive the 1999 Tatsukawa Memorial Award recognizing his 30 years of contributions to community building and Asian Pacific American media advocacy. Kubo co-founded Visual Communications and now serves as Dean of International/Intercultural Studies at De Anza Community College.
• Florin JACL to Hold Women’s Day Forum, page 4. The Florin JACL will host its 9th annual Women’s Day Forum on Sept. 11 with the theme ‘Beyond the Picture Brides: A Century of Change,’ focusing on the achievements of Japanese American women over the past century. Featured programs include a session on osteoporosis screening presented by Tanya Byrd.
• Construction Begins for Morikami Museum Japanese Garden, page 4. The Morikami Museum, founded by a member of the Yamato Colony established in 1904, is beginning construction on a new Japanese garden. Museum director Larry Rosensweig discussed the garden’s connection to the museum’s history and its ties to Japan.
• Asian Studies Conference and Heritage Tour Planned in Idaho, page 4. The Western Conference of the Association for Asian Studies will hold its annual meeting at Boise State University Sept. 17-18, followed by a two-day ‘Asian Heritage in Idaho’ tour highlighting historical Chinese and Japanese immigrant contributions. The tour includes visits to a Minidoka internment camp building, a former Chinese mining site, and panel discussions with historians including Dr. Priscilla Wegars and Eric Walz.
• Steven Tanamachi Selected as P.C.’s 1999 Intern, page 5. Steven Tanamachi, a Contra Costa JACL chapter member headed to UCLA in the fall, was selected as the Pacific Citizen’s newest intern. He is active in community service through the Omega Sigma Tau fraternity and will handle reporting, interviewing, layout, and production duties at the paper.
• Santa Anita Assembly Center Barracks on the Move, page 5. The Santa Anita Assembly Center, which held up to 18,719 Japanese American internees in 1942, is remembered through survivor accounts including Lily Okura’s recollections of the ‘Sauerkraut Strike’ and the horse-stable living conditions. Former internees hope the remaining barracks can be preserved as a historical site.

National

• Ex-Counterintelligence Chief Defends Lee, by Associated Press, page 1. Former CIA operations officer Robert S. Vrooman said that nuclear scientist Wen Ho Lee’s ethnicity was a major factor in his being targeted as an espionage suspect, despite lacking evidence he leaked secrets to China. Vrooman also revealed a controversial Los Alamos database that rated officials’ and media figures’ views on the spy scandal as ‘pro’ or ‘con.’
• Chinese Espionage Resolution Passes Senate Rules Committee, page 3. A controversial resolution addressing Chinese espionage allegations, introduced by Assemblyman Mike Honda, passed the Senate Rules Committee after revisions following concerns it could harm Asian Americans’ careers. Critics feared the resolution could stir racial profiling and discrimination against Asians in sensitive positions.
• Illegal Chinese Immigrants Posing as Japanese, page 5. Immigration inspectors at Honolulu International Airport are on alert for illegal Chinese immigrants disguised as Japanese citizens with help from Japanese smugglers. The elaborate scheme includes fake Japanese clothing, haircuts, and language coaching, with migrants paying up to $50,000 to smugglers.
• JACL Questions Motives for Accusing Wen Ho Lee, page 5. National JACL sent letters to Attorney General Janet Reno and Energy Secretary Bill Richardson questioning whether racial bias motivated the investigation of scientist Wen Ho Lee. JACL President Helen Kawagoe compared the situation to the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans, warning against repeating history’s mistakes.
• NJAMF Reaches $6.5 Million Goal, page 5. Melvin Chiogioji, chairman of the National Japanese American Memorial Foundation, confirmed the foundation raised the $6.5 million needed for certification by the National Park Service. The funds will support construction of the memorial honoring Japanese American contributions and wartime experiences.

Commentary

• A Bridge Across the Pacific: Nikkei 2000, A Chance to Shape the Future, by Emily Murase, page 6. The upcoming Nikkei 2000 conference at the Radisson-Miyako Hotel in San Francisco aims to bring together diverse segments of the Japanese American community to discuss the future of Nikkei identity and Japantowns. Organizers Steve Nakajo, Paul Osaki, and Laura Takeuchi discussed the conference’s inclusive goals following the success of the 1997 Ties that Bind conference.
• Reflections on Nikkei Society, Contrition, and Coexistence, page 6. The essay reflects on divisions within Nikkei society stemming from wartime loyalty questions, draft resistance, and JACL’s historical role, calling for reconciliation and understanding across different perspectives. It argues that despite disagreements, the community shares common goals and a history of suffering that should foster unity rather than division.
• Letters: Responses to Frank Chin and JACL’s Wartime Role, by Sachi (and others), page 7. Readers respond to Frank Chin’s characterization of JACL’s wartime actions, with one writer citing statistics on Nisei service and questioning Chin’s claims of the JACL ‘collaborating’ with the Army. Another writer, incarcerated at Heart Mountain as a child, recalls the real racist hysteria in Seattle after Pearl Harbor and challenges Chin’s dismissal of that history, while also discussing the treatment of draft resisters and the broader context of American racial injustice.

Obituaries

• Dr. John Yoshiyuki Koyama, 82, page 7. Dr. John Yoshiyuki Koyama, 82, of Palos Verdes and Oakland-born, passed away and is survived by numerous grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and siblings. Funeral services were held at the Gardena Buddhist Church, with the family requesting donations to the National Alzheimer’s Association in his name.

Thank you for exploring the Pacific Citizen archive. The title, introduction and contents on this page were written by an AI model from scans of the printed issue, so they may contain mistakes. If you spot one, we would be grateful if you let us know.