Letter to the Editor

Dear Editor,

Setting the Record Straight: JACL Hypocrisy?

In the Pacific Citizen issue No. 3390 (P.C., July 2-22, 2021, issue), JACL Executive Director David Inoue writes, “If You Support JACL, You Should Also Support Critical Race Theory,” claiming that “[CTR] is vitally important and core to what JACL has always done as an organization. . . .”

Inoue’s article appears to attribute the racism that resulted in 120,000 persons of Japanese ancestry being unlawfully imprisoned during World War II to “systemic prejudice.”

Inoue’s article seems to be not only a way for JACL to show support for CRT but for JACL to hide in the shadows so that it can avoid having to shed light on the whole truth and to hold leaders personally accountable for their racially motivated actions against our community. However, CRT advocates appear to use personal accountability as a core method to expose racism.

If CRT advocates want to rename schools named after Robert E. Lee so that Black school children wouldn’t feel intimidated by having to attend a school named in honor of the defender of slavery, why is JACL not advocating for the same protection for Japanese American children who have to attend a school named after President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who signed Executive Order (EO) 9066, or Earl Warren, who as California Attorney General was one of the main proponents for the forced evacuation?

If CRT advocates want to remove statues of Confederate soldiers because they are symbols of the racism against the Black community, why is JACL not advocating to close and defund the FDR Memorial in Washington, D.C., where there is no mention made of Executive Order 9066 nor Roosevelt’s unconstitutional denial of equal protection of the law for persons of Japanese ancestry?

IF CRT advocates want actions taken against President Abraham Lincoln because his policies adversely affected Native Americans notwithstanding the price he paid to end slavery, why is JACL not advocating similar actions against Warren because of his support of EO 9066 notwithstanding his role to end “separate but equal” education for Black students?

If JACL supports CRT, then JACL must take actions that will honestly tell our whole and unvarnished story based on the facts and without sugar-coating the racism, rewriting history or omitting personal accountability for promoting racism.

The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (aka “Redress Commission”) took the first step when it concluded that Executive Order 9066 was motivated by “prejudice, war hysteria and lack of political leadership.” In 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that EO 9066 was a “morally repugnant order.”

Does JACL have the needed resolve and leadership to take the next step by holding personally accountable those who used war hysteria as a subterfuge to advance racism against persons of Japanese ancestry?

JACL must support actions that hold leaders like Roosevelt and Warren accountable for their actions and shed light on their motives. Otherwise, JACL support for CRT is only hollow, politically correct posturing amounting to hypocrisy.

Sincerely,

Gerald Yamada*,

Virginia

* The views and opinions expressed in this letter are mine and do not represent the views and opinions of any organization with which I am or have been associated.