Senator’s remark on Asians, the Liu murder verdict, and Manzanar’s future

Vol. 100, No. 16, April 26, 1985. 12 pages. View this issue

A U.S. senator’s remark about Asians and the value of life led the front page of the Pacific Citizen on April 26, 1985. Sen. Paul Trible (R-Va.) was said to have repeated a Vietnam-era stereotype, and Rep. Norman Mineta wrote to protest. The front page also reported that a Taiwan military tribunal sentenced Vice Adm. Wang Hsi-ling to life in the murder of writer Henry Liu, and that the House asked Taiwan to extradite those implicated. Other stories followed the effort to support Fumiko Kimura, with Katie Kaori Hayashi writing on shinju and her case.

Inside, a Manzanar Committee visit with water officials looked at plans for the former incarceration site, and Minoru Yasui reported on speaking about redress in Storm Lake, Iowa. Editor Karen Seriguchi announced she would leave for the Asian American Journalists Association. Commentary came from Bill Hosokawa, Bill Y. Marutani, Bob Shimabukuro and Floyd Shimomura. Readers will also find a 5th anniversary dinner in Little Tokyo and a review of the play The Music Lessons.

What’s in this issue

National

• Asians Don’t Value Life, U.S. Senator Says, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Sen. Paul Trible (R-Va.) stirred controversy by saying his fighting in Vietnam wouldn’t have saved the world because Asians have no value for life, echoing a Vietnam-era stereotype. Rep. Norman Mineta sent Trible a letter of protest condemning the remark as racist and inflammatory.
• Taiwan Official Sentenced in Liu Murder, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A Taiwan military tribunal convicted Vice Adm. Wang Hsi-ling of planning the murder of Chinese American writer Henry Liu and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Liu’s widow and other observers questioned whether higher-level government officials were involved, a possibility not examined at the trials.
• Congress Requests Extradition of Killers, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The House of Representatives passed a 398-2 resolution requesting Taiwan extradite those implicated in Henry Liu’s murder to the U.S. for trial, which Taiwan rejected. Rep. Robert Matsui called the vote a signal that Congress will not tolerate stonewalling in the case.
• Woman Jailed for 9 Hours, Gets $25,000, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A federal jury awarded $25,000 to a Chicago woman who was jailed for feeding pigeons and walking unleashed dogs. The amount exceeds what each former WW2 internee would receive under JACL-supported redress legislation for an average three years in camps.
• Pacifica Head Arrested in Protest Against Apartheid, by P.C. Staff, page 11. Sharon Maeda, executive director of Pacifica Radio and daughter of WWII internees, was arrested protesting outside the South African embassy against apartheid. She compared apartheid’s severity to historical injustices against Native Americans and other oppressed groups in the U.S.

Community

• Support Group for Kimura Formed, by Katie Kaori Hayashi, page 1. More than 55 people attended a meeting at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center to organize support for Fumiko Kimura, who attempted suicide with her two children at Santa Monica Pier. Attendees formed committees for fundraising, translation, and agenda planning to help her get a fair trial and prevent future parent-child suicides.
• S.F. May Name Street After Chinese Activist, by P.C. Staff, page 1. San Francisco’s public works committee voted unanimously to rename Brenham Place to Walter U. Lum Place, honoring the civil rights activist and journalist. No street in the city is currently named for a Chinese American.
• Descendants of Yamato Colony to Return to Site of Former Florida Settlement, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Survivors and descendants of the Yamato, Florida agricultural colony will gather at Morikami Park for the dedication of pavilions honoring five founding families. The settlement, established in 1905 by Jo Sakai and other Japanese immigrants, had its last families farming into the 1920s and ’30s before WWII displacement.
• Nebraska Nikkei in City Council Race, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Former Omaha city councilman Richard Takechi is running against incumbent Connie Findlay in a May 14 election rematch. Takechi won the April primary with 51.8% of the vote, citing opposition to a development project Findlay supported.
• Domestic Violence Project Started, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Asian Pacific American Legal Center of Southern California launched a domestic violence project offering free bilingual legal counseling for low-income Asian Pacific women. The project addresses a gap in culturally sensitive legal services for battered women in the Asian/Pacific community.
• Michigan Asians Continue Coalition, by P.C. Staff, page 3. About 300 people attended a rededication dinner of American Citizens for Justice marking two years since the group formed following the lenient sentencing of Vincent Chin’s killers. Michigan Lt. Gov. Martha Griffiths spoke, and ACJ presented justice awards to Justice Department officials involved in the Chin case.
• Hibakusha Medical Team Coming to U.S., by P.C. Staff, page 3. A team of doctors from Japan will return to the U.S. in June to conduct medical examinations on American survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, their fifth such visit since 1977. The Committee of Atomic Bomb Survivors urges the estimated 1,000 hibakusha in the U.S. and Canada to register for examinations.
• ACJ Rededication Dinner Details, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Continuing coverage of the American Citizens for Justice second anniversary event details Michigan’s Civil Rights Department lacking bilingual Asian employees and ACJ’s advocacy for a Governor’s Advisory Commission on Asian American Affairs. The article also recaps ACJ’s prior campaigns against racially derogatory exhibits and its ongoing monitoring of the Vincent Chin civil case.
• Chapter Pulse: Marina, San Francisco, San Jose, Venice-Culver, Ventura County, South Bay, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Roundup of JACL chapter news includes Marina del Rey’s guest speaker Harry Kitano on interracial relationships, San Francisco sponsoring a Junior Olympics track team, and San Jose hosting the 33rd annual JACL Junior Olympics at Chabot College. Other items cover a documentary screening in Venice, a cooking demonstration in Oxnard, and a cultural festival booth in Torrance.
• ‘Let’s Samba’, by George Kondo, page 7. About 100 people have registered for the Pan American Nikkei Conference III in Sao Paulo, Brazil, July 25-28, with tours including Iguassu Falls and Rio de Janeiro. Varig Brazilian Airlines will serve as the principal carrier, and registration fees increase after June 1.
• Credit Union Enjoys Year of Growth, by P.C. Staff, page 9. Dudley Yatabe was re-elected president of the Chicago JACL Federal Credit Union, which reported record growth in loans, shares, and assets for 1984. The credit union achieved a #1 federal examiner rating and purchased a computer for automating records.
• Little Tokyo Cultural Center Celebrates 5th Anniversary, by Harry Honda, page 11. The Japanese American Cultural and Community Center celebrated its fifth anniversary with a dinner for 500 attendees at the Bonaventure Hotel, themed ‘Century II: The Center Comes Alive.’ Awards were given to the Southern California Gardeners’ Federation and the Community Redevelopment Agency for their roles in developing the center and Little Tokyo.

Arts & Entertainment

• Asian American Film Festival Slated to Begin Next Week in Northwest, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Seattle’s first Asian American film festival will run May 2-5 at the Nippon Kan Theatre, featuring films by independent Asian American filmmakers. Highlights include the local film ‘Beacon Hill Boys,’ the classic ‘Chan Is Missing,’ and ‘Hito Hata: Raise the Banner,’ along with several new premieres.
• Playwright Yamashita to Be Honored, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Karen Tei Yamashita will be honored at the third annual Author Recognition Benefit Luncheon given by Friends of Little Tokyo Public Library Services. The event features her readings, a luncheon, and an art auction at Akasaka Hanten Restaurant.
• ‘Music Lessons’ a Powerful Play, by Elizabeth Lu, page 5. Wakako Yamauchi’s play ‘The Music Lessons,’ directed by Mako at East West Players, portrays a widowed farm mother’s emotional awakening during the Depression in the Imperial Valley. The review praises Shizuko Hoshi’s lead performance and the mother-daughter confrontation scene as the production’s most powerful moment, despite minor staging flaws.

Commentary

• Those Law-Abiding Japanese, by Bill Y. Marutani, page 4. Marutani discusses a U.S. Department of Justice report on Japanese organized crime, known as boryokudan or yakuza, detailing their structure, code of honor, and criminal activities including economic extortion schemes called sokaiya. He notes concerns about yakuza infiltration into international business and U.S. gambling centers.
• Heroes Reflect Value System, by Bob Shimabukuro, page 4. Shimabukuro reflects on a U.S. News and World Report survey showing young adults idolize celebrities like Clint Eastwood and Eddie Murphy rather than social activists. He contrasts this with his own youthful admiration for revolutionary and civil rights figures, and notes renewed campus activism around South African divestiture.
• U.S.-Japan Relations: What Can We Do?, by Floyd Shimomura, page 4. Shimomura, in the fourth of a series, suggests ways to improve U.S.-Japan relations at the community level, encouraging Japanese companies to be good ‘guests’ and Americans to be fair ‘hosts.’ He calls for mutual respect, equal treatment, and civic engagement to foster goodwill rather than backlash.
• Prewar Pigskin Preview, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa continues his history of American football in prewar Japan, describing a 1936 trans-Pacific football game at Gilmore Stadium between a Japanese All-Star squad and a Southern California All-Star squad. He details program advertisers from Little Tokyo and notes the outcome of the game remains unknown.
• Praise for PC, by D. Misa Joo, page 5. A reader from Eugene, Oregon praises the Pacific Citizen’s coverage of community networking, racism awareness, and Asian leaders, noting that an older couple decided to resubscribe after seeing the paper. She appreciates the paper’s connection of local and regional news for the Japanese American community.
• Author! Author!, by Robert Skimin, page 5. Author Robert Skimin responds to a critical review of his book Chikara! in the Pacific Citizen, defending his portrayal of Japanese American patriotism and adherence to democracy despite being a white author. He expresses gratitude to Japanese Americans who found value in the book.
• Shinji’s Cartoons, by Patti Adachi, page 5. A Chicago reader responds to a Shinji cartoon about Japanese American identity and assimilation, reflecting on her own mixed experiences growing up with diverse friends and a biracial child. She expresses appreciation for the cartoon’s exploration of these themes.
• More Conference Kudos, by Harry Kajihara, page 5. Kajihara commends the organizers of the PSWD community outreach conference ‘Japanese American Involvement: A Commitment to the 80’s,’ praising its professionalism and impact. He notes that national JACL director Ron Wakabayashi and president Frank Sato both praised the conference, which led to new chapter membership applications.
• Shinju: A Cultural or a Criminal Act?, by Katie Kaori Hayashi, page 8. Hayashi explains the Japanese cultural tradition of shinju (parent-child suicide) in the context of the Fumiko Kimura case, describing how Japanese culture views such survivors sympathetically rather than as criminals. She argues that Kimura’s act stemmed from deep maternal devotion and Japanese social stigma around divorce and single parenthood, urging American courts to consider her cultural background.

JACL

• Pacific Citizen Editor to Leave, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Pacific Citizen editor Karen Seriguchi has been named the first national executive director of the Asian American Journalists Association and will leave her position May 7. Bob Shimabukuro will become acting editor, and Seriguchi plans to focus on increasing Asian American representation in news media.
• UC Alumni to Expand Programs, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The California Japanese Alumni Association board proposed increasing JACL scholarship funding by $15,000, expanding membership recruitment beyond UC Berkeley graduates, and renaming the organization to better reflect its membership. CJAA has contributed significant funds to JACL scholarships and other Japanese American causes over the years.

Incarceration & Redress

• Manzanar Desert May Bloom Again, by P.C. Staff, page 9. Manzanar Committee members toured the former internment camp with water department officials to discuss an Enhancement/Mitigation Project tied to an Inyo-Los Angeles water agreement. Committee chair Sue Kunitomi Embrey emphasized preserving the historic site without disturbing its remains while cleaning up debris.
• Redress Update: Storm Lake, Iowa, by Minoru Yasui, page 9. Yasui describes speaking about redress at Buena Vista College in rural Storm Lake, Iowa, drawing parallels between the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans and the potential targeting of any ethnic group. He discusses Iowa’s congressional delegation’s mixed political leanings on civil rights and requests reader contacts in Iowa to help advance redress efforts.

Sports

• Going Like 60 in 10K Run, by P.C. Staff, page 10. 69-year-old Texan Paul Katsuro will participate in San Jose’s Japantown 10K Banner Run on May 5, having taken up running six years ago and progressed to marathons. The run raises funds for Yu-Ai Kai’s Adult Day Health Care facility for seniors.

In-Depth

• The Man Who Saved Democracy in Missouri, by P.C. Staff, page 11. Dr. Y. Fred Fujikawa, a Japanese American surgeon interned during WWII, faced legislative attempts to bar his employment at a Missouri hospital, but Rep. O.K. Armstrong defended him and the discriminatory amendment was defeated. Forty years later, Fujikawa unexpectedly reunited with Armstrong during a sightseeing visit to Missouri in 1984.

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