Election results, redress and the Nikkei vote, November 1984

Vol. 99, No. 20, November 16, 1984. 8 pages. View this issue

The Pacific Citizen led with the Nov. 6 elections and what they meant for Asian Americans. Reps. Robert Matsui and Norman Mineta won easily, while Echo Goto and Mary Lou Brophy lost, and the paper reported local wins in California, Washington state, Utah and Delaware. Related stories counted the redress supporters returned to the House and gathered Nikkei and Asian American reactions to President Reagan’s reelection. California voters also passed Proposition 38, the English-only ballot measure. JACL president Frank Sato spoke to the West Los Angeles Chapter about the lack of Nikkei in national leadership.

On the commentary pages, Bill Hosokawa wrote about learning the M-1 rifle in training and about ethnic pride, Ron Wakabayashi about fairness, and G. Tim Gojio about military powers in a national emergency. Harry Honda’s closing feature recalled the prewar fishing community of Terminal Island and San Pedro. Chapter notices announce a San Francisco crab feed and a Cincinnati-Dayton installation dinner.

What’s in this issue

National

• Election Results Generally Pleasing, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Asian American candidates had mixed but generally positive results in the Nov. 6 elections, with Reps. Matsui and Mineta winning easily while Echo Goto and Mary Lou Brophy lost their races. Local victories included Julie Tang and Ben Tom in San Francisco, Nao Takasugi in Oxnard, George Takahashi in Marina, and several Asian American state legislators in Washington state.
• Most Redress Supporters Re-elected to House, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A net loss of eight congressional supporters of redress bill HR 4110 occurred in the election, including Rep. Jerry Patterson of California who lost to Robert Dornan. Newly elected Republican John Miller of Washington state has pledged to support redress legislation.
• Nikkei Republicans Expect Good Things, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Reaction to Reagan’s reelection split along party lines among Nikkei and Asian Americans, with Republicans like S. Stephen Nakashima and Lance Izumi expressing optimism about increased opportunities and appointments. Democrats like Alan Nishio expressed concern about a growing polarization and potential backlash against minorities under a second Reagan term.
• Congress OK on Rights, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A coalition of 165 national organizations, including JACL, rated the 98th Congress’s civil rights record as ‘moderately good.’ The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights also noted Congress blocked the Radical Right’s legislative agenda.
• English-Only Ballot Measure Approved, by P.C. Staff, page 1. California voters passed Proposition 38 by a two-to-one margin, an advisory measure urging the federal government to eliminate bilingual ballots. Asian and Hispanic groups opposed the measure as discriminatory against citizens with limited English proficiency.
• KKK Losing Members, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A report from the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith found Ku Klux Klan membership dropped about 35 percent in two years. The report speculated that more ‘respectable’ anti-busing groups may have weakened the Klan, potentially pushing some members toward underground terrorist cells.
• Reaction Continued: Asian Pacific Democrats See Progress Despite Loss, page 8. Tom Hsieh of the Asian Pacific Caucus of the Democratic National Committee said Asian Pacific Democrats made significant progress over the past four years despite Reagan’s reelection, citing the creation of 22 state caucuses. He said Reagan’s policies would motivate increased political engagement among Asian Pacific Americans.
• Election Results Continued: Asian Americans Win Utah and Delaware Races, page 8. Raymond Uno became the first Asian American elected to Utah’s 3rd District Court, while Tom Shimizu easily won reelection as Salt Lake County commissioner. In Delaware, Democrat S.B. Woo narrowly won the lieutenant governor race, becoming the first Asian American to hold a state-level position there.

JACL

• Sato: Nikkei Largely Absent Among National Leaders, page 2. JACL president Frank Sato told a West Los Angeles Chapter audience that Japanese Americans need to develop leaders in national government and industry to have influence over policies affecting them. He cited the low number of Nikkei in Congress, the cabinet, and presidential appointments as evidence of a lack of full participation in leadership positions.

Community

• Women of Color Obtaining Political Power Despite Odds, page 2. Some 200 women gathered in Reno for a conference sponsored by the National Institute for Women of Color, with keynoter Patsy Mink urging women of color to unite on issues like equal pay and child care. Elected officials including Thelma Buchholdt, Diane Watson, Polly Baca, and Ana Nisi Goyco shared their experiences running for and winning office against the odds.
• Climbing Corporate Ladder Easier with Collective Action, by Teru Kanazawa, New York Nichibei, page 3. A standing-room-only crowd of 200 attended a forum at AT&T headquarters in New York on Asian Americans in corporate America, featuring speakers Ron Osajima, Anthony Kahng, and Carolyn Chin. All three speakers agreed that collective, concerted action was needed to combat discrimination and advance Asian Americans into corporate management ranks.
• San Francisco Chapter Plans Spaghetti-Crab Feed, page 5. The San Francisco JACL chapter will hold a spaghetti-crab feed fundraiser on Dec. 1 at Christ United Presbyterian Church. Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door, with proceeds benefiting the chapter.
• Cincinnati-Dayton Chapters Plan Joint Installation Dinner, page 5. The Cincinnati and Dayton JACL chapters will hold a joint installation dinner Dec. 2 at Mandalay Banquet Center, featuring guest speaker Jim Shimoura, who was honored for his work on the Vincent Chin case. Reservations are due by Nov. 25.
• Greater Los Angeles Singles Plan Theater Party, page 5. The Greater Los Angeles Singles chapter will host a post-Thanksgiving theater party Nov. 24 at East West Players to see Philip Gotanda’s ‘A Song for a Nisei Fisherman,’ starring Robert Ito. Attendees will meet the cast afterward over champagne and hors d’oeuvres.

Commentary

• Hayakawa Says Quaker Organization Overreacted, Misunderstood His Intent, page 3. Former senator S.I. Hayakawa called a protest letter from the American Friends Service Committee a ‘crazy and paranoid reaction’ after the Quaker group asked him not to use its name in anti-redress statements. Hayakawa argued that AFSC’s wartime efforts to help interned Nisei attend colleges mitigated the damage of internment, and that redress would stir resentment against Japanese Americans.
• The Garand M-1 Rifle, by Bill Hosokawa, page 4. Bill Hosokawa recounts his experience learning to fire the M-1 Garand rifle during infantry training at Camp Robinson, Arkansas, after being incarcerated during WWII and attending school in South Dakota. He describes the painful process of learning proper technique to avoid injury from the weapon’s kick, eventually becoming proficient with the rifle, mortars, grenades, and bayonet.
• Redress Funding a Continuing Challenge, by Frank Sato, page 4. JACL president Frank Sato outlines the biennial budget for redress funding, explaining that pledge payments have been extended into 1986 and that loans from the Endowment Fund will need to be repaid that year. He urges continued timely pledge payments and suggests members direct Combined Federal Campaign or United Givers Fund donations to JACL.
• Fair Play and Nikkei in America, by Ron Wakabayashi, page 4. Wakabayashi reflects on the unfairness of the WWII internment of Japanese Americans, citing Col. Karl Bendetsen’s congressional testimony denying barbed wire or armed guards existed in the camps. He argues that JACL exists to provide fairness for a population at higher risk of unfair treatment, referencing the death of Vincent Chin.
• Unembarrassed Ethnicity, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa contrasts Vice President Bush’s visit to San Francisco’s Chinatown, where Chinese Americans proudly displayed their ethnic heritage, with how Japanese Americans might have handled a similar visit to Little Tokyo. He questions why Japanese Americans tend to emphasize their Americanism more than their Japanese heritage compared to Chinese Americans’ pride in their ethnic identity.
• Military Threats to Rights: A Lesson Not Learned, by G. Tim Gojio, page 5. Gojio warns that FEMA’s draft ‘Defense Resources Act’ and a Dept. of Defense report on military support of civil defense threaten to repeat the civil liberties abuses of Japanese American internment. He argues these proposals would allow the military to seize property and assume law enforcement functions during a declared national emergency, echoing the wartime internment justified by ‘military necessity.’

In-Depth

• San Pedro / Terminal Island, by Harry Honda, page 8. Harry Honda recounts the history of the prewar Japanese American fishing community on Terminal Island and San Pedro, where about 2,000 people lived and worked before being given only 48 hours to evacuate following Pearl Harbor. The piece describes the bustling community’s businesses, Shinto shrine, and the Tosanko school that once stood there before the community’s forced removal.

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