Redress funding bill and a murder inquiry: the March 27, 1992 issue

Vol. 114, No. 12, March 27, 1992. 8 pages. View this issue

Legislation to complete redress led the news. The Civil Liberties Act Amendments of 1992 were introduced March 24 to fund the remaining payments, with Rep. Norman Mineta among the co-sponsors. Rep. Robert Matsui separately introduced a bill to protect VA benefits for payment recipients. The front page also followed the murder of Japanese businessman Yasuo Kato of Camarillo, Calif., after deputies searched his eldest son’s home, and reported record hate crimes in Los Angeles County. JACL coverage looked at the Denver convention plans and a Youth Council response to restructuring.

On page 4, Bill Hosokawa reviewed Kiyoaki Murata’s book about the wartime incarceration at Poston, and Clifford Uyeda protested plans to stage ‘Miss Saigon’ in Japan. Dale Shimasaki reported on the JACL Education Committee’s work on textbooks, and letters debated a Little Tokyo war memorial. A story on page 4 told of an 83-year-old former Tule Lake internee facing displacement from her farm.

What’s in this issue

National

• Police Search House of Murder Victim’s Son, by P.C. Staff, page 1. One month after the murder of Japanese businessman Yasuo Kato of Camarillo, Calif., Ventura County Sheriff’s deputies searched the home of his eldest son, Toshiyuki Kato, though authorities say he is not officially a suspect. The Los Angeles Times reported Kato had accumulated $700,000 in debts from a failed real estate deal, and authorities are discounting the murder as a hate crime.
• Legislation Introduced to Complete Redress, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Civil Liberties Act Amendments of 1992 were introduced March 24 to fund the remaining redress payments, authorizing $320 million to cover approximately 75,000 eligible former internees. The bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Norman Mineta and others, would also compensate about 40 non-Japanese Americans who accompanied spouses or children into camps.
• Hate Crimes Hit Record High in L.A. County—Up 22% in ’91, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Hate crimes in Los Angeles County reached an all-time high of 672 in 1991, a 22% increase over 1990, with gay men, blacks, and Jews as 60 percent of victims and 54 incidents against Asians. The county’s Human Relations Commission attributed the rise to Persian Gulf War patriotism, recession, black-Korean tensions, and increased community tension, while noting arrests nearly doubled from the prior year.
• Matsui Bill Would Protect VA Benefits, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Rep. Robert Matsui introduced legislation March 24 to fix a technical problem in VA pension law that was causing redress payment recipients to lose full VA benefits. VA Secretary Edward Derwinski has endorsed the legislation to correct the inadvertent conflict with the 1988 redress law.
• Mayor Apologizes for Remark on Asians, by P.C. Staff, page 4. A California mayoral candidate, Rollin Brown, apologized after saying Asians are ‘non-committal’ and ‘smile and nod their heads’ in a bid for a contract, according to the Stockton Record. Brown, a former Pacific Rim corporate executive now running for Amador County Board of Supervisors, said his remarks were relative to his experience with native Japanese people.
• Not Again… 83-Year-Old Widow Faces Second Displacement, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Fifty years after Executive Order 9066 forced her from her West Sacramento farm, 83-year-old Yoshie Iwasaki, a former Tule Lake internee, faces losing her land again as a local governing board considers seizing it to build a new high school and homes. Iwasaki and her family intend to fight the potential condemnation, which she likened to ‘another internment.’
• Bill to Help Fight Job Discrimination, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Rep. Matthew G. ‘Marty’ Martinez introduced the Immigration Anti-Discrimination Act March 19 to strengthen enforcement of anti-discrimination provisions in the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act. The bill would increase penalties, mandate technical assistance and reporting, and create a monitoring panel and sanctions for employers with pervasive violations.

JACL

• Convention Plans Being Developed, by P.C. Staff, page 1. At the JACL national board meeting in San Francisco March 14-15, convention chairman Ed Imatani gave updates on the Aug. 3-8 Denver convention, including a Japanese American National Museum exhibit, competitive hotel rates, and Sen. Daniel Inouye as keynote speaker. Imatani said the convention theme, ‘Solid as the Rockies,’ emphasizes JACL’s role as a civil rights organization in troubled times.
• Member Benefit Programs Reviewed, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The JACL national board discussed two new membership benefit programs: a long-distance calling discount through U.S. Sprint and a long-term care insurance program through Albert H. Wohlers & Co. and CNA. Both programs would also generate royalty income for the organization when members enroll.
• Youth Council Responds to Reorganization, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The National Youth Council responded to the JACL Select Committee on Organization Structure’s (SCOS) recommendations from the March 14-15 national board meeting, agreeing with some proposals like unified national guidelines while raising concerns about district representation on the National Board and undefined standing committees. The council proposed a constitutional amendment formalizing its composition, functions, and autonomy, along with recommendations for budget, youth programming support, and recruitment tools.

Military & Veterans

• Support for Memorial to Honor War Dead Announced, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Coalition for Nikkei War Memorial Monument held a press conference to clarify its position opposing the inclusion of living veterans’ names on the proposed Japanese American War Memorial in Little Tokyo, citing support from Sen. Daniel Inouye and Mayor Tom Bradley. The coalition proposed an alternative honor roll registry housed at the Japanese American National Museum rather than engraving all names on the monument itself.

Commentary

• A Different Evacuation Story, by Bill Hosokawa, page 4. Hosokawa reviews Kiyoaki Murata’s book ‘An Enemy Among Friends,’ about a Japanese student who arrived in the U.S. just before Pearl Harbor and was later interned at Poston before being allowed to attend college during the war. Murata went on to become editor in chief of the Japan Times, and the book offers an unusual Japanese perspective on the wartime incarceration experience.
• Listing of Living Veterans on Memorial Opposed, by Harold S. Harada, DDS, page 4. A letter to the editor from a Culver City dentist states that Japanese American VFW posts in California unanimously oppose placing names of living veterans and civilians on the proposed war memorial monument in Little Tokyo. The writer also criticizes a videotape promoting the memorial as misleading given it was advertised as a ‘Vets Honor Roll.’
• Remembering Sen. Hayakawa, by Noriko Bridges, page 4. A letter from Noriko Bridges questions the Pacific Citizen’s obituary treatment of S.I. Hayakawa, particularly his testimony favoring the restrictive Walter-McCarran Act, comparing his views to those of Lillian Baker. Editor Harry K. Honda responds explaining the historical context of JACL’s fight for Issei naturalization and Hayakawa’s opposing position, noting he was naturalized in 1954.
• Former JACL President Protests ‘Miss Saigon’, by Clifford Uyeda, page 4. Dr. Clifford Uyeda, former JACL national president, wrote to Tokyo’s Toho Company protesting its plan to produce ‘Miss Saigon’ in Japan, calling the musical racist for portraying Asian characters as corrupt and Asian women as decadent prostitutes. Uyeda argues that Japan should recognize the play’s demeaning Western view of Asians rather than promote it as entertainment.

In-Depth

• How to Make Textbooks Better: A Status Report from the JACL Education Committee, by Dale Shimasaki, page 5. JACL Education Committee chairman Dale Shimasaki recounts how his high school textbook devoted only one inadequate paragraph to Japanese American internment, and describes the committee’s strategy to create a resource manual for chapters with accurate curriculum materials, lesson plans, and bibliographies. The committee aims to work with publishers and policymakers to ensure textbooks portray internment as a violation of civil rights, not military necessity, while refusing to endorse materials that fail to do so.

Incarceration & Redress

• Oregon Museum Is Dedicated, by P.C. Staff, page 6. A planned Japanese American museum, part of a $10 million cultural center at Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario, Ore., was dedicated Feb. 19 on the 50th anniversary of Executive Order 9066. JACL national president Cressey Nakagawa gave the keynote address, with Hid Hasegawa and Randy and Roberta Harano also attending.

Obituaries

• Enichi Nakama, 70, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Enichi Nakama, a veteran of Co. I, 442nd Infantry, was born in Honolulu on May 21, 1921, and passed away March 16 at his home in Los Angeles. He is survived by his wife Guillermina, sons John, Michael, Daniel, and daughters, with services held March 21 at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier.

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