AJR 27, the Santa Fe memorial and the draft resisters debate

Vol. 129, No. 8, August 20, 1999. 8 pages. View this issue

Assemblyman Mike Honda’s resolution AJR 27, which asks the Japanese government for an apology and reparations for wartime atrocities, led the issue. Marie Anakagawa reported on the reaction from Japanese American and Korean American leaders, and page 8 returned to the support from Korean American leaders and Nikkei veterans, including Col. Young Oak Kim. Caroline Aoyagi covered the Santa Fe, New Mexico, city council’s delay on a memorial to Japanese American incarceration camp inmates after some Bataan Death March survivors objected. The World War II incarceration (often called internment) also shaped the commentary, where Yosh Kuromiya wrote about an apology to draft resisters.

Elsewhere are a court order on the names of missing Japanese Latin American former internees who may be eligible for redress, Tracy Uba on a Denny’s discrimination lawsuit, and the response to hate crimes. Bill Hosokawa profiled sculptor Nina Akamu, and Naomi Hirahara wrote about matchmaking.

What’s in this issue

National

• Resolution Seeking Apology and Reparations From Japanese Government For WWII Atrocities to Go Before Calif. Assembly, by Marie Anakagawa, page 1. Assemblyman Mike Honda’s resolution AJR 27 seeks an apology and reparations from the Japanese government for WWII atrocities, drawing mixed reactions from Asian American communities including concerns from JANM officials about anti-Asian sentiment. Honda met with both Japanese American National Museum board members and Korean American leaders who largely welcomed his effort to address wartime abuses like the enslavement of Korean comfort women.
• Santa Fe, New Mexico, City Council Delays Decision on Memorial to Former JA WWII Internees to Hear Concerns of Some Vets, by Caroline Aoyagi, page 1. The Santa Fe city council delayed a decision on a planned memorial honoring over 4,500 Japanese American internees held at a DOJ camp during WWII after some Bataan Death March survivors protested, believing it honored Japanese soldiers. Supporters, including historians and committee members, say the protest stems from misinformation since the monument commemorates JA internees, not Japanese soldiers.
• U.S. Government Ordered to Release Names of 12 JLA Former Internees of WWII, page 1. Judge Lorin Smith of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims ordered the Department of Justice to release the names of 12 Japanese Latin American former internees. The order is part of an ongoing effort to locate former internees and their families who may be eligible for redress payments.
• AALDEF Updates Community on Syracuse, N.Y., Denny’s Discrimination Lawsuit, by Tracy Uba, page 3. A federal judge is set to hear arguments on summary judgment in a discrimination lawsuit against Denny’s stemming from an alleged incident in Syracuse, N.Y. AALDEF and the JACL New York chapter have been investigating claims that Denny’s has not fully implemented promised non-discrimination training despite past settlements and a public campaign to improve its image with minority communities.
• Vets Protest JA Monument, page 3. Continuing coverage of the Santa Fe monument controversy details how more than 110,000 Japanese Americans, including Japanese Latin Americans, were interned during WWII, and explains the historical context behind the proposed memorial. City Council Member Chris Moore and community leader Sue Embrey defended the monument, saying it commemorates a historical fact and does not blame Bataan veterans for their suffering.
• APA Community Decries Rising Tide of Hate, page 3. Asian Pacific American communities joined Jewish and other minority groups to denounce a rise in hate crimes after Buford O. Furrow Jr.’s shooting spree, which killed Filipino American postal worker Joseph Ileto. Leaders from organizations like LDIR called the killing a wake-up call about ongoing hate-related violence in the United States.
• National Park Service Conducting Study on Racial Desegregation in U.S. Public Education System, page 5. The National Park Service is conducting a National Historic Landmarks Theme Study to identify sites significant to the racial desegregation movement in public education, aiming to designate up to five new landmarks. The study will examine key legal decisions from the 1849 Roberts v. City of Boston case through the 1974 Lau v. Nichols ruling.
• U.S. Government Ordered to Release Names of Missing JLA Former Internees, page 6. A list of Japanese Latin American former internees who applied for redress but remain missing was released, along with their last known addresses in Peru, Japan, and Okinawa. Contact information for the Department of Justice and attorneys handling the Mochizuki v. United States case was provided to help locate these individuals or their families.
• AJR 27 Seeks Apology and Reparations for Former Sex Slaves, page 8. Korean American community leaders expressed strong support for Assemblyman Honda’s resolution seeking Japanese government reparations for wartime atrocities including the enslavement of comfort women. Nikkei veterans, including Col. Young Oak Kim, also endorsed the resolution, while a related California law extended the statute of limitations for lawsuits against companies over slave labor to 2010.

Arts & Entertainment

• Nina Akamu’s Leonardo da Vinci’s Horse Monument Honors Sculptor’s Vision, by Bill Hosokawa, page 4. Sculptor Nina Akamu was chosen to complete a monumental bronze horse based on Leonardo da Vinci’s unfinished design, after original sculptor Charles Dent’s plaster model was deemed anatomically flawed. Akamu, trained in Baltimore and Italy, incorporated symbolic elements like a crane into related commemorative work reflecting themes of freedom and transcendence.
• Visa Virtue Dramatizes Sugihara’s Wartime Heroism, page 5. The film ‘Visa Virtue’ portrays Chiune ‘Sempo’ Sugihara, the Japanese vice-consul to Lithuania who defied his government to issue lifesaving transit visas, saving thousands of Jews during the Holocaust. It is estimated that including descendants, more than 40,000 people owe their lives to Sugihara’s actions.
• I Am Viet Hung: Vietnamese Hero Documents Fading Opera Tradition, page 5. Director Diep N. Bui’s documentary follows Viet Hung, a once-prominent Vietnamese opera singer who fled Saigon in 1975 and now witnesses the decline of his traditional art form in America. Bui, a USC film student, previously worked on the award-winning film ‘Three Seasons.’

Community

• Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches Receives Funding to Help Launch Culturally Sensitive Patient Support Program, page 4. The California Endowment awarded a $208,544 grant to Asians for Miracle Marrow Matches (A3M) to launch a Culturally Sensitive Patient Support System serving Asian and Pacific Islander patients seeking bone marrow matches. A3M, funded by the National Marrow Donor Program, works to recruit and educate the API population about marrow donation.
• PAAAC National Conference to be Held Sept. 2-4 in Seattle, page 5. The Social Security Administration’s Pacific Asian American Advisory Council will hold its national conference in Seattle themed ‘Reflections of the Past, Visions for the Future,’ featuring speakers including actor George Takei and Washington Gov. Gary Locke. The conference aims to address issues affecting APA employees and celebrate leadership within the community.

Commentary

• The Case for a Modern-Day Baishakunin, by Naomi Hirahara, page 6. Naomi Hirahara reflects on the declining tradition of the baishakunin, the matchmaker figure once common in Japanese and early Issei communities, and considers why Sansei generations have largely rejected arranged introductions. She argues that skilled matchmakers with tact and discernment are still needed to help singles find compatible partners today.
• From the Back of the Bus, by Yosh Kuromiya, page 7. 442nd veteran Yosh Kuromiya argues that a JACL apology to WWII draft resisters would be appropriate, comparing their defiance to acts of civil disobedience like Rosa Parks’. He cites the Deborah Lim Report’s revelations about JACL’s complicity in unjust wartime policies as reason for reconciliation rather than continued division within the community.
• Can JACL and Resisters Reach Understanding?, page 7. The author recounts a tense wartime meeting at Tulelake’s Block 39 where internees debated how to answer the loyalty questionnaire questions 27 and 28, ultimately reaching consensus to respect individual decisions. The piece questions whether JACL and resisters can achieve similar reconciliation today rather than continuing to divide the community over the apology resolution.

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