UCLA honors Nisei students whose studies the war interrupted

Vol. 150, No. 9, May 21, 2010. 16 pages. View this issue

UCLA’s honorary degrees for Japanese American students whose education was interrupted by the World War II incarceration (often called internment) led the news. Nalea J. Ko reported that 48 degrees were awarded on May 15, some of them posthumous, to honorees and families who traveled from across the country. Six California State University campuses were planning similar ceremonies for more than 70 Nisei. Lynda Lin wrote about the Kobayashi family, who have organized the JACL Memorial Day program at Arlington National Cemetery for over a decade, and Christine McFadden profiled the Minidoka Swing Band.

Other stories covered Hawaii’s civil unions bill awaiting Governor Linda Lingle, and JACL joining a legal challenge to Arizona’s SB 1070. A JACL grant for its youth legacy program, with visits to Manzanar, Tule Lake, Poston and Minidoka, was announced, and a bill for Fred Korematsu Day awaited a vote in California. Letters from readers opposed a digital-only Pacific Citizen, and a Chicago preview of the JACL national convention rounded out the pages.

What’s in this issue

Commentary

• A New Name? Readers Want the Print P.C., by Various Letter Writers, page 2. Readers respond to two ideas floated by JACL: renaming the organization to better represent pan-Asian American interests, and moving the Pacific Citizen to a digital-only format. Multiple letter writers strongly oppose going paperless, citing lack of access to computers and their attachment to the print edition.
• Environmental Justice, by Floyd Mori, page 2. JACL National Director Floyd Mori discusses the emerging issue of environmental justice, tracing the organization’s history of fighting social injustice against minority communities. He highlights a Vietnamese Catholic church near Atlanta facing a waste transfer station and the neglect of Vietnamese American fishermen following the BP oil spill in the Gulf Coast.
• Continue Supporting the 2010 Spring Campaign, by Cindi Kishiyama-Harbottle, page 2. The annual Spring Campaign fundraiser has tripled its usual donations this year thanks to community generosity, helping the Pacific Citizen cover its operating costs. The author praises the newspaper’s small staff for their dedication and encourages continued community support amid discussions of format changes and office relocation.
• Boys Town Father Flanagan’s JACL Connection, by Harry K. Honda, page 7. Harry Honda recounts the connection between Boys Town founder Father Edward Flanagan and Japanese Americans, including Kiyoshi ‘Pat’ Okura, who worked as Boys Town’s staff psychologist after being interned during WWII. The column also details Flanagan’s 1946 trip to Ireland, where he denounced abuse in Irish orphanages and reform schools decades before the scandal became widely known.
• War and Peace, by Peter Shigeki Frandsen, page 7. The author reflects on reading Tolstoy’s ‘War and Peace’ during a break from dental school and connects its themes of war, redemption and social mobility to modern soldiers’ experiences. He argues society must offer greater reciprocity and support to veterans returning from war, citing Sebastian Junger’s book ‘War.’
• Fred Korematsu Day Bill Awaiting Vote, by Pacific Citizen Staff, page 11. California Assembly Bill 1775, which would designate Jan. 30 as ‘Fred Korematsu Day,’ has passed committee and awaits a full Assembly vote. Korematsu’s daughter Karen testified in support, and civil rights groups including JACL back the legislation honoring her father’s fight against WWII Japanese American incarceration.

National

• Honoring Japanese American Veterans is a Family Affair, by Lynda Lin, page 3. The Kobayashi family has coordinated the JACL Memorial Day program honoring fallen Japanese American soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery for over a decade, continuing a tradition started by patriarch Key Kobayashi in 1948. Three generations of the family, including son Turner and grandnephew Matthew Oelkers, ensure the annual tribute continues as a family legacy.
• Hawaii’s Civil Union Bill is in Governor’s Hands, by Nalea J. Ko, page 4. Hawaii’s civil unions bill, which passed the state House, now awaits Governor Linda Lingle’s decision amid thousands of letters, faxes and calls both supporting and opposing the measure. Supporters and opponents, including Asian American community members, weighed in with some comparing the treatment of LGBT rights advocates to the WWII internment of Japanese Americans.
• JACL, Civil Rights Groups File Legal Challenge to Arizona Racial Profiling Law, by Pacific Citizen Staff, page 6. JACL joined a coalition of civil rights groups in a class-action lawsuit against Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration law, arguing it invites racial profiling and draws parallels to the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans. Arizona JACL member Jim Shee, a plaintiff, described being asked for his ‘papers’ twice in April despite being a U.S.-born citizen.
• APA Judge Nominee Shows Community’s Progress, by Pacific Citizen Staff and Associated Press, page 6. Goodwin Liu’s nomination to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the Senate Judiciary Committee, marking a milestone given the scarcity of Asian Pacific American federal judges. His confirmation hearing galvanized APA advocacy groups and highlighted ongoing underrepresentation of APAs in the legal profession and judiciary.
• UCLA ‘Restores Justice’ By Awarding Nisei Honorary Degrees, by Nalea J. Ko, page 8. UCLA awarded 48 honorary degrees on May 15 to Japanese American students whose education was interrupted by WWII incarceration, including posthumous honors for students like Nao Takasugi. Honorees and their families traveled from across the country, with young JA students noting the responsibility to continue raising awareness about this history.
• Calif. Senate Passes Bill to Block Texas Textbook Changes, by P.C. Staff and Associated Press, page 12. California’s Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bill by Sen. Leland Yee to prevent Texas’s controversial revised social studies curriculum from influencing California textbooks. Critics, including JACL, say the Texas standards mischaracterize the WWII Japanese American internment as being about ‘regulation of foreign nationals’ rather than racism.

JACL

• JACL Receives NPS Grant, by P.C. Staff, page 5. JACL was awarded a $151,790 National Park Service grant for its ‘Passing the Legacy Down’ program educating youth about WWII confinement sites including Manzanar, Tule Lake, Poston and Minidoka. The grant is part of $2.9 million distributed nationally to preserve and interpret Japanese American incarceration history.
• More Than Just the JACL National Convention, by Lisa Sakai, page 5. The Chicago JACL is offering a variety of ‘Windy City Activities’ during the 2010 JACL national convention, including architecture tours, blues club visits, a Cubs game, and ghost tours. Organizers hope these activities will encourage convention attendees to explore Chicago’s culture and attractions beyond the convention itself.
• P.C. Receives $20,000 Grant, by Pacific Citizen Staff, page 6. The Pacific Citizen received a $20,000 CCLPEP grant to continue digitizing its historic newspaper archives, this time covering 1944-1955. The digitization project aims to make historic issues accessible online to JACL members, subscribers and educators.

Arts & Entertainment

• Japanese American Tribute Band Makes Swing Young Again, by Christine McFadden, page 9. The Minidoka Swing Band, which pays tribute to the jazz and swing music played by Japanese Americans in WWII internment camps, brings together musicians spanning ages 15 to 83 in mentor-mentee relationships. The band, which recently lost its longtime manager Robbie Tsuboi to cancer, is working to recruit younger members to sustain its legacy.

Community

• Attacks on APAs Lead to Racial Tension, by Juliana Barbassa, Associated Press Writer, page 10. A series of violent attacks against elderly Chinese Americans in San Francisco, perpetrated by African American teenagers, has sparked rallies and heightened racial tension between the two communities. Officials and community leaders debate whether the attacks are racially motivated or crimes of opportunity targeting vulnerable residents in changing neighborhoods.
• Retired Professor Gives $50 Million to UCLA, by P.C. Staff and Associated Press, page 10. Retired UCLA professor and organ transplant pioneer Paul Ichiro Terasaki, who spent part of his childhood at the Gila River internment camp, pledged $50 million to UCLA for a life sciences building and endowed surgery chair. The gift is one of the largest single donations in UCLA’s history, and the university’s new Life Sciences Building will be named in his honor.
• JA Veterans Groups to Host First Joint Memorial Day Service, by P.C. Staff, page 12. The Japanese American Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee and Japanese American Korean War Veterans will hold their first joint Memorial Day service on May 29 in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo. The ceremony will honor all Japanese American soldiers who died in the nation’s wars, with keynote speaker Ron Yamada of the Overseas Floral Tribute Program.
• Senate Committee to Hold Hearing on Wakamatsu Preservation Act, by Pacific Citizen Staff, page 13. JACL is urging support for S. 1596, the Gold Hill Wakamatsu Preservation Act, which would help preserve the site of the first Japanese settlement in the United States before the Veerkamp family sells the land. The site, home to the Wakamatsu Tea and Silk Colony from 1869-1871, includes the gravesite of Okei Ito, believed to be the first Japanese person buried on American soil.
• Cal State Campuses Hold Special Nisei Ceremonies, by P.C. Staff and Associated Press, page 13. Six California State University campuses are awarding honorary degrees to over 70 Japanese Americans whose studies were interrupted by WWII internment, with ceremonies held at San Diego State, Fresno State and others. A CSU grant will also help document the Nisei students’ stories on video and in print as a ‘living memorial.’
• Oscar-winner Making Short Film About Heart Mountain, by Ruffin Provost, Billings Gazette, page 16. Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki, whose father was interned at Heart Mountain, is creating a 10-minute film for the new interpretive learning center being built at the former camp site. The Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation has raised $3.5 million toward its $5.3 million goal, with the center expected to open in fall 2011.

Obituaries

• Harvey Itano was a Groundbreaking Pathology Professor, page 15. Harvey Akio Itano, the first Japanese American member of the National Academy of Sciences, died May 8 in La Jolla at age 89 from complications of Parkinson’s disease. Despite being interned during WWII and unable to attend his own UC Berkeley graduation, Itano went on to pioneer research identifying the molecular basis of sickle cell anemia.
• John L. Fugh was the Army’s First Chinese American General Officer, page 15. Maj. Gen. John L. Fugh, the first Chinese American general officer in the U.S. Army, died May 11 in Bethesda, MD, after a heart attack at age 75. He served as judge advocate general of the Army from 1991 to 1993 and earned multiple military honors during his 33-year career.
• Robert T. Mizukami was a WWII Veteran, Community Leader, page 15. Robert T. Mizukami, a WWII 442nd Regimental Combat Team veteran and seven-year mayor of Fife, Washington, died April 24 at age 87 from complications of a heart attack. After being interned at Minidoka during the war, Mizukami returned to rebuild his family’s flower business and later led the campaign to incorporate Fife as a city.
• Jadin Wong Opened Doors For Other APAs, page 15. Jadin Wong, a pioneering Asian Pacific American television and film actress who later ran a talent agency for APA performers, died in March. The Marysville, Calif. native appeared in films since 1939 and performed on the nightclub circuit including San Francisco’s legendary Forbidden City.

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