Membership drive and the Wendy Yoshimura bail story, January 1976

Vol. 82, No. 1, January 2, 1976. 6 pages. View this issue

JACL membership opened this six-page issue. National Executive Director David Ushio asked readers to join or rejoin, saying much work for Japanese Americans remained unfinished. He also testified at a White House Domestic Council forum that federal efficiency efforts mean little if they leave out minority groups. Wendy Yoshimura’s case ran through the front page: a judge cut her bail, community members pledged support, and she was released to the home of Dr. Paul Takagi and his wife. Lee Ruttle reported on the bail hearing.

Elsewhere, a historical marker for the Topaz WRA Center went up in Delta, Utah, and the Mountain Plains district backed a campsite project at Amache. Edison T. Uno and Bill Hosokawa wrote columns on the Evacuation and how to talk about it. The paper also offered Michi Weglyn’s Years of Infamy before publication.

What’s in this issue

JACL

• Sign Up Today: Dear Fellow JACLers and Friends, by David Ushio, page 1. JACL National Executive Director David Ushio urges readers to join or rejoin the organization to support the work benefiting Japanese Americans. He argues that membership and active chapter participation are essential to meeting unfinished community needs.
• Project coordinator sought, by P.C. Staff, page 1. JACL seeks a project coordinator for its Foundation Responsiveness Project, funded by a $75,000 Campaign for Human Development grant. The coordinator would research foundations and work to make them more responsive to Japanese American needs.
• PNWDC elects Yamamoto gov., by P.C. Staff, page 1. Edward Yamamoto of Columbia Basin JACL was elevated to district governor of the Pacific Northwest JACL District Council at its winter meeting. He succeeds Dr. James Tsujimura, and has long been active in JACL chapters.
• MPDC backs Yoshimura fair trial fund, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The Mountain Plains JACL District Council approved resolutions supporting the Wendy Yoshimura fair trial fund and the Amache WRA campsite project. Delegates also heard a report on a Buddhist church project filming Nikkei gravesites.
• Royal greetings to Issei, by P.C. Staff, page 1. JACL Executive Director David Ushio met privately with Crown Prince Akihito and Princess Michiko in Tokyo, who sent warm wishes to the Issei. The meeting also covered the Sansei role in U.S. politics and U.S.-Japan relations.

National

• Ushio appeals for White House concern, by P.C. Staff, page 1. JACL Executive Director David Ushio testified at a White House Domestic Council public forum that federal efficiency efforts are meaningless if they exclude minority groups. He cited stereotyping of Japanese American elderly, poor, and employees, and called for government sensitivity to Asian American needs.
• Senate to act on rice bill of ’75, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The House passed the Rice Production Act of 1975 by a 311-104 vote, sending it to the Senate. JACL was among organizations urging passage of the bill.

Incarceration & Redress

• Wendy Yoshimura free on bail, by Lee Ruttle, page 1. Alameda County Judge Lionel Wilson reduced Wendy Yoshimura’s bail from $100,000 to $25,000 over prosecutor objections. Japanese American community members pledged money and letters of support for her defense.
• Topaz WRA Center historical plaques set in Delta City park, by Alice Kasai, page 1. A historical marker describing the Topaz WRA Center has been installed at Delta Park in Millard County, Utah. The Utah American Revolution Bicentennial Commission approved the project, and a second marker will be placed at the campsite.
• Yoshimura released to professor’s home, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Wendy Yoshimura was released from the Santa Rita Rehabilitation Center and will live with Dr. Paul Takagi and his wife while preparing for trial. Pretrial hearings are scheduled for January.

Community

• Pocatello garners IDC chapter of year, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Pocatello-Blackfoot JACL was named Intermountain District Chapter of the Year for 1975 despite doubts about its vitality. Its activities included a joint picnic, a ranch luau, and a fund-raising carnival.
• Twin Cities JAYs to host August national JAYs confab, by Matt Abe, page 1. Twin Cities JAYs are preparing for the sixth biennial National JAYs Convention at Concordia St. Paul in August. The biennium theme is Community, and committees are raising funds and planning events.
• Money in the basement, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A Denver family describes raising earthworms in their basement after reading about a profitable worm-farming business. The worms are sold as fish bait, soil enrichment, and feed.

Military & Veterans

• Pacific Citizen editorial: The new Asian Americans, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The editorial welcomes the final Southeast Asian refugees resettled from Camp Chaffee to Dallas and urges that they be seen as new Asian Americans rather than refugees. It emphasizes their future contributions to American society.

Commentary

• Keeping calm, by Edison T. Uno, page 2. Edison Uno reflects on his decades of JACL volunteer work and the value of measured, reasoned responses in meetings. He describes being troubled by a commissioner’s remark about the camps and by Bill Hosokawa’s column urging Nisei to stop harping on the evacuation.
• From the frying pan, by Bill Hosokawa, page 3. Bill Hosokawa responds to critics and considers the implications of moving past the injustice of the Evacuation. He addresses the controversy over the Emperor’s visit and the need for constructive engagement with history.
• Years of Infamy pre-publication offering, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The Pacific Citizen offers a pre-publication copy of Michi Weglyn’s Years of Infamy, a book on America’s wartime concentration camps. Endorsements from Patsy Mink, Spark Matsunaga, and others praise its research.

Obituaries

• Necrology December 1974 to December 1975, by P.C. Staff, page 6. This listing records deaths of Japanese American community leaders during 1975, including former Hawaii governor John Burns and JACL officials. Each entry gives the name, age, date, and a brief description of the person’s role.

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