Restrictive covenants, claims bill and the return of stranded Nisei

Vol. 25, No. 21, November 29, 1947. 8 pages. View this issue

The National JACL’s plan to file a friend-of-the-court brief in the restrictive covenant cases before the U.S. Supreme Court led this eight-page issue. Attorneys A. L. Wirin, Saburo Kido and Fred Okrand were preparing the brief, which argued that racial housing restrictions are unconstitutional and contrary to public policy. Mike Masaoka pressed the evacuation claims bill with Senator John Sherman Cooper and Attorney General Tom Clark, and eighty-three Nisei stranded in Japan during the war arrived in San Francisco in time for Thanksgiving. Sumiyuki Tanbara and his wife sued in federal court to regain citizenship they renounced at Tule Lake.

Elsewhere, Larry Tajiri’s editorial, Bill Hosokawa’s column on the Bowery and the Issei, and a profile of the painter Yasuo Kuniyoshi are worth finding. A Denver mayor’s committee report on discrimination, Los Angeles and San Francisco population figures, and JACL chapter news round out the issue, with sports on page 7.

What’s in this issue

National

• National JACL Will Enter Restrictive Covenant Cases Before U.S. Supreme Court, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The National JACL agreed to file a friend-of-the-court brief challenging the constitutionality of racial housing restrictions in the covenant cases before the Supreme Court. The brief will argue that such covenants violate public policy and U.S. treaty commitments under the United Nations charter.
• Asks Supreme Court Outlaw Housing Bans, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The CIO urged the Supreme Court to reject racially restrictive covenants that bar minorities from owning or renting property. The organization argued that the right to acquire property without racial discrimination deserves the same protection as free speech and religion.
• Senate Urged to Give Early Consideration to Claims Bill, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Mike Masaoka urged Senator John Sherman Cooper to advance the evacuation claims bill from subcommittee before Congress adjourns. He noted that the House had unanimously passed the measure and that the President’s Committee on Civil Rights had recommended it.
• House Committee Will Study Restrictions on Japanese Aliens Residing in Hawaii, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The JACL-ADC asked a House subcommittee to review a 1906 proclamation that bars Japanese aliens living in Hawaii from permanent residence on the mainland. Two elderly aliens, Shinkichi Shimizu and Haru Toyama, face deportation under the rule despite family ties in California.
• Los Angeles Court to Rule on South Pasadena Case, by P.C. Staff, page 2. A Los Angeles court is weighing whether a city may impose racial restrictions on property it acquired through tax default. The ACLU, JACL, NAACP and American Jewish Congress back the Chamberlains, who challenge the restriction.
• Seek Tom Clark’s Support for Civil Rights Plan, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Mike Masaoka asked Attorney General Tom Clark to endorse the evacuation claims program and other civil rights measures recommended by the President’s Committee on Civil Rights. He also requested a meeting with the Justice Department to address related issues.
• House Judiciary Committee Favors Private Bills for Three Resident Japanese, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Private bills to permit three Japanese aliens to remain permanently in the United States were reported out of the Judiciary Committee. The beneficiaries include a civilian Army Map Service translator and an Army veteran who is a language instructor.

Community

• Largest Group of Stranded Nisei Arrives in U.S., by P.C. Staff, page 1. Eighty-three Japanese Americans stranded in Japan during the war arrived in San Francisco aboard the General Meigs in time for Thanksgiving. It was the largest single group of war-stranded Nisei to reach the United States.
• Nisei Girl Serves on Grand Jury in Sacramento, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Akiko Koyama of Sacramento became a member of the Federal grand jury that returned indictments in seven cases. She is believed to be the first person of Japanese ancestry to serve on a federal grand jury in California.
• Urge JACL Chapters Adopt French Town of Bruyeres, by P.C. Staff, page 1. The JACL national board endorsed a proposal for chapters to send CARE packages to Bruyeres, France, where a JACL monument honors the 442nd Combat Team. Mike Masaoka described the monument as a tribute to Franco-American amity.
• Brazil Opportunities to be Told to JACL Members, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Tsune Baba, who recently returned from a business trip to Brazil, will speak to San Francisco JACL members on opportunities for Nisei there. Joe Grant Masaoka noted that requests for JACL material have come from Brazil.
• Only Five Persons Attend Memorial for Japanese Canadians, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Only five people attended an Armistice Day service in Vancouver’s Stanley Park honoring Japanese Canadian servicemen, since most persons of Japanese ancestry remain excluded from coastal British Columbia. Veterans laid a wreath before the monument.
• Stockton Nisei File Suit to Clear Land Title, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Two American-born Japanese American women filed suit in Stockton to force a clear title to a 118-acre farm parcel. The title company refused to clear the title due to possible escheat proceedings under the Alien Land law.
• Children Escape Serious Hurts in Bus Crash, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Sixteen children from a Japanese Baptist church group escaped serious injury when their bus collided with a Transit coach in Seattle. All were treated at Harborview for cuts and bruises.
• Fresno Nisei Freed of Traffic Charge in Sacramento, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Municipal Judge James M. McInerney dismissed all police charges against Cooney Yagi of Fresno arising from a minor traffic accident in Sacramento. The judge found the complaints lacked sufficient foundation.
• Seattle Nisei Hurt as Truck Crashes Cars in Seattle Accident, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Shroke Nishida, 73, was treated at Harborview after a truck crashed into six parked cars on Jackson Street in Seattle. Police charged the driver with reckless and hit-and-run driving.
• Baptist Church Holds Installation Service for Rev. Morikawa, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The Rev. Jitsuo Morikawa was installed as the first Japanese American minister to serve a Chicago Baptist church made up mainly of Caucasian members. The congregation is 114 years old.
• Job, Housing Discrimination Against Nisei Cited in Report of Denver Mayor’s Committee, by P.C. Staff, page 3. A Denver mayor’s committee report found that prejudice against Japanese Americans and other minorities persists in employment, housing, hospitals and public accommodations. The committee called for a permanent human relations commission.
• Los Angeles Regains Prewar Role as Mainland City With Largest Group of Japanese, by P.C. Staff, page 5. Los Angeles now has an estimated 27,000 persons of Japanese ancestry, again the largest mainland community. Many prewar businesses in produce have not been reestablished, though churches and newspapers have returned.
• Report Nearly Five Thousand Evacuees in San Francisco, by P.C. Staff, page 5. San Francisco’s Japanese American population has nearly reached its prewar level of 5,000, though most returnees are new arrivals from other areas. Many former businesses have not reopened, though most returnees have taken factory and domestic work.
• Organization Problems at JACL Workshop, by P.C. Staff, page 7. An Eastern District JACL workshop in New York will discuss membership, fund raising, public relations and program planning for chapters. Leaders from Philadelphia, Washington, Boston and New Jersey are expected to attend.
• Chicago Group Will Take Part in Annual Interracial Program, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Japanese American group in Chicago will participate in the Museum of Science and Industry’s Christmas around the world program. The Japanese portion will be given on Dec. 13 with food served in the museum cafeteria.
• Eastbay JACL Will Hold Fish Derby, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The Eastbay JACL fishing derby will award a perpetual trophy and a $125 outboard motor to the top finisher. Over 100 entrants from across northern and central California have registered.

Incarceration & Redress

• Two Renunciants File Suit to Regain Rights, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Sumiyuki Tanbara and his wife filed suit in federal court to regain citizenship they renounced in 1945 at the Tule Lake center. They allege the renunciations were coerced by threats from pro-Japanese gangsters and that they were denied counsel.

JACL

• Intermountain Area Meeting Told JACL Faces Challenge in Scope of Future Activity, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Prof. Elmer R. Smith told the Intermountain JACL convention that the organization must continue after its immediate legislative goals to address basic civil rights problems. He urged cooperation with other groups on the basis of diversity within a free society.

Military & Veterans

• Nisei Returns From World Health Meet in Europe, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Dr. Iwao Moriyama returned from the World Health Organization Interim Commission conference in Geneva, where he was one of four U.S. delegates. The conference considered a proposed disease and causes-of-death classification system.
• Army Language School Head Gets New Post, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Col. Elliot R. Thorpe, commandant of the Army language school at the Presidio of Monterey, was promoted to military attache in Bangkok. Under his leadership the school expanded from Japanese instruction to eleven languages.
• American Legion Post Favors Repeal of Race Restrictions, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The Cathay Post of the American Legion in Denver voted to support removing race restrictions from the naturalization law and to back the evacuation claims bill. The post also endorsed a House bill to naturalize alien parents of servicemen killed in World War II.

Commentary

• Clothes Make the Man, by P.C. Staff, page 2. A Negro minister who posed as a Swedish visitor by wearing a turban received courtesies in Mobile that were denied him as a Black man. The anecdote illustrates the absurdity of racial discrimination in the South.
• Great Day Coming, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The University of Colorado ordered professional and honorary fraternities to remove racially restrictive clauses from their constitutions within five weeks or lose their charters. The move signals gradual progress against discrimination.
• New Day Immigrants, by P.C. Staff, page 2. About 200,000 Puerto Ricans have migrated to New York’s Harlem seeking escape from poverty, only to meet prejudice and overcrowding there. The article describes the severe economic and health conditions on the island that drive the migration.
• Other Side of the Fence, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Memphis refused a visit from the Freedom Train because of its segregation rules, while a Georgia mayor pledged to welcome any citizen regardless of race. The contrast highlights regional attitudes toward civil rights.
• Legalized Blackmail, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. California used the Alien Land law to extract payments from Nisei landowners such as veteran Akira Iwamura to clear their titles. The editorial argues that this practice is unjust and urges repeal of the discriminatory immigration laws.
• One City’s Discrimination, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial praises Denver’s mayor for commissioning a frank report on minority discrimination. It argues that every community should examine its own prejudices in the same way.
• Nisei U.S.A.: Yasuo Kuniyoshi, by Yasuo Kuniyoshi, page 4. Kuniyoshi reflects on the responsibility of artists to defend freedom of expression and democratic principles. He wrote these words for a monograph published by the American Artists Group.
• Bill Hosokawa: From the Frying Pan, by Bill Hosokawa, page 6. Hosokawa’s column covers the Bowery in New York, a community of forgotten older men, and reflects on the aging Issei who face similar isolation. He urges Nisei to consider the future needs of the older generation.
• Information on Reburial Plans Sought by JACL Committee, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The JACL Committee for Arlington Cemetery asks next of kin of Nisei soldiers being reinterred at Arlington to notify chairman Jack Hirose of reburial dates. Early notice allows the JACL to arrange services and photographs for the families.

Arts & Entertainment

• Japanese Film Slated for Murray Showing, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The popular Japanese film Ma no Yoru will be shown in Murray, Utah, for Issei audiences. The Army recruiting service is presenting the film.

In-Depth

• The Making of an Artist: Yasuo Kuniyoshi, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The article traces the life of painter Yasuo Kuniyoshi, who immigrated alone at age 13 and rose to international fame as an American artist. It recounts his early hardships, his studies in Los Angeles and New York, and his wartime artistic commitments.

Sports

• Hawaii Bowling Envoys, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Hawaii is selecting two teams of bowlers to tour the mainland and campaign against the American Bowling Congress ban on bowlers not of Caucasian ancestry. Several Japanese American bowlers are among the top contenders.
• Not Yet Ready, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Robert Takeshita, a Nisei welterweight with 21 straight wins, is not yet ready for big-time mainland competition, according to Hawaii handlers. He will receive more training before facing top mainland fighters.
• Wat Misaka, by P.C. Staff, page 7. The New York Knickerbockers asked for waivers on Wat Misaka, a former Utah star who has played in all their games this season. The move may relate to the release of players from a Midwest league.
• USC’s Naumu, by P.C. Staff, page 7. Johnny Naumu, a Japanese Hawaiian who was USC’s first-string left halfback, served as honorary captain when USC defeated UCLA. He had been sidelined by a broken arm in the Ohio State game.

Thank you for exploring the Pacific Citizen archive. The title, introduction and contents on this page were written by an AI model from scans of the printed issue, so they may contain mistakes. If you spot one, we would be grateful if you let us know.