The 1946 alien land law prosecutions and the return of evacuees to California

Vol. 22, No. 5, February 2, 1946. 8 pages. View this issue

California’s push to enforce its alien land law against Japanese American farm owners led this 8-page issue. Larry Tajiri argued that the prosecutions grew out of an anti-evacuee campaign begun during World War II, and a news story reported more than 150 Tulare County properties under investigation. Charles M. Wollenberg, the state’s director of social welfare, asked the federal government to extend the War Relocation Authority program past June 30, saying California faced unbudgeted costs for returning evacuees. Also on the front page: a plate glass window in a Penryn store opened by Bronze Star recipient Kiyoto Nishimoto was smashed by rocks.

Elsewhere in the issue, Col. Wallace H. Moore and Capt. Thomas E. Crowley paid tribute to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The Minidoka relocation center was set to close on Feb. 9. Editorials took up the Penryn attacks and the Fair Employment Practices Committee filibuster, and Tajiri also wrote about Little Tokyo and its time as Bronzeville.

What’s in this issue

Incarceration & Redress

• California Demands Federal Government Maintain Financial Responsibility for Evacuees, by P.C. Staff, page 1. California social welfare director Charles M. Wollenberg asked the federal government to extend the WRA program beyond its June 30 expiration because the state faces an unbudgeted expense. He said the increased county hospital and indigent aid costs from returning evacuees are serious burdens on taxpayers.
• Repatriates Wish They Were Back in U.S., by P.C. Staff, page 3. Japanese American repatriates arriving at Camp Kamoi in Japan complained that the food was unfit to eat and that there was no heating during the cold winter. Many, including youths, said they wished they were back in the United States.
• Minidoka Camp Will Cease Operations, by P.C. Staff, page 3. The Minidoka relocation center at Hunt, Idaho, will be completely shut down on Feb. 9, according to camp director William E. Rawlings. Only about 80 operating personnel remained after the last evacuee left in October.

Military & Veterans

• Window Smashed in Penryn Store Opened by Nisei Ex-GI, by P.C. Staff, page 1. A plate glass window in the newly opened store of Kiyoto Nishimoto, a Bronze Star recipient, was shattered by two large rocks on Jan. 29. The incident was the latest in a series of attacks against returning Japanese American veterans and evacuees in the area.
• Col. Moore Pays Tribute to Nisei Killed in Europe, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Col. Wallace H. Moore praised Japanese Americans who died in the war, citing the battle exploits of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team in Italy and France. He said the Nisei had cleared the Vosges forest in a military operation unprecedented in history.
• Nisei Specialists Worked Behind Lines in Japan, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Japanese American servicemen were infiltrated into Japan by submarine in 1944 and 1945 as U.S. Army Intelligence Service members, according to Trends and Tides. Their work helped make life bearable for American prisoners of war and reportedly saved many lives.
• Capt. Crowley Talks on Role of 442nd in European Battles, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Former 442nd captain Thomas E. Crowley described the regiment’s participation in Italy and France, including the rescue of the Lost Battalion. He urged the JACL to help returning veterans find homes and jobs.
• Japanese American Soldiers in Nippon Want to Come Home, Just Like Other U.S. Troops, by Forrest Williams, page 3. Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter Forrest Williams described Nisei soldiers serving as interpreters in occupied Japan, who are treated hospitably but are struck by Japanese dismay at their service. Williams reported the Nisei soldiers said they wanted to go home to the United States.
• 88th Gridders Tie 442nd in Italy Bowl Tilt, by P.C. Staff, page 8. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team football team tied the 88th Division Blue Devils 13-13 on New Year’s Day in Trieste. Tak Kobayashi’s 80-yard run gave the Nisei the lead before the 88th scored late with two desperation passes.

National

• Hearing on Thirty Deportation Cases Postponed, Says Wirin, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Thirty deportation cases set for hearing on Jan. 31 before the Board of Immigration Appeals were postponed, according to attorney A. L. Wirin. It is expected there will be no involuntary deportations in these cases while motions remain pending.
• Deportation Cases to Be Handled by International Institute, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Deportation cases formerly handled by several agencies will now be channeled through the International Institute of San Francisco to avoid duplication. The Institute will counsel on stays of deportation and refer cases needing legal service to attorneys.
• Minors Who Refused to Renounce Rights to Get State Care, by P.C. Staff, page 1. California will bear responsibility for 14 to 21 year old Americans of Japanese ancestry who refused to renounce citizenship and join their parents on deportation ships. State Director Charles M. Wollenberg said they will be cared for from regular funds for needy children.
• Investigate Nisei Property in Tulare Area, by P.C. Staff, page 1. More than 150 properties in Tulare County owned by Japanese Americans are under investigation for alleged violations of the anti-alien land law. Investigator Harry W. Perry reported 51 cases already set and six recommended for prosecution.
• Los Angeles Lawyers Vote on Admitting Non-Whites to Group, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Members of the Los Angeles Bar Association are voting by mail on a proposal to add a sentence stating race, color, creed or national ancestry shall not bar membership. The association is the largest voluntary lawyers’ organization in California.
• War Prisoner Backs Rights of Canada’s Japanese Americans, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Capt. David Golden of the Winnipeg Grenadiers, a former prisoner of the Japanese, argued that deporting Japanese people born in Canada is shocking. His statement supported the right of Japanese Canadians to remain in Canada.
• Nisei War Record Wipes Out Bar to Hawaiian Statehood, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Statehood support is rising in Hawaii after a House subcommittee recommended statehood, with the war record of Japanese Americans removing doubts about their loyalty. Observers note that Japanese voters have not used their numbers to elect members of their own race to office.
• Officials in Land Law Cases Questioned by Selma Paper, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Selma Enterprise questioned why state and county officials suddenly sought to enforce the anti-alien land law against Japanese Americans. The paper said the law has been a dead letter for 25 years and is now being used to persecute a minority group.
• Canada Seeks Court Verdict on Deportation, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Canadian officials suspended the planned deportation of a large number of Japanese Canadians until the Supreme Court of Canada rules on the validity of three government orders. The court heard arguments on Jan. 24 but has not yet announced its decision.
• Sgt. Kuroki Joins Protest Against New York Newspaper, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Tech. Sgt. Ben Kuroki spoke at a Hunter College protest against anti-Semitic statements by New York Daily News columnist John O’Donnell. He declared that the war against homefront intolerance has just begun.
• Nisei Graduates Medical College With Honors, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Mary Schiochi Oda graduated cum laude from Women’s Medical College in Pennsylvania. The Nisei student had previously attended the University of California.

In-Depth

• Present Prosecutions Result From Anti-Evacuee Program Launched During World War II, by By LARRY TAJIRI, page 1. Tajiri argues California is attempting a major land grab by using the Alien Land Law against Japanese American farm owners, a law revived during the war by racist groups. He contends the prosecutions were driven by hate organizations and legislative committees and that the law has no place in a democratic state.

Community

• Nisei Ex-GI Joins American Legion in Placer County, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Cosmo Sakamoto became the first Japanese American veteran to join a Placer County veterans organization when he was initiated into the Richard W. Townsend Post of the American Legion. His family home had been burned mysteriously the day before they returned from a relocation center.
• 16 Thousand Evacuees Back in L.A. Area, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The War Relocation Authority reported that about 16,000 of the 36,866 Japanese Americans who lived in Los Angeles County before evacuation have returned. Thousands more are expected to be relocated before the Los Angeles WRA office closes on May 1.
• Soldiers Enjoy Sleighride Party, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The International Institute of St. Paul sponsored a sleigh-ride party for over 100 servicemen at Eaton’s Dude Ranch near Savage, Minnesota. The event was followed by supper and dancing in a rented log building.
• California Terrorist Admits Shooting into Homes of Two Japanese American Families, by P.C. Staff, page 2. Robert Franklin Hailey, 36, withdrew his not guilty pleas and admitted shotgun attacks on the Motozaki and Idota homes near Centerville in September 1945. Sentencing was set for Feb. 28, and no one was injured in the attacks.
• Social Security Commission to Aid Missouri Evacuees, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The Missouri State Social Security Commission will take over many WRA duties in St. Louis as the local WRA office closes. A new Coordinating Committee for Resettler Services was also formed to continue assistance.
• Investigation Proves Shooting of Farm Worker Accidental, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Contra Costa police identified a Filipino cook as the person whose stray bullet injured Kanejiro Fujinaga, a ranch worker, and determined the shooting was accidental. The cook had been target shooting and cooperated with investigators.
• Two Sisters Who Aided Nazi POWs Returning Home, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Florence Otani and Sitari Tanigoshi, convicted in 1944 of conspiring to aid German prisoners of war escape, completed most of their prison terms. They stopped in Denver on their way home to Englewood, California.
• Evacuee Sentenced to Jail on Assault Charge in Yuba City, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Fukumatsu Yamada, 66, pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon on fellow returned evacuee Rihei Miyasaki and was sentenced to San Quentin. The charge was reduced from assault with intent to murder.
• Dayton Nisei Feted at Church Dinner, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Forty Japanese American residents of Dayton, Ohio, were guests at a dinner at the First Baptist Church sponsored by the Church Federation Resettlement Committee. Veterans Wallace Nunotani and Everett Sasaki were recognized and Rev. John Yamazaki spoke.
• Santa Clara County Now Has Largest Percentage of Returned Evacuee Group, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Santa Clara County now has about 7,000 relocated persons of Japanese ancestry, twice its pre-evacuation population. Housing is the biggest problem, but returnees have met little discrimination in schools, employment, or churches.

Commentary

• Wind on Capitol Hill, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial condemns a Southern senators’ filibuster against a bill to make the Fair Employment Practices Committee permanent. It argues the bill simply bars discrimination based on race, creed or color and is supported by a majority in Congress.
• Incident at Penryn, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial treats the stoning of Kiyoto Nishimoto’s store as an isolated act in a year of more than fifty incidents against returning evacuees. It argues that most West Coast communities have welcomed the evacuees and that the terrorism backfired by exposing the opposition.
• Two Repatriates, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial reflects on American-born Nisei who renounced citizenship and returned to Japan after facing discrimination. It argues that ‘disloyalty’ is made through discriminatory schooling, employment, housing and legislation rather than being innate.
• Taller and Heavier, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial notes that Nisei are taller and healthier than their Issei parents, a fact the Nippon Times remarked upon. It suggests food and sports rather than regimented calisthenics may explain the difference.
• The Remaking of a Ghetto, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. Tajiri describes how Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo, emptied by evacuation, was taken over by Negro war workers as Bronzeville. He argues that returning evacuees are reestablishing the area and that racial enclaves will persist without equal opportunity.
• The Fallacy of Race, by Marie Harlowe Pulley, page 6. Pulley argues that science shows no biological or intellectual differences between races with equal opportunity. She contends that racial prejudice is recent and that history shows many races have contributed to civilization.
• Letter from Louis Adamic on Asia and the Pacific, by Louis Adamic, page 7. Louis Adamic writes to the editor praising the Pacific Citizen’s contents and size as a sign of the high spirit of the Japanese American group. He thanks the paper for its holiday issue and generous references to his work.
• Holiday Issue, by P.C. Staff, page 7. A writer praises the Christmas issue but objects to an item about bad feelings between workers on their farm. The writer says returning evacuees have been welcomed back as old friends and that there has been no trouble.
• Letterbox: Kanejiro Fujinaga Shooting Clarified, by P.C. Staff, page 7. A reader writes to clarify that the shooting of Kanejiro Fujinaga on his father’s farm was an accident caused by a careless cook target shooting nearby. The writer praises the authorities’ investigation and Fujinaga’s standing in the community.

Arts & Entertainment

• Return of a Hero Told in New Republic, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The New Republic article by Martin recounts the return of Sgt. Ben Kuroki to Hershey, Nebraska, where he was welcomed as a hometown hero. It also describes the disparity between the ideals he fought for and the discrimination he still encountered at home.
• Nimura Directs Dances for New Broadway Show, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Yeichi Nimura, a noted dancer, is the choreographer for the Broadway production The Lute Song, which opens at the Plymouth Theater with Mary Martin. The show is adapted from the Chinese play Pi-Pa-Ki.

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