Attacks on Nisei citizenship in California, January 1943

Vol. 16, No. 2, January 14, 1943. 8 pages. View this issue

Efforts to strip Japanese Americans of their citizenship drove the news in this eight-page issue. California legislators Clair Engle and Lloyd Lowrey introduced resolutions and bills to revoke the rights of American-born Japanese, and the Dies committee claimed credit for the forced removal from the West Coast. Saburo Kido wrote about the decision facing nisei in the camps, and a Pyrrhic Victory editorial warned that the measures could open the door to action against other minorities. The JACL asked to send representatives to California to defend Nisei citizenship.

Also inside: the Ninth Circuit’s plan to hear the Korematsu and Hirabayashi test cases on January 30. Larry Tajiri wrote on organized labor and relocation, and Bill Hosokawa on Asia. Camp news came from Topaz, Minidoka, Heart Mountain, Tule Lake and Rohwer, with a Los Angeles Times report on food at Manzanar.

What’s in this issue

Incarceration & Redress

• Dies Committee Takes Credit for Evacuation, page 1. The Dies committee’s annual report claims credit for removing Japanese Americans from the West Coast through its 1941 ‘yellow paper’ on Japanese espionage. Congressman Jerry Voorhis and House liberals called the claim extravagant, noting the paper contained no new information.
• California Legislators Open Attack on Nisei Citizenship, page 1. Senator Clair Engle and Assemblyman Lloyd Lowrey introduced resolutions and bills in the California legislature to revoke citizenship rights of American-born Japanese and restrict alien Japanese. Measures include a constitutional amendment barring persons of Japanese descent from citizenship and a ban on commercial fishing licenses.
• Resettlement Officials Open Chicago Talks, page 1. A four-day WRA conference on individual relocation of loyal evacuees opened in Chicago with discussions limited to WRA staff on the first day. Open sessions were scheduled for the weekend with employment offices planned in several midwestern cities.
• U.S. Court of Appeals Will Review Korematsu, Hirabayashi Test Cases on Evacuation, page 1. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear en banc on January 30 the test cases of Fred Korematsu and Gordon Hirabayashi challenging evacuation orders. The court will also hear a Native Sons suit to bar Nisei voters, which had been dismissed by a federal judge.
• Sen. Wallgren to Investigate Evacuee Camps, page 1. Senator Monrad Wallgren announced an investigation into disturbing reports of trouble among internees in war relocation camps, incited by Japanese nationals. He said he would urge that handling of relocation be taken from the WRA and returned to the army.
• Two Women, Shot in New York, Reported Recovering, page 1. Two women of Japanese ancestry were seriously injured when shot by a 65-year-old assailant in their home in Sylvan Beach, New York, on December 28. Both were reported to be on the road to recovery.
• Congress for Revocation of Rights of Japanese Americans, page 1. California legislators introduced measures in January 1943 seeking to strip citizenship and restrict land and fishing rights for Japanese Americans. Other members of the legislature said they would push similar measures.
• Resident Faces Trial in Stabbing Case, page 2. Gyotoku Tokita, 67, faces trial in Cody for stabbing Taro Suenaga at Heart Mountain on New Year’s day. Suenaga was reported to be recovering after a transfusion.
• Official Asks Segregation of Disloyal Group, page 2. Representative B. W. Gearhart said he received complaints from loyal evacuees being intimidated by pro-Axis Japanese in the camps. He cited a case where a Japanese-born veteran was placed on a death list and had his property destroyed.
• Sutter County Jury Wants Congress to Revoke Nisei Rights, page 2. The Sutter County Grand Jury sent a resolution to the state legislature and California congressional delegation demanding Japanese Americans be barred from citizenship and from owning or using agricultural land. The resolution followed similar action by the Imperial County grand jury.
• Relocation Stressed by Friends Service Official at Minidoka, page 2. Floyd Schmoe of the Friends Society stressed the importance of relocating and acclimating evacuees before the war ends. He said west coast Japanese have more friends today than ever.
• Rep. Johnson Asks Congress for Investigation of Centers, page 2. Representative J. Leroy Johnson introduced a resolution calling for a congressional investigation of the educational and administrative programs at relocation centers. He cited rumors about food rationing and teacher salaries, while Representative Harry Sheppard denied the food allegations after visiting three centers.
• Oregon Post Begins Drive to Bar Evacuees, page 3. The Hood River post of the American Legion in Oregon passed resolutions urging deportation of all Japanese-born persons and American-born Japanese after the war. The resolutions were sent to all Pacific coast Legion posts for adoption.
• Warren Ousts Carey McWilliams From State Post, page 3. California Governor Earl Warren removed Carey McWilliams as head of the Division of Immigration and Housing in one of his first acts. McWilliams, author of works on migratory labor and Japanese evacuation, had incurred the wrath of powerful vested interests.
• National Baptist Group Will Aid Relocation of Evacuees, page 3. The Council on Social Relations of the American Baptist Home Missions Society resolved to mobilize local groups nationwide to support evacuee resettlement. The council worked with the JACL and the National Japanese American Resettlement Committee.
• Stimson Defends Army Evacuation of Non-Japanese, page 3. Secretary of War Henry Stimson explained that evacuation of white American citizens from some West Coast areas was a safety measure protecting military installations. He said it was not a general evacuation or internment.
• California Legislator Receives Resolutions Attacking Nisei Rights, page 3. Lowrey defended the Engle-Lowrey bills, arguing the proposals would not unfairly affect Chinese and other Orientals because Japanese are the only Oriental group in commercial fishing off California. The authors claimed Japanese nationals showed an inability to assimilate.
• Interned Peruvian Japanese Will Be Sent to U.S.A., page 7. Eight hundred Japanese rounded up in Peru will be sent to the United States in possible exchange for American prisoners. Many Peruvian-born Japanese had operated hotels and businesses before the war.
• L.A. Times Survey Discloses Food for Evacuees Rationed, by Bill Henry, page 7. A Los Angeles Times investigation at Manzanar found evacuee diets are rationed, with adults receiving two and a half pounds of meat weekly. Columnist Bill Henry also denied rumors of Hawaiian Japanese sabotage on December 7.

Community

• Relocation Centers Not Average American’s Idea of Utopia, Says Whitaker, page 2. WRA Regional Director E. B. Whitaker denied attempts to coddle Japanese Americans at the Jerome and Rohwer centers, responding to a Memphis Commercial-Appeal exposé. He said evacuees were adjusting to changed weather, work, and living conditions.
• Nearly Half of Topaz Residents Employed, page 3. Forty-six percent of Topaz Relocation Center residents are now employed within the project, according to chief of the employment division Claude Cornwall. Many others work outside the center for private employers and sugar beet farms.
• Evacuee Volunteers Harvest Enough Beets to Produce 265 Million Pounds of Sugar, by Frank Clay Cross, page 5. Frank Clay Cross, writing in Western Farm Life, praises Japanese American volunteer labor in sugar beet harvesting that overcame prejudice in the North Platte valley. Farmers who initially resisted hiring evacuees now plan to hire more in 1943.
• Gila News-Courier Expands Coverage, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The Gila River News-Courier plans expanded English and Japanese coverage of local and world news, along with a women’s column. The changes were announced by Robert A. Barron, supervisor of the Department of Information.
• Camp Crowder Nisei Win Games with Army Teams, page 6. The Camp Crowder nisei soldiers won two basketball games against Army teams, defeating the Seventh Regiment and the 804th Midwestern Signal School team. Their fast-breaking style overcame the taller Signal Corps squad in a comeback victory.
• Wyoming Group Begins Timber Cutting, page 6. Heart Mountain residents began felling timber in the Shoshone National Forest for a sawmill project supplying center lumber needs. The year-round project is expected to employ more than 80 evacuees.
• Red Cross Sweaters to Be Distributed at Tule Lake, page 6. Two hundred of 400 sweaters knitted by volunteers for the Red Cross will be distributed to Tule Lake colonists through the social welfare department. The remaining sweaters are reserved for emergency cases.
• Chiyo Sakamoto Only Woman Lawyer in WRA Centers, by Suyeo Sako, page 6. Chiyoko Sakamoto of the Granada legal staff is the only nisei woman lawyer in the WRA centers. She passed the California bar in 1938 and handled over 100 court cases in Los Angeles before evacuation.
• Rohwer to Repeat Three-Day Shows, page 6. Rohwer will repeat its three-day adult New Year show featuring center talent for residents who missed the first performances. The show drew over 1600 viewers and included music, dance, and dramatic performances.
• Clever Nisei Bantamweights Among Rohwer Center Boxers, page 6. Rohwer center claims several nisei boxers from California and Hawaii, including Hank Yonemoto, rated outstanding bantam of California in 1940. The center boxers include experienced amateurs and Golden Gloves competitors.
• Evacuee Mothers Aided by Group in Bakersfield, page 7. A Fellowship of Reconciliation member at Bakersfield assisted 20 evacuee mothers with infants during a two-hour train stopover en route to Arkansas. The group provided refreshments and friendliness after being given only two hours notice to travel.
• Russell Bankston Assumes Reports Post at Central Utah Center, page 8. Russell Bankson took over as chief of the project reports division at Topaz after Irvin Hull’s departure. Bankson is a former Spokane newspaper editor and author of several novels.
• School Patrol Promotes Safety, page 8. The Minidoka safety patrol, made up of 34 students from Huntville and Stafford Elementary schools, educates children in traffic safety. It was organized despite the limited number of vehicles in the center.
• Youths at Hunt Sign for Draft, page 8. The recent selective service sign-up of 18-year-olds affected 69 Hunt residents. Sixteen young nisei from Minidoka enlisted in the Army and were sent to the Camp Savage language school.

Commentary

• Nisei Face a Grave Decision, by Saburo Kido, page 3. Kido urges nisei in relocation centers to decide whether to venture into the outside world despite hostile public reaction. He warns that remaining in the centers saps the strength and fighting spirit needed to rebuild lives after the war.
• A Pyrrhic Victory, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial condemns the Engle-Lowrey resolution and Thurman resolution as a concerted attack finishing the work of evacuation. It warns that stripping citizenship from Japanese Americans would open the door to similar action against all racial minorities.
• Churches and Relocation, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial praises churches for their active support of evacuees from the beginning, including protesting mass evacuation and aiding student and family relocation. It says their work strengthens faith in the American way.
• Boas and Carver, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial honors the deaths of Dr. George Washington Carver and anthropologist Franz Boas as symbols of racial equality. It notes Boas’s scientific work refuted theories of Nordic superiority.
• Labor and Relocation, by Larry Tajiri, page 4. Tajiri examines organized labor’s historical discrimination against Japanese workers and the challenges this poses for WRA work relocation. He notes AFL unions’ anti-Oriental clauses while praising the CIO and some labor defense of Nisei citizenship.
• Vagaries, by P.C. Staff, page 5. This column reports that rumors of Hawaiian Japanese sabotage on December 7 have been disproven yet are still circulated by prohibitionists. It also notes A.E.F. veteran Tokutaro Slocum’s past work on Oriental alien veterans’ citizenship.
• New Sacrifices, by P.C. Staff, page 5. The editorial, reprinted from the Minidoka Irrigator, urges Americans to make sacrifices and do their part toward victory. It argues that defeat would mean a return to barbarism while victory would bring the Age of the Common Man.
• Let’s Not Underestimate Asia, by Bill Hosokawa, page 5. Hosokawa argues that the United Nations have neglected Asia despite its vast manpower and resources. He warns that failing to deal with Asian peoples’ doubts about Western motives could lead to future conflict.
• Report from Tokyo: Ambassador Grew Discloses Ambitions of Militarists, by Stephen Pearce, page 5. Pearce reviews Joseph Grew’s book describing Japan’s militarist government and the failure of his peace mission. Grew argues that only complete military defeat will end Japan’s conquests.

JACL

• JACL Asks Right to Send Representatives to California to Defend Nisei Citizenship, page 3. The JACL requested through National Secretary Mike Masaoka permission to send representatives to the California legislature to defend the rights of Japanese Americans affected by recent bills. The request was made to General DeWitt as part of a new JACL policy of entering all cases threatening Nisei legal rights.
• Masaoka Will Visit Topaz, page 3. JACL National Secretary Mike Masaoka and Hito Okada will travel to Topaz for meetings with JACL members and interested residents. Visits to Minidoka and Heart Mountain are also planned during the month.

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