Vol. 15, No. 25, November 19, 1942. 8 pages. View this issue
A federal ruling on the wartime curfew led the news. Judge James A. Fee held that the army’s curfew order was void as applied to American citizens of Japanese ancestry, though he convicted Minoru Yasui as an alien by choice. Observers said the decision could reach other army orders, including the forced removal, while General DeWitt’s headquarters said all orders remained in force. Fifty delegates from nine War Relocation Authority centers and free-zone chapters met in Salt Lake City to shape a JACL policy on the civil rights of Nisei, and the editorials looked ahead to what the conference might decide.
Columns by Bill Hosokawa, Tad Uyeno, A. L. Wirin and James Nakamura fill the commentary pages. Elsewhere, Lt. Kiyoshi Kuramoto of the 100th Infantry Battalion spoke about Nisei soldiers at Camp McCoy. News from the camps included the disconnected fence at Minidoka and an attack on a Manzanar police detective.
What’s in this issue
National
- Judge Fee’s Decision in Yasui Case May Also Affect Constitutionality of Army’s Evacuation and Subsequent Orders, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Federal Judge James A. Fee ruled that the army’s curfew order was void as applied to American citizens of Japanese ancestry, though he convicted Minoru Yasui as an alien by choice. Observers said the ruling could affect other army orders, including evacuation, while General DeWitt’s headquarters declared all orders remained in force.
JACL
- Democracy in Action: JACL Leaders Discuss Problems, by P.C. Staff, page 1. Fifty delegates from nine war relocation centers and free-zone chapters met in Salt Lake City to develop an over-all JACL policy on the civil rights and liberties of nisei. Discussions covered WRA administration, health, community management, and resettlement.
Incarceration & Redress
- Evacuee Delegates Discuss Resettlement Plan at JACL Conference, by P.C. Staff, page 2. The JACL conference addressed resettlement outside the combat zone, with Dean Robert O’Brien reporting nearly 300 colleges now open to evacuee students. Delegates also addressed rumors of Hawaiian Japanese disloyalty and discrimination in employment and housing.
Military & Veterans
- Nisei Soldiers Eager to Fight, Says Lt. Kiyoshi Kuramoto of 100th Battalion, by P.C. Staff, page 3. Officers of the 100th Infantry Battalion at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, praised their Hawaiian nisei soldiers, who reported for duty on December 7 without delay. Lt. Kuramoto said the nisei wanted nothing more than to fight Japan to prove their loyalty to the United States.
- Nisei Soldiers Training and Serving Across the Army, by P.C. Staff, page 5. Vagaries column notes nisei soldiers training with a commando unit in the east and three nisei captains in the 100th Infantry at Camp McCoy. It also reports nisei working in war industries in the east.
- Killing Told By Canadian Morii at Hearing, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Estuji Morii, a member of British Columbia’s Provincial Security Commission, was accused of extortion from other Japanese Canadians during evacuation. He admitted a prior manslaughter conviction and receiving money from judo clubs.
Commentary
- Nisei Have a Stake in the Victory, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial argues that Japanese Americans have a vital stake in Allied victory and in a postwar ‘democracy of the common man,’ including ethnic democracy. It cites Vice-President Wallace’s vision of economic, political, and ethnic democracy.
- The JACL Conference, by P.C. Staff, page 4. The editorial notes that the future of the Nisei depends on decisions made at the JACL conference and urges every Nisei to take an active interest in shaping their future. It calls for renewed faith and strength to push the battle for recognition.
- Not This Time, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Reprinted from the Minidoka Irrigator, this piece predicts that the postwar armistice will not be a sellout and will usher in a ‘Century of the Common Man.’
- From the Frying Pan: Listen to America on a Cross-Country Bus, by Bill Hosokawa, page 4. On a bus journey, the author confronts a soldier’s prejudice against Negroes and Jews, and is later greeted as an American by three soldiers once they learn he is Japanese American. The column reflects on America’s diversity and the need to reject prejudice.
- Washington Letter: The World Looks at North African Offensive, by P.C. Staff, page 4. Radio broadcasts from around the world reveal enemy surprise at the Allied North African offensive and sympathy from neutral nations. German, Italian, and Vichy French commentators expressed alarm over food shortages and strategic losses.
- The Lancer: Individual Resettlement Is Progressive Step, by Tad Uyeno, page 5. Uyeno argues that evacuees must be relocated to interior communities before the war ends, though the process depends on their own cooperation. He urges them to accept jobs and move forward rather than remain bitter about evacuation.
- The Supreme Court Decision: In Democratic America Even Japanese Aliens Have Rights, by A. L. Wirin, page 5. Wirin analyzes the Supreme Court’s unanimous ruling in the case of Kumezo Kawato, which held that an interned Japanese alien may sue in American courts. He argues the decision should also protect the civil rights of Japanese American citizens.
- Nisei Evacuees Shall Keep Faith in This—Their America, by James Nakamura, page 5. Nakamura, writing from Gila River, responds to Arroyo Grande residents who declared Japanese no longer wanted there. He recalls the community’s earlier kindness and asserts that evacuees will keep faith in their American identity.
Arts & Entertainment
- Isamu Noguchi on Short-Term Leave to New York, by P.C. Staff, page 5. Noguchi, who voluntarily relocated to Poston, is traveling to New York on leave after an exhibition in San Francisco. A notable work, a lynched Negro figure, was withheld from display after a veterans’ group protested.
Community
- Electrified Barbed-Wire Fence Disconnected at Minidoka, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Colonists at Minidoka were alarmed to find the perimeter fence being electrified, but administration sources said the electrification was not authorized by the army or WRA. The generator was disconnected while the barbed wire remained in place.
- Idaho Chapter Reviews Year, by P.C. Staff, page 6. The Yellowstone JACL chapter in Rexburg, Idaho, reviewed its year of work, including volunteering to thin sugar beets during a labor shortage and running war bond, USO, and Red Cross drives. Members are now finishing fall farm work before winter.
- Poston Boy Gets Model Airplane After Writing to President Roosevelt, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Fourteen-year-old Yosh Ochi wrote to President Roosevelt asking for money for a model airplane because WRA rules barred workers under 16. His letter was forwarded through the Labor Department and WRA, which arranged for him to be given work.
- Protestant Group Appeals for Materials to Aid Evacuees, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Gordon Chapman of the Protestant Commission for Japanese Service appealed to churches for recreational equipment, Christmas gifts, and funds for evacuees in the ten relocation centers. He stressed that many young people will spend their first Christmas away from home.
- Evacuee Trust Fund Sought by Utahns at Topaz Labor Hearing, by P.C. Staff, page 7. At an open hearing in Topaz, the labor committee of the Community Council discussed an evacuee trust fund to which part of outside earnings would be returned. Panel speakers from various departments and block managers participated.
- Nisei Police Official Beaten in Manzanar, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Manzanar police detective Tom Imai was attacked from behind by unknown assailants and suffered facial and kidney injuries. Police Chief Willard Schmidt vowed to apprehend the attackers, and columnist Tad Uyeno condemned the cowardice.
- JACL Officials Rush Plasma to Topaz to Help Save Life, by P.C. Staff, page 8. After an emergency call from Topaz for blood plasma, JACL staff members George Inagaki and Scotty Tsuchiya drove 160 miles through snow and sleet to deliver it. Dr. Masaatsu Harada operated on the patient, who was reported to be recovering.
- Evacuee Workers Finish Beet Harvesting in Eastern Idaho, by P.C. Staff, page 8. Evacuee beet workers returning from the upper Snake River valley reported mixed experiences, with satisfaction at employment but complaints about housing and unequal field assignments. Some crews were praised by farmers for speed and efficiency.
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