Conscience and the Constitution

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Analysis: A Look at JACL’s Role During WWII, Stance on Resisters

by MARTHA NAKAGAWA
Assistant Editor
Pacific Citizen, July 16-22, 1999

Confusion surrounding JACL’s role during World War II has been cropping up during the current debate on whether or not national JACL should pass a resolution of reconciliation with the Nikkei resisters of conscience.

Some of the confusion stems from the fact that very little has been written about the resisters and their connection to JACL during the war. This same question of JACL’s role during WWII arose in 1988, the year the redress bill was passed, when JACL, at their 30th Biennial JACL national convention in Seattle, attempted to pass Resolution 7, which would have apologized to the "no-nos," a completely seperate group of people, and did not specifically indicate the resisters.

"Now therefore, be it resolved that the JACL recognize that a number of our community citizens were injured by persons acting individually and in the name of the JACL and that the JACL apologizes for their injuries, pain and injustices born by them.

"Further be it resolved that the JACL will do everything in its power to go forth to heal these wounds and to reach out to all of our community to encourage all to endeavor for the benefit of each of us."

Resolution 7 never passed, but a motion was approved to form a Presidential Select Committee to research JACL’s wartime role so that delegates may make an informed decision on Resolution 7 at the 31st Biennial Convention in San Diego in 1990.

The committee consisted of Cressey Nakagawa, Toru Ishiyama, Lillian Kimura, Marilyn Hall Patel and Homer Yasui.

The Lim Report

The JACL hired Deborah Lim, an attorney by training and an instructor of Asian Studies at San Francisco State University, in June 1989 to conduct the research, according to the "Report of the Presidential Select Committee on Resolution No. 7 to the JACL National Council" submitted at the San Diego biennial convention.

The report noted that Lim had access to the Pacific Citizen; about 15 boxes of JACL archives from national headquarters; two boxes of JACL files from Salt Lake City and Idaho Falls; Bancroft Library, including War Relocation Authority Records, the papers of attorney Wayne Collins, the Japanese American Evacuation and Resettlement Study, and the papers of WRA social worker Evelyn Whitehead McCool; Special Collections at the University Research Library at UCLA, including the papers of Manzanar Project Director Ralph Merritt, the Japanese American Research Project collection; National Archives and Records Administration, including WRA records, Western Defense Command Records, files of the Commission of Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians; Operational Archives-Naval Historical Center in Washington, D.C., including Naval Intelligence Reports; the papers of James Y. Sakamoto on microfilm; oral history tapes of Saburo Kido, Mike Masaoka, Togo Tanaka, Sally Slocum and Lee Murata.

In addition, Lim utilized about 14 books and articles, and contacted 28 people to complete the report.

In 1990, Lim submitted a 154-page report to the committee. Some of JACL’s wartime activities that the report determined included the following: that JACL played an informant role before and during WWII; organized a unsuccessful Kibei survey shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor; supported evacuation if it was deemed a military necessity; suggested a suicide battlion while holding Issei as hostages (the recommendation came from Mike Masaoka and is corroborated in his book, "They Call Me Moses Masaoka"); took certain action in connection with the resisters; and advocated the creation of a segregation camp to separate the so-called "loyals" from the "disloyals."

The committee did not approve the 154-page report, which has come to be known as the "Lim Report."

"The researcher drew too many conclusions, and we found that objectionable because it was not her role to draw conclusions," said Yasui, the former governor of the JACL’s Pacific Northwest District Council and a younger brother of Minoru Yasui.

Cressey Nakagawa, then national JACL president and chair of the President Select Committee, said Lim relied too heavily on secondary and tertiary sources and reported them as fact. He also felt Lim’s research did not address the issues needed to resolve Resolution 7.

Kimura declined to comment on the "Lim Report," but urged the younger generation to learn about Nikkei history through such avenues as the JACL Curriculum Guide and other educational materials.

In place of the 154-page Lim Report, the committee submitted a 28-page version to delegates at the 1990 convention. This report relied heavily on a book entitled, "Strangers From a Different Shore," written by Ronald Takaki, a resource book which had not been used by Lim.

Among the points brought up by the 28-page report included a brief history of JACL and of the Nikkei in America through Takaki’s book; JACL’s contributions to social welfare activities; and JACL’s position on the loyalty questionnaire, "no, nos," segregation and resisters.

Ultimately, this 28-page report helped pass Resolution 13, which recognized but did not apologize to the resisters (there was no longer reference to the "no, nos.")

It read in part: "Now, therefore, be it resolved that the JACL recognize that those Japanese American draft resisters of World War II, who declared their loyalty to their country, but who were also dedicated to the principle of defending their civil rights, were willing to make significant sacrifices to uphold their beliefs of patriotism in a different form from those who sacrificed their lives on the battlefields; and that they, too, deserve a place of honor and respect in the history of Americans of Japanese ancestry…"

Yasui said he had mixed feelings about the current resolution being debated by the JACL districts. He did note, however, that there was a need to apologize to the resisters for all the negative name calling that had occurred at the time, such as calling them "traitors" or "yellow-bellied cowards."

On the other hand, Yasui felt JACL had every right to disagree with the resisters’ stand, saying "we disagreed with their method, rather than their principle," and added that on this point, no apology was needed. He is also against a public ceremony honoring the resisters.

Nakagawa was concerned that this was a one-way apology, although at this time he could not come up with any specifics he would like from the resisters. Instead, he hoped a pact of understanding could be reached between JACL and the resisters.

JACL’s Stance on the Resisters

Wartime Pacific Citizen editorials, JACL correspondence and personal accounts clearly point to the fact that JACL actively opposed the resisters of conscience and fingered the late James Omura, then-English editor of the Rocky Shimpo, as the person responsible for "misguiding" the men through his editorials, an accusation some of the Heart Mountain resisters find amusing since none of them had ever met Omura before the trial.

A good example of the type of editorials appearing in the P.C. is one written by then Editor Larry Tajiri. The editorial, entitled "The Bitter Harvest," appeared in the April 8, 1944, edition and refers to the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee members who were scheduled to go to trial.

In it, Tajiri wrote in part: "This act of defiance by 41 young men is the result of a combination of circumstances, misguided leadership and information, and strong pressures and influences. Its effect may be that of negating the victory of loyal Japanese Americans in winning the reinstitution of the selective service, and may retard the eventual full restoration to Japanese Americans of the privileges of freedom which are the birthright of every American. By their action, these young men and those who prompted their action, have injured the cause of loyal Japanese everywhere."

The Heart Mountain Sentinel, edited by Haruo Imura, had harsher things to say about the resisters. Several editorials painted the resisters as "whimpering weaklings" and "warped-minded members" who made "wild-eyed statements" and "lacked both physical and moral courage."

In both the "Lim Report" and the 28-page report, an April 3, 1944, letter written by Saburo Kido, then JACL national president, is cited. In the letter, Kido supported full prosecution of the resisters and cooperation with intelligence agencies.

The letter read in part: "The group at Heart Mountain definitely should be charged with sedition, especially the leaders. The FBI has been studying the situation in the centers and we were asked to loan them copies of the Rocky Shimpo."

To stem the tide of draft resistance, leaders within JACL visited several resisters in jail in an effort to change their minds. These visits were conducted by JACL Regional Representative Joe Grant Masaoka and attorney Minoru Yasui, who ironically had challenged the United States government’s curfew order passed on March 24, 1942.

Noboru Taguma, 76, a resister from the Amache Relocation Center (also known as Granada), remembered the jailhouse visit. Taguma, who had answered "yes, yes," to the so-called "loyalty questionnaire," noted that he was one of 36 resisters from Amache.

The decision of the 36 resisters did not come lightly. At Amache, there had been a meeting where a Caucasian officer told internees that resisters faced up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, according to Taguma.

"A lot of people got scared," recalled Taguma, who suspects, but has no proof, that the meeting had been organized by the JACL. "But I didn’t get scared."

While no evidence to date has been found to back up Taguma’s claim, JACL correspondence cited in the Lim Report notes that the organization had been quite concerned with the resisters’ movement at Amache. According to the Lim Report, JACL even dispatched Yasui to an April 6, 1944, meeting at Amache where Hugh McBeth, an African American civil rights attorney from Los Angeles, had met with families of the resisters. Following this, Yasui submitted a five page report to Kido, which Lim found in the JACL archives.

Lim cites other JACL letters found in the archives that indicated that the organization was keeping a watchful eye on Amache. JACL leaders had apparently sent copies of some correspondence regarding the Amache situation to WRA National Director Dillon Myers, and a letter of acknowledgement from Myers to Kido, dated April 19, 1944, says in part: "It seems to me that the position of the JACL is clearly set forth in these two letters."

Taguma said he was initially "surprised" to be visited by Yasui in jail. To Taguma, Yasui had been a hero for opposing the curfew. But to Taguma’s shock, Yasui was now telling him he was fighting a losing battle and urging him to join the Army.

In response, Taguma told them he’d be willing to go into the Army if the government was willing to restore the constitutional rights of his family. To him, the welfare of his family, particularly his Issei parents, were priority.

To Taguma’s surprise, he says, Yasui countered the argument by saying that Taguma needn’t worry about the Issei because they were having a good time in camp. Hearing this, Taguma responded with a string of Japanese profanities that basically let the two know they were "chicken shit" and that all they were concerned about was making themselves look good. For that outburst, Taguma, then 20-years-old, got hauled off to solitary confinement.

Yoshito "Yosh" Kuromiya, 76, a member of the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee who had answered "yes-yes" to the "loyalty questionnaire," also remembers being visited by Joe Grant Masaoka and Yasui. Their meeting occurred on April 28, 1944.

Like Taguma, Kuromiya’s decision wasn’t made lightly. The rumor going around Heart Mountain at the time was that those who opposed the draft would be jailed up to 10 years, according to Kuromiya.

"I was figuring on 10 years," said Kuromiya. "So I was kind of relieved when we got three."

Kuromiya’s meeting with Masaoka and Yasui lasted about 45 minutes, much of it involving the two men trying to convince Kuromiya to change his mind.

Kuromiya’s response was that "it was grossly unfair for the government to hold back our civil rights and expect us to respond to the draft call." He pointed out to the two that the Nikkei community had, up until then, followed the government’s many "ridiculous" orders, but with the draft call, he believed it was not a governmental order but a request and "felt it was an opportunity, therefore, an obligation to express our feelings about this."

And while Kuromiya has the highest respect for the Nikkei veterans, he remembers bringing up the argument that if Japanese Americans were joining the Army to prove their loyalty to America, it was the wrong reason to go.

"That’s not the reason the others were fighting in the war," said Kuromiya. "If the reason for joining had nothing to do with patriotism or serving ones country, the Japanese Americans were fighting a different war."

According to Kuromiya, the men responded to this by telling him he had a sound and logical argument but that the resisters had no chance of winning their case and that it would only cause bad public relations with the general population.

In addition, he says he was told he was "naive" and "unrealistic," and did not understand how crucial the future of the Japanese American community hinged upon how white society viewed the Nikkei.

Kuromiya continued disagreeing with the two men, saying he felt the Japanese Americans had ended up in camp in the first place because they had not fought and stood up for their rights.

After it became clear that Kuromiya had no intentions of changing his mind, he said the two men switched their line of questioning and began asking him about the members of the Fair Play Committee and James Omura.

"They had a not so secret agenda of trying to convict the leaders," said Kuromiya.

Masaoka/Yasui Report

Masaoka and Yasui, shortly after their visit with the Heart Mountain resisters, submitted a report entitled, "Visit to Cheyenne County Jail." This report is available in the JACL archives and the National Archives. During the war, JACL sent a copy of this report to the FBI.

In the report, Masaoka and Yasui devoted a section to meeting with Carl L. Sackett, the U.S. attorney for the District of Wyoming who prosecuted the Heart Mountain resisters. The report indicates that there were attempts by Masaoka and Yasui to convince Sackett that the resisters were "victims of misinformation and incorrect advice."

Although Sackett was not swayed by Masaoka’s and Yasui’s argument, he allowed them to visit the jail because the report states in part: "Mr. Sackett was not averse to our visiting the Nisei committed to the Cheyenne Jail. He observed that others, especially from the center, had approached him as to visits to the boys, but that he refused permission."

The Masaoka/Yasui report drew several conclusions. Among the suggestions were as follows: that the resisters be put into separate cells so that "individual cells would allow considerable introspection and self-analysis. It would supplant individual decision for group pressure"; allow the resisters to "read newspapers and magazines — it would give them a more balanced perspective" (It is important to note that at this time, the Rocky Shimpo, headed by Omura, was the only Nikkei paper supporting the resisters); and encourage them to meet with their lawyer so that "he might more forcefully show them how futile their gesture will be."

In addition, today, some current JACL members have brought up the argument that the resisters were pro-Japan. However, in the Masaoka/Yasui report, it states in part: "None of the boys have signed expatriation papers. They continue to express a willingness to enter the Army, if their concepts of equality of treatment and citizenship are fulfilled."

Three months after Masaoka and Yasui had visited the Heart Mountain resisters in jail, the leaders of the Fair Play Committee and Omura were indicted on charges of conspiracy and counseling others to violate the Selective Service Act.

Today, while the resisters welcome an apology from JACL, several have noted that true reconciliation could not happen unless JACL acknowledges their wartime activities, which not only affected the resisters’ movement but the Nikkei community in general. A good place to start, according to them, is the publication of the 154-page "Lim Report."

This is not to say the resisters do not support the JACL of today. "There is a need for a good political representative organization for Japanese Americans and for all Asian Americans," said Kuromiya, a former JACL member who had contributed to Yasui’s legal defense fund when Yasui’s case was reopened during the 1980s. "I think JACL can fulfill that role than anything else existing right now."

Ó 1999 Pacific Citizen, reprinted by permission.


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Updated: July 29,1999