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— 36 —
It seems to us, on the contrary, that in the present conflict just the opposite
has proved to be the case. We do not allude merely to the evidence we have
cited to show to what degree Japan was aided by non-Japanese elements in this
country. We refer to the manner in which the issues of this war and the alignments these issues have brought, have transcended and cross-cut ethnic lines.
Japanese culture (its historical roots, food habits, religion, social organization,
family structure, writing, etc.) is infinitely closer to Chinese culture than to
American ways. But China has been fighting Japan much longer than we have.
Russia and the United States, though their political and economic structures
are far different, are allies today. Quisling is not a German. Yet he found
no difficulty in temporizing with his "ethnic affiliation" and becoming a Nazi
puppet. The men of Vichy were not Germans; they supposedly represented the
culture of France. But they were able to overlook their "ethnic affiliations"
and to collaborate with the enemy, some of them even before the German invasion.
We ask this Court, therefore, before it gives currency to vague hints concerning alleged "ethnic affiliations" between Americans of Japanese ancestry
and the Japanese of Japan, to consider the substantial body of evidence which
indicates that whatever aid and comfort Japan has obtained in this country has
not come from persons of Japanese ancestry who have recalled an ethnic affiliation, but from white Americans and non-Japanese who have forgotten one. To
cite only a few examples: On June 5, 1942, Frederick V. Williams and David
W. Ryder of San Francisco were sentenced to four years in prison for acting
as Japanese agents without complying with the Foreign Agents Registration
Law.135 On September 10, 1942, Igor Stepanoff, who was convicted of violating the Selective Training and Service Act, confessed in a San Francisco Court
that he had worked as an agent for the Japanese government.136 Arthur Clifford
Read was convicted of being an undeclared Japanese agent on January 28,
1944.137 On August 14, 1944, Mrs. Velvalee Dickinsqn, a white woman, born,
reared and educated in California, was sentenced to ten years in prison and
fined $10,000 for her activities as a Japanese agent.138 The Government
charged that in coded letters, by way of Argentina, she sent information concerning naval activities along the West Coast before and after Pearl Harbor.
In sentencing her Federal Judge Shackelford Miller, Jr., said, "You, as a natural-born citizen, having a university education and selling out to the Japanese, were certainly engaged in espionage."
Others, most of them native-born white Americans, who have been arrested on charge of espionage for Japan or for being unregistered agents of
Japan are: John Farnsworth, Harry Thomas Thompson, Frederick Heizer
Wright, John C. LeClair, Joseph Hilton Smyth, Walker Grey Matheson, Ralph
"'New York Times, June 6, 1942.
"'San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, September
11, 1942.
"''Christian Science Monitor, January 31, 1944.
"'New York Times, July 29, 1944, and August 15, 1944; San Francisco Chronicle,
August 15, 1944.
Object Description
| Title | The Case For The Nisei |
| Subjects | Identity and values--Nisei |
| Type | image |
| Genre | Books |
| Language | eng |
| Collection | Hirasuna Family Papers |
| Collection Description | 113 items |
| Project Name | California State University Japanese American Digitization Project |
| Rights | Rights not yet transferred |
Description
| Local ID | csufr_hfp_0778 |
| Project ID | csufr_hfp_0778 |
| Title | Page 36 |
| Creator | Japanese American Citizens League |
| Date Created | Unknown |
| Subjects | Identity and values--Nisei |
| Type | image |
| Genre | Books |
| Language | eng |
| Collection | Hirasuna Family Papers |
| Collection Description | 5.07 x 8.50in |
| Rights | Rights not yet transferred |
| Transcript | — 36 — It seems to us, on the contrary, that in the present conflict just the opposite has proved to be the case. We do not allude merely to the evidence we have cited to show to what degree Japan was aided by non-Japanese elements in this country. We refer to the manner in which the issues of this war and the alignments these issues have brought, have transcended and cross-cut ethnic lines. Japanese culture (its historical roots, food habits, religion, social organization, family structure, writing, etc.) is infinitely closer to Chinese culture than to American ways. But China has been fighting Japan much longer than we have. Russia and the United States, though their political and economic structures are far different, are allies today. Quisling is not a German. Yet he found no difficulty in temporizing with his "ethnic affiliation" and becoming a Nazi puppet. The men of Vichy were not Germans; they supposedly represented the culture of France. But they were able to overlook their "ethnic affiliations" and to collaborate with the enemy, some of them even before the German invasion. We ask this Court, therefore, before it gives currency to vague hints concerning alleged "ethnic affiliations" between Americans of Japanese ancestry and the Japanese of Japan, to consider the substantial body of evidence which indicates that whatever aid and comfort Japan has obtained in this country has not come from persons of Japanese ancestry who have recalled an ethnic affiliation, but from white Americans and non-Japanese who have forgotten one. To cite only a few examples: On June 5, 1942, Frederick V. Williams and David W. Ryder of San Francisco were sentenced to four years in prison for acting as Japanese agents without complying with the Foreign Agents Registration Law.135 On September 10, 1942, Igor Stepanoff, who was convicted of violating the Selective Training and Service Act, confessed in a San Francisco Court that he had worked as an agent for the Japanese government.136 Arthur Clifford Read was convicted of being an undeclared Japanese agent on January 28, 1944.137 On August 14, 1944, Mrs. Velvalee Dickinsqn, a white woman, born, reared and educated in California, was sentenced to ten years in prison and fined $10,000 for her activities as a Japanese agent.138 The Government charged that in coded letters, by way of Argentina, she sent information concerning naval activities along the West Coast before and after Pearl Harbor. In sentencing her Federal Judge Shackelford Miller, Jr., said, "You, as a natural-born citizen, having a university education and selling out to the Japanese, were certainly engaged in espionage." Others, most of them native-born white Americans, who have been arrested on charge of espionage for Japan or for being unregistered agents of Japan are: John Farnsworth, Harry Thomas Thompson, Frederick Heizer Wright, John C. LeClair, Joseph Hilton Smyth, Walker Grey Matheson, Ralph "'New York Times, June 6, 1942. "'San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Daily News, September 11, 1942. "''Christian Science Monitor, January 31, 1944. "'New York Times, July 29, 1944, and August 15, 1944; San Francisco Chronicle, August 15, 1944. |
