Page 1 |
Previous | 1 of 3 | Next |
|
|
This page
All
|
Loading content ...
.
July 14, 1981
:: Japanese-Americans &'
:: The 1942 Relocation'
''.;•• By Liz Nakahara
, The FBI imprisoned my grandfather on Dec. 8, 1941, the •
.day after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Agents suspected him
of disloyalty because he owned a shortwave radio and operated a fish market that sold foodstuffs to Japanese fisher-
merydoching in San Pedro harbor, south of Los Angeles.
They took him from his sickbed, as he recuperated from'
an asthmatic seizure for which he had been hospitalized.
They took him before he could gather up his medication.
The agents interrogated Grandfather at the Immigration
Detention Center on Terminal Island. They refused him
visits by family members: '"" ~ "* """*"
Finally, agents allowed Grandfather to see his son, who
had enlisted in the American Army and later went overseas
as a military intelligence interpreter.
The son, in uniform, explained he felt an obligation to
defend his country, the country that had imprisoned his father, that later reheated his mother, sister and brother. But
Grandfather's eyes were glazed, his words barely coherent.
. • "This is not my son," he said in a bizarre way. Grandfather could not be dissuaded that the uniformed figure
was an interrogator impersonating his son.
Stunned by his father's confusion, the son left the small,
cell-like room. It was the fost time, the two men saw each
other, Grandfather died shortly thereafter. They never got
to say goodbye.
May Asaki Ishimoto was in her'
late teens, living with her parents
and nine brothers and sisters in
Hanford, Calif., on Dec. 7, 1941,
when the Japanese bombed Pearl
Harbor. "I was naive," she says now,
"but my parents felt the hostility"
toward Japanese-Americans.
She remembers that her older
brother enlisted in the American
Army as soon as he could after the
attack. And she remembers her
PaulBannai with photos taken during the relocation; by Gerald Martineau
older brother in the Army
were
taken from their home and evacuated to a "relocation center" in Jerome, Ark.
*<
The First Reactions
On the night of Dec. 7, 1941,
Chicago attorney Arthur J. Goldberg
sat at home contemplating "the terrible news" of the Pearl Harbor attack.
I got a call from the FBI that
mother going into the back yard of j l they had picked up my assistant, a
their farmhouse to burn the chil- Japanese-American woman named
The Hearings
dren's Japanese-language textbooks,
some bamboo swords and Japanese
magazines. "Dad and I might have to
go away because we're Japanese citizens," her mother told her. Japanese
immigrants were forbidden by federal law from becoming American
citizens, but in many cases their
children were citizens by birth.
"Mother was certain we kids
would be left behind, so she gave us
instructions on how to conduct ourselves." But within the year, Ishimoto and her family — except her
Elizabeth Ohi," Goldberg recalls. "I
immediately went down and asked
the FBI clerk, 'What are the charges
against her?'"
"None," the clerk replied, "but
you know about Pearl Harbor."
"Then release her to me immediately or I'll get a writ of habeas
corpus," said Goldberg, who became
a Supreme Court justice 21 years
later. !
Ohi was released that night She
soon enlisted in the Navy, where she I
' served as an ensign.
Suspicions of disloyalty on the
part of Japanese-Americans, who
populated a large portion of the Cal-
.ifornia coast, Intensified after Pearl
Harbor. "People thought, if the Japanese can hit Pearl Harbor this
week, why can't they come and
bomb the West Coast next week,"
says James H. Rowe Jr., who was assistant to the attorney general from
1941 to 1943.
Forty years after the fact, a commission has been established to
study the justification of Executive
Order 9066 of Feb. 19, 1942, which
forced the evacuation about 120,000
citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry, mostly from the
West Coast, and put them into 10
guarded camps across the United
States.
The Commission on Wartime
Relocation and Internment of Civilians today begins hearing testimony
on whether the United States government committed a wrong against
Object Description
| Title | Shadows of War |
| Description | Liz Nakahara writes about evacuation and the redresses that occurred many years later. |
| Subjects | Redress and reparations |
| Type | image |
| Genre | Narrative |
| Language | eng |
| Collection | Hirasuna Family Papers |
| Collection Description | 3 items |
| Project Name | California State University Japanese American Digitization Project |
| Rights | Rights not yet transferred |
Description
| Local ID | csufr_hfp_1233 |
| Project ID | csufr_hfp_1233 |
| Title | Page 1 |
| Creator | Nakahara, Liz:author |
| Date Created | 1981 - 10 - 14 |
| Subjects | Redress and reparations |
| Type | image |
| Genre | Narrative |
| Language | eng |
| Collection | Hirasuna Family Papers |
| Collection Description | 8.41 x 10.93in |
| Rights | Rights not yet transferred |
| Transcript | . July 14, 1981 :: Japanese-Americans &' :: The 1942 Relocation' ''.;•• By Liz Nakahara , The FBI imprisoned my grandfather on Dec. 8, 1941, the • .day after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Agents suspected him of disloyalty because he owned a shortwave radio and operated a fish market that sold foodstuffs to Japanese fisher- merydoching in San Pedro harbor, south of Los Angeles. They took him from his sickbed, as he recuperated from' an asthmatic seizure for which he had been hospitalized. They took him before he could gather up his medication. The agents interrogated Grandfather at the Immigration Detention Center on Terminal Island. They refused him visits by family members: '"" ~ "* """*" Finally, agents allowed Grandfather to see his son, who had enlisted in the American Army and later went overseas as a military intelligence interpreter. The son, in uniform, explained he felt an obligation to defend his country, the country that had imprisoned his father, that later reheated his mother, sister and brother. But Grandfather's eyes were glazed, his words barely coherent. . • "This is not my son," he said in a bizarre way. Grandfather could not be dissuaded that the uniformed figure was an interrogator impersonating his son. Stunned by his father's confusion, the son left the small, cell-like room. It was the fost time, the two men saw each other, Grandfather died shortly thereafter. They never got to say goodbye. May Asaki Ishimoto was in her' late teens, living with her parents and nine brothers and sisters in Hanford, Calif., on Dec. 7, 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. "I was naive," she says now, "but my parents felt the hostility" toward Japanese-Americans. She remembers that her older brother enlisted in the American Army as soon as he could after the attack. And she remembers her PaulBannai with photos taken during the relocation; by Gerald Martineau older brother in the Army were taken from their home and evacuated to a "relocation center" in Jerome, Ark. *< The First Reactions On the night of Dec. 7, 1941, Chicago attorney Arthur J. Goldberg sat at home contemplating "the terrible news" of the Pearl Harbor attack. I got a call from the FBI that mother going into the back yard of j l they had picked up my assistant, a their farmhouse to burn the chil- Japanese-American woman named The Hearings dren's Japanese-language textbooks, some bamboo swords and Japanese magazines. "Dad and I might have to go away because we're Japanese citizens," her mother told her. Japanese immigrants were forbidden by federal law from becoming American citizens, but in many cases their children were citizens by birth. "Mother was certain we kids would be left behind, so she gave us instructions on how to conduct ourselves." But within the year, Ishimoto and her family — except her Elizabeth Ohi," Goldberg recalls. "I immediately went down and asked the FBI clerk, 'What are the charges against her?'" "None," the clerk replied, "but you know about Pearl Harbor." "Then release her to me immediately or I'll get a writ of habeas corpus," said Goldberg, who became a Supreme Court justice 21 years later. ! Ohi was released that night She soon enlisted in the Navy, where she I ' served as an ensign. Suspicions of disloyalty on the part of Japanese-Americans, who populated a large portion of the Cal- .ifornia coast, Intensified after Pearl Harbor. "People thought, if the Japanese can hit Pearl Harbor this week, why can't they come and bomb the West Coast next week," says James H. Rowe Jr., who was assistant to the attorney general from 1941 to 1943. Forty years after the fact, a commission has been established to study the justification of Executive Order 9066 of Feb. 19, 1942, which forced the evacuation about 120,000 citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry, mostly from the West Coast, and put them into 10 guarded camps across the United States. The Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians today begins hearing testimony on whether the United States government committed a wrong against |
