Granada Pioneer, Vol. II, No. 40

              Page 8___________________PIONEER__________________ March 22,  1944
EVACUATED  NISEI  PLAN  TO OVERCOME
PREJUDICE  BY  PROVING THEIR  LOYALTY
   (Editor's Note: Plans of the Japanese Americans to combat racial persecution
during pioneering in the "New America'" they have found more attractive than their
former Pacific Coast homes are revealed in the following article by William Flynn,
the last of six on effects, of the coastal evacuation, published exclusively in
The San Francisco Chronicle.)	
    TOPAZ RELOCATION CENTER,
Delta, Utah, March 2--The
Japanese Americans,removed
from the Pacific,Coast,to-
day are organizing to over-
come, by peaceful means,
racial persecution hard-
ships of their pioneering
trek eastward to establish
new permanent  homes.
   They realize they face
opposition, inspired by
war engendered hates and
fears of economic compete-
tion.     Their   plan  is:
    1. Self-discipline of
those pioneering to prevent
them from congregating in
so-called segregated dis-
tricts because of social,
business  and blood ties.
     2. Evidence of their
loyalty to the United States
through actions rather
than words.
   The program has the in-
dorsement of individual
leaders and the Japanese
American Citizens' League,
one of the most powerful
Americanization forces of
the evacuated, racial group.
Caucasians aiding the Japa-
nese Americans in defense
of their democratic rights
as citizens also indorse
the   program.
   The first part of the
program would present the
spotlighting of public at-
tention on individuals by
"scattering" the 112,000
throughout this Nation of
more than 130,000,000 per-
sons.
   Evidence of loyalty If
the most vital concern of
the Japanese Americans at
the present time. They buy
bonds, they donate to the
blood banks--and their men
fight and die for the Uni-
ted States in the Pacific
and   on the   shores  of  Italy.
   There is a unit of Japa-
nese American soldiers
fighting with the Allied
forces seeking to carve
their way into the Contin-
ent through the "soft un-
derbelly of Europe.”  They
are members of the 100th
Infantry Battalion of the
Army of the United. States,
all volunteers. Their war
record   is   reflected   in War
Department statements , head -
lined in the Pacific Citizen,
publication of the Japanese
American Citizens' League,
as   follows:
   "Fifty members of Nisei
Unit Awarded Purple Heart
for Wounds in Italy Campaign."
   "Twenty  Japanese Ameri-
cans Killed, 98 Wounded in
Recent Action of 100th In-
fantry  in  Italy."
   “Ninety-six Japanese
Americans Killed, 221 Wound-
ed  on  Italy Front."
   The headlines are fol-
lowed by columns   of names.
   The Japanese Americans
believe that such block
payments on the total price
demanded for establishment
of the Four Freedoms through-
out the world entitles them
to some consideration as
loyal citizens of the Uni-
ted States. Their belief
is summed up by Joe Masa-
oka, an official of the
league.     He   said:
   "Americans of Japanese
ancestry are Americans.
They now feel that Calif-
ornia isn't all of America.
If they feel they can make
their livelihood, and ful-
fill their ambitions along
the American way of living
in other parts of the coun-
try which are more receptive,
they are going to establish
their  homes  there.
   "Americans of Japanese
ancestry have been assimi-
lated into America. If
fighting and dying isn't
assimilation--what is as-
similation? Now that they
have gone through the fire
and proved themselves Amer-
icans on the battle front,
I feel that their home is
all America--not just Calif-
ornia."
    Masaoka's five brothers
are   in the  army.
   The Japanese American
men have accepted the recent
War Department  d e c i s ion
they are eligible for in-
duction through the process-
ses of selective service
with the same general at-
titude of any other racial
group of assimilated cit-
izens.
   To some imminent induc-
tion was a blow. They had
planned to leave the centers
and establish homes so they
could bring their families
and relatives from the
places of confinement that
are ringed by barbed wire
and guarded by military
police .
   Now  they must postpone
such  plans   of relocation.
   Others greeted the order
with enthusiasm. They saw
the opportunity of receiv-
ing sufficient guaranteed
income through allotments
to permit their wives and
children and mothers and
fathers to live In reason-
able security outside the
centers.
   All, however, resented
the plan for "segregation"
of the Japanese American
soldiers into special units.
They claimed all branches
of the service should be
opened to them as to any
citizen. None the less,
like the Negro,they accept
the opportunity to serve-
for by serving, they believe,
they will prove their worth-
iness  as   citizens.
   Whether the sacrifices
of the Japanese Americans
in severing their social
groups on the home front
and on the battlefields
will win them their full
citizenship remains to be
seen. The question is
whether the United States
is sufficiently tolerant,
sufficiently sincere with
its declaration that this
Nation is one of "liberty
and   justice  for  all."
   None living can peer
into the future to read
the answer objective his-
torians of the era will
note. But now it may be
known to those Irish Ameri-
cans, those German Ameri-
cans , those Chinese Ameri-
cans, those English Ameri-
cans--and those Japanese
Americans-whose bodies
sleep peacefully side by
side in. the only Italian
soil Lieutenant General
Mark Clark claimed for this
Nation-'"enough to bury our
dead."