S-PACIFIC Minidoka Group Pushes to Get Internment Education '""I CITIZEN in Idaho Public Schools
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S-PACIFIC Minidoka group pushes to get internment education '""I CITIZEN in Idaho public schools. The" National Publication of the Japanese Ameriean Citizens League NATIONAL PAGE 3 011 the 20th Anniversary of Redress, JLAs are Still Fighting for Justice Many Japanese Latin American former internees continue to wait for an apology and their redress payments. By CAROLINE AOYAGI-STOM Executive Editor Dr. Thomas Noguchi was chief medical examiner from 1967-1982. As Japanese Americans across the nation celebrate the 20th anniversary of the landmark redress legislation, Art In -L.A.; He was the 'CorOner to the Stars' Shibayama, 78, wonders if justice for Forty years after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy, the him will ever come. man who met him after death talks about his career and In 1988 Art watched as tens of thou chance meetings with injustice. sands of former World War n internees started to receive their presidential apologies and $20,000 in redress pay" By LYNDA LIN ments for their forced incarceration. But his reparations never arrived. Assistant Editor It's a battle he and other Japanese Latin American former wwn For over a decade, 'some of the world's most famous dead bodies came to Dr. internees have been waging for more than two decades: But with an internment Thomas T. Noguchi's doorstep. upcoming Congressional hearing in July, Art dares to hope that justice for him may soon arrive. camps Their names make up a who's who of tragedy and infamy: Marilyn Monroe, "I'm surprised I'm still fighting. I wasn't a person who would do (above). Art Natalie Wood and even Sharon Tate all found their way to the bowels of the old something like this before," he said. "The U.. has aln<ady said they Shibayama Hall of Justice building. And they usually arrived in a storm of controversy, made a mistake by bringing us here but still justice is not done right. (Jeff) is still shrouded in mystery and delivered into the hands of a man who was regarded as awaiting jus a gatekeeper to the truth. ''Everybody that was in camp should have qualified for the same tice. For a while in the City of Angels, almost no one could be laid to rest without " See JLASlPage 10 first meeting Noguchi. See NOGUCHllPage 6 JACL Names JAs JACL Applauds Supreme.Court Decision to of the Biennium The awards will be pre "Restore ·Detainees .' Right to Habeas Corpus sented at the July 16-20 APA leaders liken the weakening of Constitutional rights to JACL Salt Lake City the JA wwn internment experience. Convention. PHOTO: BONNIE CLARK I By P.C. Staff and Associated Press restore Guantanamo Bay detainees' Dr. Tetsuden Kashima and Constitutional right to habeas corpus. the Hon. Dale Ikeda will be LOOTERS STAY AWAY: These artifacts tell priceless historical stories. The JACL is commending the The civil rights group calls it a huge honored with the JACL's Supreme Court's June 12 ruling to step toward restoring a basic tenet of Japanese Americans of the due process. Biennium awards at the upcom Future Archeologists Hope to In its third rebuke of the Bush admin ing Salt Lake City national con istration's treaiment of prisoners, the vention. Uncover Mysteries of Amache court ruled 5-4 that the government is Kashima will be presented The summer field school former site of Camp Amache for violating the rights of prisoners being with the JA of the Biennium will give local high school artifacts to literally bring internment held indefinitely and without charges at award in the area of education students the chance to history back to life. the U.S. naval base in Cuba. and humanities, and Ikeda will It's been dubbed "CSI: Amache," JACL leaders liken the weakening of receive the award in the area of walk in the footsteps of history. after the popular CBS television See HABEAS CORPUSlPage 4 See AWARDSIPage 7 series. But this version isn't highly stylized or scripted - it's based on By LYNDA LIN the real life human drama of nearly Assistant Editor 3 WEEKS 8,000 prisoners who once called the July 16-20 This summer, a group of young Colorado camp their home. aspiring archeologists will comb the See AMACHElPage 11 Forgotten legacy Ann~al Giving Letters ........... : ............ 2 National ..................... .3-5 1Mi~. A new documentary dissects National JACL thanks the r~nt Convention Coverage ....... 7 the fact that no one knows donors of the Annual Giving campaign. Calendar .................... .14 the name Vincent Chin. Obits ........................ 15 LISTrNG PAm; 13 2 JUNE 20-JULY 3, 2008 LETTERS/SPRING CAMPAIGN PACIFIC iii CITIZEN . ~"" - P4CIFIC 1JIP.04 CITIZEN Letters to the Editor 250 E First Street, Ste_ 301, Los Angeles, CA 90012 Tel: 213/620-1767, Keep Little Tokyo Safe for Future Generations , The Future of JACL 800/966-6157 Fax: 213/620-1768 I am a 14-year-old We face a significant problem. There is nQ certainty that we shall be E-mail: pc@pacificcitizen_org Hapa living in Arizona. I led to a sense of mission as compelling as the one that droVe previous www_pacificcitizen.org care very, very deeply generations. That time of clarity may be over. Executive Editor: about Little Tokyo, even We must also be aware of our temptation to expend all our resources Caroline Y. Aoyagi-Stom though the first time I vis- and energy in shoring up collapsing structures by holding onto the Assistant Editor: ited was only about a familiar long after it has lost its possibility for a new life. Lynda Lin Office Manager: year ago_ Now I love to Within aU of this, the local JACL chapter is critical_ The chapter is Brian Tanaka visit Little Tokyo_ I have where people touch the JACL organization and are touched by it Circulation: Eva Lau-Ting visited three times since Our task now is to look at how our vision of the mission of the then, and I seriously -would rather go there than Disneyland or the JACL comes into sharper focus, shaping the way we organize our Publisher: Japanese American Citizens League (founded 1929) 1765 beach. selves, and the roles we assign each other to carry out that mission. Sutter .Street, San Francisco, CA I feel that it is a place where all Japanese Americans can share their Only then can we look at an emerging sense of JACL mission and 94115, tel: 4151921-5225 fax: 4151931- heritage and feel immersed in our own unique culture, both Japanese . begin to forecast the kinds of changes that will require ordering our .4671, www.jacl.org and American. Little Tokyo is a place where aU Japanese Americans input within'the JACL. JACL President: Larry Oda have a connection to their past, a place that unites us all_ Nat'l Director: Floyd Mori But much to my Little Tokyo is slowly shrinking. When I Pacific Citizen Board of Directors: dismay, TAKASUMI KOJIMA Gil Asakawa, chairperson; Margie read that the Little Tokyo Mall was bought, I almost cried. Too many Berkeley, Calif. Yamamoto, EDC; Lisa Hanasono, Japanese Americans are taking Little Tokyo for granted, thinking it MDC; Kathy Ishimoto, CCDC; Judith will be the same year after year. It won't. Aono, NCWNPDC; Justine Kondo, Little Tokyo is a place . ~t needs to be visited to be kept alive_ So Thanks to Our Famous Cartoonist Pete Hironaka PNWDC; Jeff Itami, IDC; Ted Namba, PSWDC; Naomi Oren, Youth. go to Little Tokyo once in a while, see the sights, keep it from being r----------------------------, converted to condos or office buildings and keep it safe for our future. NEWS/AD DEADLINE: FRIDAY BEFORE DATE OF ISSUE. ALEX HARBOTTLE Editorials, news and the opinions Arizona Chapter expressed by columnists other than the national JACL president or national Hironaka's director do not necessarily reflect JACL Why is Watada Still Being Punished? policy_ Events and products advertised cartoon ran in in the Pacific Citizen do not carry the Regarding "1st Lt. Watada's Future Still a Mystery" (Pacific the June 6*19 implicit endorsement of the JACL or this publication. We reserve the right to Citizen. June 6--19), I am deeply disappointed .that the U.S. Anny has issue of the edit articles_ chosen such a dishonorable course of action as to punish Lt. Ehren Pacific Citizen. ·1L ____________________________ ~ Watada by withholding from him his freedom. even after District PACIFIC CITIZEN (ISSN: 0030-85791 is Court Judge Settle ruled in his favor. ' Yes! Believe it or not, our 1000 Club is 60 years young_ At the . published semi-monthly except once in Despite the fact that more and more evidence is coming out vindi national convention in Salt Lake City in 1948, the staunch JACLers December and January by the Japanese cating Lt. Watada's d~laratioDS that the people of the United States American Citizens League, 250 E First went on the record that if they could get 1,000 members at $25, they Street, Ste. 301, Los Angeles, CA 90012 Were deliberately given misinfonnation in order to justify our invasion would have enough money to cover our national budget, which was OFFICE HOURS - Mon.-Fri., 9 a.m.-5 of Iraq (as detailed in fonner White House press secretary Scott $250,000. This group will be called the 1000 Club and they will host p.m. Pacific Time. ©2008. McClellan's recent book) the military continues to pursue harassing the fun part of the ·convention. Annual subscription rates: NON- this young officer who would have, at any other time, been what our Of course because of inflation it has gone up in dues to keep up with MEMBERS: 1 year-$40, payable in Armed Forces really needs ~ a person that thinks before acti.ng.