S;Nce1929pacific CITIZEN Court-Martial Trial Is Slated for July 16
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'Nidoto Nai Yoni' Bainbridge Island is set Another Kartya . to remember the 65th anniversary of the WWII Move over Paul Kariya, your removal of JAs. brqther Martin is on the rise. COMMUNITY PAGE 5 SPORTS PAGE 7 1st Lt. Watada's second s;nce1929PACIFIC CITIZEN Court-martial trial is slated for July 16. The National Publication of the Japanese American Citizens League .The Legendary Nisei Racers Community Groups Work to Place a Mark 01 History on ·a Little Known WWII Camp Tuna Canyon 'Detention Center's mess hall circa 1933. During the turbulent war years, the Thna Canyon Detention Center imprisoned hundreds - mostly ISsei PHOTO COURTESY OF WN.l.Y PARKS NHRA MO:ORSPORTS MUSEUM men -labeled as 'enemy aliens ..' The Oka brothers display their 'Best Appearing Car' award at Carrell speedway in 1948. Pictured above (I-r) Yam Oka, HarrY Oka, Tom McLaughlin, and Chickie Hirashima. By LYNDA LIN Assistant Editor Nisei hot rod racers of the 1920s and down Fords and Chevys would be pimped for showca£; ing while adrenaline junky hot rod drivers would com 1930s made their mark in a racing world For three ears durin World War n, a chain link fence ~ with barb- pete for the fastest clocked speeds. surprisingly free of discrimination. wire enclosed the open grounds of the Verdugo Hills Golf Course in Thjunga, Here is where the legends of racing were born, Calif. and separated Issei men from their families. including famed Nisei racers like Yam aka, Tsuneo By CAROLINE AOYAGI-STOM Sumi Sliimatsu was 13 and a half when she stood five feet away from the ''Tunney'' Shigekuni, Frank Morimoto, Danny Sakai, Executive Editor fence to peer at her father, photographer Toklji Utsushigawa, on the inside of and Takeo "Chickie" Hirashima. But like the thick the Thna Canyon Detention Center. California's Murdoc Dry Lake was the place to be dusts of the lakebeds, the stories of their record setting for the hot-rodders of the 1920s and 1930s. On the dry, speed times and their innovatively modified roadsters See TUNA CANYON DETENTIOt:J CENTERlPage 12 flat lakebeds that stretched for endless miles stripped- See NISEI RACERSlPage 6 Eddy Zheng Returns A League of Their·Own to the Free World 'Everything is beautiful,' Scrapes, dislocations and' · said the co~unity some good old-fashion com-' leader who was released > petition - a Boston area from Yuba County Jail Asian flag football league into a superviSed pro ta){es the recreational sport gram. to another level. By LYNDA LIN PHOTO: VAL MAUN By LYNDA LIN Assistant Editor Assistant Editor Young APAs battle each other on the field in a Boston league. After spending 21 years They've played through intense heat, rain and seven "It's war out ·there every weekend," said Binh behind bars: Eddy Zheng, a con- inches of snow. For the members of the Boston Asian Nguyen, a commissioner and founder ofB.Q\FL, the first · vict turn~ co.rinnl,lplty youth . Football League (BAFL), the elements don't stand in the Asian Pacific American flag football league created by educator, caught his first breath of .rights protest ... ·it was Sb$udden . way of a good game. three young APAs in 2005 who just freedom on Feb. 27 after he was One minute I was in jail and the wanted to play the game. released into a supeIVised program next I was in the free world," said SPRING CAMPAIGN What . started . out as informal • to await his deportation to China. Zheng. 37, to the Pacific Citizen weekend outings to the park has · "I walked straight out onto the . from his parents' home in. Oakland, Keeping the ,street and into an immigrati(jn' P.C. Competitive See BAFLJPage 6 See ZHEt:JGlPage 4 By GIL ASAKAWA A Newfound Friendship Ends in Tragedy Pacific Citizen Chair On a mission to locate the heroic 442nd vets who saved I do~'tknow what the weather their father during WWll, the Hardwick sisters found a is like where friend in veteran Jim Tazoi. Sadly he died in a tragic car you live, but accident less thaii a week later. here in Denver, it's almost 70 By CAROLINE AOYAGI-STOM degrees, and Executive Editor gorgeous. That combined with The three-page handwritten note along with the pamphlet-sized book the new, earlier Susan Hardwick found in her mailbox one recent Saturday morning was the launch of Daylight Savings Time, saddest of ilOnies. The package was from 442nd veteran Jim Tazoi, an 87- year-old Nisei from . Utah she had See CAMPAIGNlPage 2 recently befriended. ~arlier that same See FRIENDSHIPlPage 4 JIMTAZOI 2 LETI'ERS/NATIONAL PACIFIC CITIZEN, MAR. i6-APR. 5, 2007 what's happening at the national lev Either way, you're showing your Please show how much you PACIAC CmZEN ~ CAMPAIGN f'.. els of JACL, and what's happening direct support for the P. C. s efforts to appreciate the hard work of the P. C. 2005 WINNERI (Co':!tinued from page 1) ifii,;\ NEW AMERICA across the country that affects our modernize and proyide the best of its staff - they're maintaining the Web V'MEDIA seems to herald the arrival of Spring civil rights and the civil rights of oth content to users over the Internet. site without having added new per ~ Awards In Writing ~ with certainty - and I welcome it! ers. Once again this year, the money sonnel, and they've always m~t fueir .Springtime is also when the Unfortunately, many of the issues raised during the Spring Campaign national budget figures - and how Pacific Citizen has launched for sev that affect us slmply are not covered will go towards the Web site; the much you appreciate that the news eral years its Spring Campaign, in the pages of the "mainstream" new design in fact is the result of last paper, and now, the Web site are which raises funds that go directly to media. That's why the P.c. is so year's Sprin.,g Campaign. ~ your lifeline to the JACL and its 250 E. First Street, Ste. 301, the operational budget of the P.c.It's important. It brings you the news It's an' exciting time for online important work. Los Angeles, CA. 90012 the time of the year when you, the that other sources don't, or can't. media, with many new emerging Thanks in advance! • • Tel: 213/620-17'67, 800/966-6157 faithful readers of the P. c., can show And in the past year, the P. C. S technologies and features becoming Fax: 213/620-1768 your suppOrt for the award-winning newsprint version has been available seemingly every week. To Gil Asalaiwa is the chair of the E-mail: [email protected] newspaper. enhanced with the addition of the remain competitive, and to make Pacific Citizen's Editorial Board, www.pacificcitizen.org . I've said it before: The P.c. is per Web site at www.pacificcitizen.org. sure its Web site can become known author of "Being Japanese Executive Editor: haps THE most familiar li.nk that If you haven't visited the site, you worldwide as a reliable and credible American," and writes a blog at Caroline Y. Aoyagi-Stom most JACL members have to the should. source of news and information www.nikkeiview.com His day job is Assistant Editor: organization. It's just been redesigned to a sleek, about the JA and APA communities, director of content for Lynda Lin . Many of you don't attend chapter clean, professional layout, and the the P.c. needs your help. Examiner.com. Office Manager: meetings or events; don't go to bi small and hard-working staff of the Brian Tanaka ' district and tri-district meetings; or P. C. has been updating it with cool, Circulation: Eva Lau-Ting LIKE WHAT YOU SEE? pack up the family for a week's multimedia features, even including Ip------------- worth of JACLing at the national video footage - the kind of thing www ~ pacificcitizen . or Publisher: Japanese American Qitizens League (founded 1929) conventions. Believe me, I know - you just can't get in the old-fash I 1765 Sutter Street, San it's hard when you have busy lives. ioned "dead tree" version of the P. C. Francisco, CA 94115, tel: Many of you, on the other hand, it's chockfull of the best of the I 4151921-5225 fax: 4151931- are deeply involved and are integrai print edition (not every story is post 4671, www.jacl.org to the ongoing"'{)perations of JACL at ed on the Web site, so the P. C. can I $50 0$100 0$150 ' JACL Presic:tent: Larry Oda local and national levels. That's . remain a powerful reward of mem National Director: Floyd Mori great! JACL needs both types of bership), and it's a gateway to other I 0 $200 0 Other Pacific Citizen Board of members. Asian Pacific Islander Web sites, and Directors: Gil Asakawa, chair I NAME: Wheth~r you're one type or the of course, to the Web sites of various person; Roger Ozaki, EDC; Lisa I ADDRESS: . Hanasono, MDC; Kathy other, we all believe in the mission of JACLchapters . Ishimoto, CCDC; Nelson Nagai, JACL, and protecting the civil rights You can even submit your Spring I CITY: of all people in the U.S. Campaign d.onation online using the NCWNPDC; Sheldon Arakaki, STATE: __ ZIP: _---- PNWDC; Larry Grant, IDC; Ted All JACL members are all con secure form provided. If you'd rather Namba, PSWDC; Naomi Oren, nected through the Pacific Citizen, do it the old-fashioned way, you can I CHAPTER: _________, Youth.