THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE JACL Oct. 9-22, 2020 CELEBRATING 9 1 YEARS A citywide demonstration at Confucius Plaza took place on May 31, 1974. PHOTO: COURTESY OF MARY UYEMATSU KAO » PAGE 6 ‘ROCKIN’ THE BOAT’ A new photojournalism book revisits the 1970s Asian Movement era. » PAGE 4 » PAGE 9 JACL’s NY/SC Announces Its Digital Decorated Vietnam War Veteran and Superior Storytelling Contest Winners Court Judge Vincent Okamoto Passes Away. #3374 / VOL. 171, No. 7 ISSN: 0030-8579 WWW.PACIFICCITIZEN.ORG 2 Oct. 9-22, 2020 COMMUNITY/NATIONAL HOW TO REACH US HERNANDEZ HEADED TO JAIL FOR 2019 ASSAULT Email: [email protected] Online: www.pacificcitizen.org 2020 incidents that also Tel: (213) 620-1767 No charges for racist threats in two June 2020 Mail: 123 Ellison S. Onizuka St., Suite 313 took place in Torrance Los Angeles, CA 90012 incidents at Torrance, Calif., park. where she was record- STAFF ed racially haranguing he woman who was reports, Lena Hernandez of incident was also Asian. Executive Editor and threatening an Asian Allison Haramoto recorded on video Long Beach, Calif., plead- The plea deal will have woman who was exer- Senior Editor verbally attacking ed no contest on Oct. 6 for Hernandez, 54, serve 45 cising at Wilson Park, Digital & Social Media Tand threatening two differ- a battery charge related to days in jail, be on proba- George Johnston followed by a similar in- ent Asian visitors to a pub- an incident that took place tion for three years and Business Manager cident that involved an lic park in 2020 is headed at the Del Amo Fashion take anger management Susan Yokoyama Asian man and his son. to jail for an assault that Center in October 2019 classes. Production Artist (P.C., July 17, 2020; see Marie Samonte occurred in 2019. in Torrance, Calif. The Hernandez was not A screen capture photo of tinyurl.com/y5jt9go2) Circulation According to published assault victim in that charged for the two June Lena Hernandez Eva Ting The Pacific Citizen newspaper (ISSN: 0030-8579) is published semi- monthly (except once in December and January) by the Japanese Ameri- HAWAII PUSHES FORWARD WITH TOURISM can Citizens League, Pacific Citizen, 123 Ellison S. Onizuka St., Suite 313 Los Angeles, CA 90012 Hawaii Lt. Gov. Josh Green, who Periodical postage paid at L.A., CA DESPITE SAFETY CONCERNS has spearheaded the testing pro- POSTMASTER: Send address chang- es to National JACL, 1765 Sutter St., By Associated Press gram, acknowledged the risks but ‘In a perfect world, we wouldn’t reopen said the plan will give the islands a San Francisco, CA 94115 much-needed chance for economic JACL President: Jeffrey Moy HONOLULU — Despite increas- Executive Director: David Inoue ing coronavirus cases across the until we had a vaccine.’ recovery. “It’s important that people know P.C. EDITORIAL BOARD U.S., Hawaii officials hope to reboot — John De Fries, president and CEO of the Rob Buscher, chairperson; Ron Kura- we welcome them as long as they’ve tourism next week by loosening Hawaii Tourism Authority moto, MDC; Danielle Pierce, EDC; months of economically crippling gotten their test,” Green said, adding Marcia Chung, CCDC; Nancy Ukai, pandemic restrictions, including a that wearing a mask in public is still NCWNPDC; Sheldon Arakaki, PNWDC; Hawaii law. Kayla Watanabe, IDC; John Saito Jr., mandatory 14-day quarantine for PSWDC; Juli Yoshinaga, Youth Rep. all arriving travelers. are not mandatory for all. Travelers started. Some have flouted safety Green, an emergency room doc- Subscribe The plan, which was postponed can still choose to not get tested and measures, leading to arrests and fines tor who recently recovered from Get a one-year subscription of the after the virus surged in the summer, instead quarantine for two weeks for the scofflaws. COVID-19, said calls for testing upon arrival, which means those with Before the pandemic, the state Pacific Citizen newspaper at: will allow Hawaii-bound travel- at Hawaii’s airports don’t take into www.pacificcitizen.org or call ers who provide negative virus test a negative test could get infected on received about 30,000 visitors a day. account capacity or cost. Even if the (213) 620-1767 results within 72 hours of arrival to the plane. If the islands face another state could test all visitors, people Advertise sidestep two weeks of quarantine. “They’re going to come here with coronavirus surge because of a hasty wouldn’t get their results right away, To advertise in the Pacific Citi- But the Oct. 15 launch of the pre- this false sense of belief that, ‘Hey, return to tourism, another lockdown he added. zen, call (213) 620-1767 or e-mail: [email protected] travel testing program is causing I got tested, Hawaii, I’m clean. Here’s could spell economic disaster, Wakai “If we were to test everybody that LEGAL concern for some who say gaps in my paperwork. Let me enjoy my said. came, we would have to have 8,000 No part of this publication may be the plan could further endanger a Hawaiian vacation,’ not knowing that But others view the pretravel test- tests per day,” Green said, estimating the person in seat B on a five-hour ing plan as the best way to add a layer reproduced without the express per- community still reeling from sum- the number of visitors he thinks will mission of the Pacific Citizen. mer infection rates that spiked to 10 flight gave them the coronavirus,” of protection while kick-starting travel to Hawaii at the program’s Editorials, letters, news and the opin- percent after local restrictions eased. Wakai said. the economy. Hawaii has had one start. The state currently has about ions expressed by columnists other than the national JACL president or State Sen. Glenn Wakai, chair of Hawaii has lived under quarantine the nation’s highest unemployment 4,000 tests available each day for laws for months, but hundreds — at rates since the start of the pandemic, national director do not necessarily re- the Committee on Economic Devel- flect JACL policy. Events and products opment, Tourism and Technology, times thousands — of people have which ground to a halt nearly all » See HAWAII on advertised in the P.C. do not carry the said one problem is that the tests arrived daily since the pandemic vacation-related activity. page 4 implicit endorsement of the JACL or this publication. We reserve the right to edit articles. © 2020 Periodicals paid at Los Angeles, Calif. and mailing office. SPRING CAMPAIGN JACL MEMBERS DONATE $150 OR MORE AND RECEIVE ONE ENTRY TO OUR MONTHLY DRAWINGS! 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Onizuka St., Suite 313 | Los Angeles, CA 90012 | TEL: (213) 620-1767 | WWW.PACIFICCITIZEN.ORG (USPS Form 3575) COMMENTARY Oct. 9-22, 2020 3 FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PUBLIC HEALTH SHOULD BRING PUBLIC WEALTH the spread of the pandemic, or is it and throughout all branches of the respond to the pandemic, but In the meantime, take a moment to better to not know who is infected administration have been scaled even if they could, it is likely this offer your thanks to the public health By David Inoue, because that makes the numbers back and targeted for zeroing out in administration would not allow them workers at the CDC who, in spite of JACL Executive Director look better? Unfortunately, those every presidential budget. Now we to respond in full. an obstructive administration, work who disregard the utility of public see the fruits of those efforts with a The more cases of COVID-19 that to keep us safe. Thank the career rowing up, I always wanted health methodology are the ones in Centers for Disease Control that has we know about, the more poorly it foreign service officers who maintain to be a doctor. I had no idea charge, and it has been ruinous for been unable to respond adequately reflects upon the administration. This, positive relations with our allies, even what public health was. our country. to the pandemic. of course, ignores the fact that with when our country is viewed in such GWhen I finally made it to med school, This has been especially laid to bare When the Trump administration that data, we could likely reduce the negative light by others. Thank you I soon realized that the goals I had by the epidemic sweeping through the came in, they said they were going to number of infections.