Distribution Agreement In presenting this thesis as a partial fulfillment of the requirements for a degree from Emory University, I hereby grant to Emory University and its agents the non-exclusive license to archive, make accessible, and display my thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter now, including display on the World Wide Web. I understand that I may select some access restrictions as part of the online submission of this thesis. I retain all ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis. Takuya Maeda March 4, 2016 “For the Sake of the Children”: The Civil Liberties Public Education Fund and the Forging of a Post-Internment, Post-Redress Japanese American Identity and History by Takuya Maeda Dr. Daniel LaChance Adviser Department of History Dr. Daniel LaChance Adviser Dr. Leslie Harris Committee Member Dr. Sherman James Committee Member 2016 “For the Sake of the Children”: The Civil Liberties Public Education Fund and the Forging of a Post-Internment, Post-Redress Japanese American Identity and History By Takuya Maeda Dr. Daniel LaChance Adviser An abstract of a thesis submitted to the Faculty of Emory College of Arts and Sciences of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors Department of History 2016 Abstract “For the Sake of the Children”: The Civil Liberties Public Education Fund and the Forging of a Post-Internment, Post-Redress Japanese American Identity and History By Takuya Maeda In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, granting an apology and individual reparations payments to the Japanese American victims of mass incarceration during World War II. This legislation was the culmination of a decades-long effort by the Japanese American community to rectify this injustice and was met by widespread celebration. In subsequent years, activists and scholars have noted that the legislation erased narratives within Japanese American history that did not fit neatly within the portrait of the community promoted by both Japanese Americans leaders and members of Congress: of a steadfastly patriotic, uniformly loyal, and “model minority” group who had achieved socioeconomic success and acceptance through resilience and hard work. This image was advanced in the face of evidence that indicated that there had been a much more complicated and less unified response by Japanese Americans to the incarceration. This whitewashed and one sided narrative had not been the only interpretation of Japanese American history within the community. Early redress advocates in radical and grassroots circles had sought to recover and rehabilitate Japanese American figures and groups that had offered protest and resistance in response to government oppression. Furthermore, they recognized that true rectification for this past injustice required not only a symbolic apology and reparations but a commitment to restructure coercive and exploitative relationships between the government and disenfranchised communities. This thesis focuses on an overlooked aspect of the legislation, the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund (CLPEF), which allocated $5 million to educate the American public about the incarceration. By making use of the archival material of the CLPEF, this thesis finds that the projects funded by the CLPEF diverged, by design, from the Congressional narratives. As the community continues to be transformed by growth in the percentage of foreign-born and mixed race members, and the incarceration moves further into the past, I argue that these more inclusive framings of community history and identity will be essential to the role of leadership on issues of civil liberties and racial justice that Japanese Americans envision for themselves in the post- redress period. “For the Sake of the Children”: The Civil Liberties Public Education Fund and the Forging of a Post-Internment, Post-Redress Japanese American Identity and History By Takuya Maeda Dr. Daniel LaChance Adviser A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Emory College of Arts and Sciences of Emory University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors Department of History 2016 Table of Contents Introduction: Asian Americans and Historiography in 2016 ......................................................... 1 Chapter 1: “Kodomo No Tame Ni”- For the Sake of the Children .............................................. 11 Chapter 2: Congressional Debate of the 1988 Civil Liberties Act ............................................... 52 Chapter 3: The Civil Liberties Public Education Fund ................................................................ 79 Conclusion: Post-Interment, Post-Redress Japanese American Identity and History ................ 114 Whatever we did here; the commitments we made Loyal or disloyal; compliance or resistance; yes or no It was right Because the young people make it so Because they seek the history from those of us who lived it So we must remember and tell it We must acknowledge it and tell it - Hiroshi Kashiwagi, A Meeting at Tule Lake 1 Introduction: Asian Americans and Historiography in 2016 The past year has brought about both celebration and critical assessment of landmark legislation passed in 1965, that expanded the franchise (Voting Rights Act) and changed the demographic trajectory of the nation (Immigration and Nationality Act). The 2016 presidential election cycle has also started in earnest, the coverage of which has essentially been hijacked by the nativist and xenophobic rhetoric of GOP candidates, most notably Donald Trump. All of this comes at, or marks, a great sense of unease and anxiety about the demographic and cultural changes taking place in this country. At the core of these discussions on immigration and race is the question of our self-conception as a nation. How do we constitute American identity, citizenship and national memory in the 21st century? And ultimately, who gets to participate and direct this process? As the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in the country, the Asian Pacific Islander (API) population is increasingly understood as (and understand themselves to be) an influential voting bloc in the future. In a statistic sure to surprise many, the U.S. Asian population grew 46% from 2000 to 2010, exceeding the more extensively covered growth of the Latino population during the same period.1 While the population of Latinos, as opposed to the rate of growth, still greatly outnumbers U.S. Asians, political forecasters often assume that in the years to come the Asian vote will command the same attention and recruitment efforts currently being directed at the Latino vote. These speculative statements are made without a closer inspection of the statistics 1 Pew Research Center. “U.S. Hispanic and Asian populations growing, but for different reasons.” Accessed October 19, 2015. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/06/26/u-s-hispanic-and-asian-populations-growing-but-for- different-reasons/ 2 and trends behind this growth. While most (78%) of the growth in the Latino population can be attributed to U.S. births, the growth in the Asian population is largely due to international migration (61%), and from increasingly non-traditional Asian countries.2 With this statistic, a unified and influential “Asian vote” or political agenda does not seem to be within reach in the near future. Beyond the already daunting structural obstacles of naturalization and voter registration exist more vexing realities of immigration that limits common political identity: ethnic heterogeneity, language diversity, and push-pull migration factors that range from refugees fleeing violence to businessmen sent by transnational corporations. The term “Asian American” was coined by activists in the 1960s who while cognizant of the heterogeneity of the group, saw the possibilities and merits of fashioning a community under that name.3 Those who are included as “Asian Americans” in 2016 represent a far more dizzying array of experiences than those activists could have imagined. What, if anything, will serve as the basis for community and identity for Asian America in the present and in the future? How will the negotiation and conversation between new arrivals and established communities, both in the context of Asian American communities (some of whom have been in the United States for as many as seven generations) and larger American society unfold? And how will Asian American communities participate in the unprecedented engagement and negotiation that is taking place between marginalized groups and mainstream America and her institutions? Asian American Historiography 2 Pew Research Center. “U.S. Hispanic and Asian populations growing,”. 3 William Wei, The Asian American Movement. Temple University Press, 1993. 3 The current trend in Asian American historiography is an effort to assert that the experiences of the group are an integral and untold part of the American story, influencing its trajectory from the very beginning and continuing to shape its cultures and institutions. Within this framing, historians consistently argue that Asian Americans and their histories are “uniquely positioned” to illuminate and flesh out the full breadth of American histories and experiences.4 Lon Kurashige, in one of the foundational texts of Asian American studies, asserts the importance and wider relevance