To Kurt Suzuki: About That Hat and "Having Some Fun"

Guest Post by Joseph Shoji Lachman



Kurt Suzuki, a yonsei (4th gen. Japanese American) wore one of those disgusting white supremacist hats when visiting the White House. It was horrifying, and symbolic of larger issues of Asian Americans and adjacency to white privilege.

The question I always want to pose to these garbage Japanese Americans is, how can you support a guy whose campaign and supporters have voiced support for the incarceration of Japanese Americans and have used it as a justification for oppressing other minority groups?

Suzuki couldn't even muster an apology. He said he was just trying to "have some fun." I wonder if he could go to a migrant concentration camp, look a mother and child in the eyes while wearing that hat, and claim it's just about having some fun.

I wonder if he could look me in the eye as a fellow yonsei and say it's just about having some fun.

#NeverAgainIsNow: Why the 30th anniversary of Japanese American Redress matters today

Guest Post by Tsuya Hohri Yee, Co-Chair New York Day of Remembrance Committee; and Joseph Shoji Lachman, Co-founder of Never Again.


Photo Credit: Densho/The Kinoshita Collection & The Rafu Shimpo
August 10th marks the 30th anniversary of the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, which granted a presidential apology and monetary reparations to living Japanese American families who had persevered through World War II incarceration for simply looking like the enemy. Over 120,000 people were removed from their homes and imprisoned in concentration camps in remote areas of the country. The majority were U.S. citizens and 1/3 were children. While no amount of money could ever undo the damage to Japanese American families and our democracy as a whole, the Act was a landmark piece of legislation, and represented decades of grassroots organizing across the country. Many Japanese Americans, young and old were inspired to join the Redress Movement by the work of Civil Rights Movement activists of the 1960s, and mobilized our communities to come together to fight for an apology and reparations. Allies in the Black and Latinx communities came to the aid of Japanese Americans, recognizing the commonalities of our struggles, and through this powerful coalition work Japanese Americans finally saw some semblance of justice for our families.

What the Redress movement achieved went beyond the Civil Liberties Act. Our community is not monolithic and there was significant debate about how to "right this wrong," including the view that demanding compensation would bring negative attention to our community. Others felt that creating a Commission to study the incarceration, including prisoner testimonies was demeaning and unnecessary. But those disagreements didn't stop us from moving forward and when it mattered most, we rallied our support around the Civil Liberties Act. Painful divides between individuals and groups who had chosen different paths during the war that had once seemed fixed in stone, now see the possibility of eroding. As part of the healing process the Redress movement started, annual Day of Remembrance programs were organized across the country giving communities an opportunity to reflect, learn, and join together in solidarity around our common history. Japanese Americans also began journeying back to camp sites on pilgrimages to reclaim the stories of their parents and grandparents and to begin piecing together what was lost. Today we look back with admiration at what we fought for and accomplished as a community.

Angry Reader of the Week: Joseph Lachman

"Inequity makes me angry, and I try to channel that anger into action!"



What's up, good people of the internet? It's time to meet the Angry Reader of the Week, spotlighting you, the very special readers of this website. Over the years, I've been able to connect with a lot of cool folks, and this is a way of showing some appreciation and attention to the people who help make this blog what it is. This week's Angry Reader is Joseph Lachman.

No, the Ni’ihau Incident did NOT lead to FDR signing Executive Order 9066

Guest Post by Joseph Shoji Lachman


A comparison of lead actor and Benehakaka Kanahele, the man he is portraying. The resemblance is lacking, to say the least. (Via Shutterstock and Hawaii Reporter)

According to Deadline, Zach McGowan will star in the historical film Ni'ihau, directed by Gabriel Robertson and set in Hawaii during World War II. He will portray Benehakaka Kanahele, a native Hawaiian who received the Medal for Merit and Purple Heart for his part in killing the pilot of a downed Imperial Japanese plane in the aftermath of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

You'll probably notice that Zach McGowan doesn't bear much of a resemblance to Kanahele, and it's even more of a stretch than casting Emma Stone as part Hawaiian in Aloha. Once again, members of the API community will watch as they are portrayed in media by white replacements. At this point, we are frustrated, but hardly surprised when this happens. Pacific Islanders have been abused throughout the U.S.'s history, and this appears to be just another manifestation of that shameful legacy.

To our surprise, however, this may not even be the worst of it.

What is disturbing here is the historical denialism bubbling up from under the surface.

Take a look at this quotation from the Deadline article:

No, we will not "stop talking about Heart Mountain": A Response to the Billings Gazette

Guest Post by Joseph Shoji Lachman


From the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation, Okumoto Collection. Inscribed on the back of the photo: "Young girl near guard tower-Ayaho Inouye." She is standing near a guard tower in the barren desert that was home to the Heart Mountain concentration camp.

This is a response to "Stop talking about Heart Mountain", which appeared in the Billings Gazette on March 1, 2017.

There is a dangerous trend today of abusing Japanese American incarceration history to justify surveillance, possibly registry, and even potential incarceration of Muslims in the U.S. We must push back against this wave of ignorance and xenophobic nationalism if we are to preserve the ideals that really can make this country great.

In a March 1st letter to the editor, C.T. Ripley displayed his lack of knowledge about Japanese American history with his letter published by the Billings Gazette. It starts with the question, "How long do we have to hear about the Japanese internment camps?"

I will return to this question later.

Let's debunk a few of the major lies or misleading statements.

FDR Called Them Concentration Camps: Why Terminology Matters

Guest Post by Joseph Shoji Lachman


Boys Behind Barbed Wire (Norito Takamoto, Albert Masaichi, and Hisashi Sansui), 1944, Manzanar concentration camp (Photo Credit: Toyo Miyatake)

As we approach February 19th, the 75th anniversary of the signing of Executive Order 9066, now referred to as the Day of Remembrance, you'll see a lot of media talking about the Incarceration of Japanese Americans. However, you'll notice that sometimes the terminology isn't consistent. Why do some people say "internment" or "relocation", while others say "incarceration" and "forced removal"?

Here are some of the most common points of confusion, and explanations of why many in the Japanese American community use and avoid specific terminology when talking about our history.

Don't let this public school teacher lie about the Incarceration of Japanese Americans to his students.

Guest Post by Joseph Shoji Lachman


Orphaned infants incarcerated at the Manzanar Children’s Village. Many children, some with as little as 1/8th Japanese ancestry, were ripped from orphanages and foster homes for incarceration. (1943, Manzanar concentration camp, California.)

An associate professor at Columbia Basin, a publicly-funded community college, is teaching his students that the Incarceration of Japanese Americans was not racist.

It's the same teacher, Gary Bullert, who asked in his Tri-City Herald op-ed, "Was the Relocation of West Coast Japanese Racist?"

On January 29, the Tri-City Herald published this opinion piece insisting that the Incarceration was not based on racism, but rather on national security concerns. The writing is filled with numerous errors, and paints the Japanese American population as a major threat to national security during World War II. I responded accordingly with my piece, Yes, actually, the "Relocation" of Japanese Americans was racist.

I also contacted the paper, which defended publishing the op-ed despite its flagrant errors and distortions. I discovered that the author of the op-ed, Gary Bullert, teaches political science at CBC. Next, I contacted the school, and they informed me that although the school's president denounced Bullert's deceptive portrayal of the Incarceration, no disciplinary action could be taken since Bullert was acting as a private citizen.

Then I received a message from one of his students.

I can't believe I'm responding to another pro-Japanese Incarceration piece.

Guest Post by Joseph Shoji Lachman


Japanese Americans were moved "discretely" into horse stables.
This is a response to "Was the relocation of West Coast Japanese racist?", which appeared in the Tri-City Herald on January 29, 2017.

Today, January 30th, is the celebration of the birthday of Fred Korematsu, one of the bravest men of his time, who stood up to the U.S. government, and challenged the constitutionality of the Japanese Incarceration, where around 120,000 people of Japanese descent, 2/3 being American citizens, and the majority being women of children, and all of whom were innocent of any crimes of espionage, were stripped of their civil rights and human dignity, and forced into concentration camps for four years, resulting in the loss of many of their homes, livelihoods, and many of their possessions they could not take with them.

Today is a day to reflect on this history, and remind ourselves of why we should be careful not to repeat it. That said, why on earth is the Tri-City Herald publishing an article attempting to defend the Japanese Internment and say that it had nothing to do with racism?

I'm trying to get this written as quickly, but as accurately as possible, so I will pick out the major statements I take issue with.

A Response To Letters Defending The Japanese Internment In The LA Times

Don't let people distort this history or it could be repeated again. Guest Post by Joseph Shoji Lachman.



This is a response to "Were the stories about Japanese internment during World War II unbalanced? Two letter writers think so" in the LA Times. Here is a reminder of something else they published many years ago:

A viper is nonetheless a viper wherever the egg is hatched—so a Japanese-American, born of Japanese parents—grows up to be a Japanese, not an American. — Los Angeles Times, February 2, 1942 (Source)

I had hoped we had learned a lesson and moved past this kind of hateful rhetoric, but it seems history is trying to repeat itself.

On December 7th, the U.S. commemorated the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor, a truly horrific tragedy that will live on in American memory forever. In our household, we also remember December 6th. Two years ago on that day my grandmother, Margaret Shoji, passed away. My only regret was that I never talked to her about her experiences during the Internment, when our family and 120,000 other people of Japanese descent were denied basic rights, and forced into the internment camps. This was a civil rights travesty and one of the most shameful episodes of American history. But we all know that, don't we?

Apparently, we are supposed to have an "open debate" about the Internment, including justifications and rationalizations of what happened. I was surprised to see a "rational" defense of the Internment appearing in the LA Times in 2016, but I decided to respond as best I could below.