MARY VICTORIA DOMBROWSKI & LIVING WATER THEATRE
1. American and Japanese Relocation in World War II; Fact Fiction & Fallacy, Lillian Baker, Webb Research Group Publishers 1996
Principally a rich compendium of primary-source documents, maps and photographs, this book is a must-read for anyone wishing to assess the conditions in the relocation camps. The myth of the “Japanese concentration camp” falls before the onslaught of Baker’s evidence and commentary.
Particularly telling is a reprint of a pamphlet “They Work For Victory: The Story of Japanese Americans and the War Effort,” issued in 1945 by the Japanese American Citizens League. Before the onset of the P.C. reparations mindset, the JACL spoke out clearly about Japanese resettlement outside the relocation centers, Japanese contributions to government service, and Japanese employment in the defense industry, including standard-pay voluntary factory work in the centers themselves.
For any individual who still harbors a shadow of doubt about whether humanitarian conditions existed at the relocation centers, a quick peek at the fully-reprinted “Our World 1943-1944 Manzanar High” yearbook within Baker’s book will dispel any question. Choirs, festivities, sports teams, well-equipped clinics and happy students abound. Given the general condition of rural life in America in the 1940s, the conditions at Manzanar deserve commendation.
Baker’s book was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 1990 for a “Distinguished Book upon the History of the United States.” It received 1990 Honor Medal from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge.
2. The Niihau Incident, Allan Beekman, Heritage Press of Pacific 1982
Beekman, a humanitarian with great sympathy for the Hawaiian-Japanese, sets out to discover the truth of the events on the island of Niihau. Beekman writes a clear narrative which outlines the events of the horrific days following the landing of Japanese fighter pilot Nishikaichi on Niihau, the pilot’s interactions with the 3 traitorous Japanese-Americans residents on Niihau, and the heroic efforts of the Hawaiians and the off-island rescue party.
Beekman conducted interviews with the surviving participants of the incident, particularly the imprisoned widow Irene Harada. The book contains numerous photographs, including images from ceremonies decorating Ben Kanahele and Howard Kaleohano for their heroic efforts.
3. The Prison Called Hohenasperg, An American Boy Betrayed by his Government During World War II, Arthur D. Jacobs 1999 Universal Publishers
(Available from Sakai Intermediate School library)
This is a wonderful memoir by the American Arthur Jacobs about his German immigrant parents, their wartime internment in the U.S., and their eventual deportation to a homeland which, postwar, was a wasteland. The boy Jacobs survived the ordeal of imprisonment in both America and Germany and went on to successfully repatriate to a farm in Kansas under the foster care of a German-American.
To quote from the book jacket:
“Unknown to most Americans, more than 10,000 Germans and German Americans were interned in the United States during WWII. This story is about the internment of a young American and his family. He was born in the U.S.A. and the story tell of his perilous path from his home in Brooklyn to internment at Ellis Island, N.Y. and Crystal city, Texas, and imprisonment, after the war, at a place in Germany called Hohenasperg.
“When he arrived in Germany in the dead of winter, he was transported to Hohenasperg in a frigid, stench-filled, locked, and heavily-guarded boxcar. Once in Hohenasperg, he was separated from his family and put in a prison cell. He was only twelve years old! He was treated like a Nazi by the U.S. Army guards and was told that if he didn’t behave he would be killed. He tried to tell them he was an American, but they just told him to shut up. His fellow inmates included high-ranking officers of the Third Reich who were being held for interrogation and denazification.”
Jacobs retired in 1973 as a Major in the United States Air Force. He then taught until 1997 in the College of Business at Arizona State University at Tempe. This fall he made his first return visit to Hohenasperg Prison.
As a recent e-mail correspondent with Jacobs, I can attest that he is a tireless advocate for equal justice under the law and for accuracy in the teaching of history. Information about the internment of German- and Italian-Americans has sadly been neglected in the rush to enshrine the JACL version of history.
4. Things That Must Not Be Forgotten, A Childhood in Wartime China, Michael David Kwan, Soho Press 2000.
(Available through Kitsap Regional Library)
A lively memoir by the Eurasian Kwan, raised in an aristocratic household in Beijing. Kwan, who was under the age of ten during World War II, was by and large shielded from the war’s effects. The Rape of Nanking, for example, during which 300,000 Chinese were brutally tortured and murdered, receives only passing mention.
Kwan did however experience dislocation due to the war and did witness the effects of the Japanese invasion on older family members and friends, principally his father who was imprisoned of his father under a charge of treason at the conclusion of the war.
Kwan’s experience is hardly typical of the average Chinese, though the portrayal of his privileged life is well written, sensitive and highly readable. It is possible for the informed reader to make more of the events happening on the fringes of Kwan’s private world.
5. MAGIC, The Untold Story of U.S. Intelligence and the Evacuation of Japanese Residents from the West Coast During WWII, David D. Lowman, 2000 Athena Press
(Available through Kitsap Regional Library)
If you have the time to read only one book on “Japanese Internment,” make it this one. In MAGIC, David Lowman reveals how his May 22, 1983 New York Times article disclosed a crucial turning point in U.S. history: The direct link between World War II decryption of Japanese secret communications and FDR’s decision to issue Executive Order 9066. The Times article threw the Committee on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Citizens scurrying to cover their omission of MAGIC from the commission report. The publication of the full story in MAGIC challenges the CWRIC official version of history and continues to call into question the validity of the Japanese reparations movement.
As a National Security Agency consultant on declassification of World War II intelligence documents, Lowman was uniquely positioned to become the expert on the WWII cryptographic record. A native of Washington state, Lowman served with the Army in the South Pacific during the war. He later earned a degree from Stanford University and studied for a doctor of jurisprudence at George Washington University.
As a civilian employee with the National Security Agency, Lowman earned numerous commendations, including the NSA’s highest award, the Exceptional Civilian Service Medal. He rose rapidly through NSA ranks, fielding assignments as linguist, educator, negotiator, lecturer, and liaison with Congress and with foreign officials and diplomats.
Lowman begins MAGIC with the 1942 Executive Order and carries through to the 1980s with the flawed CWRIC Personal Justice Denied and the 1988 Civil Liberties Act which enshrined an official version of historical events and authorized $1.25 billion to promote the CWRIC findings and to compensate the ethnic Japanese, but not German or Italians housed in the same camps.
On June 27, 1984 Lowman himself testified before Congress “to present an accurate historical record of the intelligence which was available to key decision makers in the government and the role it play in this tragic event.” Unfortunately, Personal Justice Denied contained no mention of MAGIC, except in a hastily written addendum which was later withdrawn.
For those who might doubt the existence of saboteurs and spies on the West Coast, I include the following MAGIC messages from Lowman’s book from our own Seattle area:
From: Seattle (Sato)
To: Tokyo (Gaimudaijin)
June 23, 1941 #056
(1) Ships at anchor on the 22nd/23rd:
(Observations having been made from a distance, ship types could not be determined in most cases.)
1. Port of Bremerton:
1. battleship (Maryland type)
2. aircraft tenders (one ship completed and has letter “E” on its funnel).
. . . .
3. Sand Point
2 newly constructed hangars
4. Boeing:
New construction work on newly built factory building #2. Expansion work on all factory buildings.
From: Seattle (Sato)
To: Tokyo
August 16, 1941
#91
(Secret outside the office)
According to a spy report, the English warship Warspite entered Bremerton two or three days ago.
6. In Defense of Internment, Michelle Malkin, Regnery 2004
(Available through Kitsap Regional Library)
Malkin, a former columnist for the Seattle Times, began her study of internment with the unexamined opinion that there was no rational justification for FDR to have issued Executive Order 9066. As she began to investigate, however, she more she came to recognize the justness, humanity and necessity of the decision to intern and relocate enemy aliens and others during World War II.
Malkin begins her book with an account of the 1941 Niihau Incident and follows through to an analysis of the 1983 CWRIC and its effects on public opinion and public education which flow from its indictment of Roosevelt’s actions as “racist” and “unjustified.”
The book is carefully researched and includes a generous amount of primary-source documents in the Appendix. Malkin also supplies the reader with historical photographs documenting, among other things, life in the relocation camps.
Malkin cautions readers that a skewed historical analysis of the events of 1942 will prevent the U.S. from taking appropriate action in the current War on Terror.
7. An Enemy Among Friends, Kiyaoki Murata, Kodansha International 1991
A vivid, entertaining memoir by the author, a Japanese student stranded in the United States as the U.S. declared war on Japan. Murata was interned briefly at Poston Relocation Center in Arizona as an enemy alien. At his request, authorities granted him permission to leave the camp to attend college. Murata, working at various jobs to support himself, earned a Master’s Degree from the University of Chicago.
Throughout the memoir, Murata expresses gratitude for the friendship and opportunities that he, as a Japanese citizen in the U.S. during the war, received from Americans. In a chilling conclusion, he meets his exact counterpart while shipping home to Japan, an American student who had been caught in Japan in 1941. The contrast between the experiences of the two could not be more extreme and telling.
This book is a must-read -- if you can locate a copy.
8. Intelligence, Internment & Relocation, Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066: How Top Secret “MAGIC” Intelligence Led to Evacuation, Keith Robar, KikaR Publications 2000.
(Available through Kitsap Regional Library)
This book is not for the faint of heart. In over 400 pages of closely-printed text, Robar presents his well-researched case for the connection between the top-secret MAGIC decryption program and President Roosevelt’s decision to permit military exclusion of specific populations from designated military zones.
Robar himself served in World War II as a B-29 pilot. Trained as an educator at the University of Washington, Robar taught in the Seattle Public Schools for 30 years. The decision to write this text came as a result of Robar’s attendance at Seattle’s Federal Court in 1985 in the case of Hirabayashi v. U.S. Intrigued by the mention of military intelligence during the hearings (which testimony was not however allowed by Judge Vorhees), Robar set out eastward for the National Archives, the FBI Archives, the Naval Archives, and the Library of Congress. The intelligence gained therein, plus Robar’s personal experience growing up in Southern California close to Asian immigrants, resulted in this book.
Intelligence, Internment & Relocation is highly recommended, both as source for specific information (the Index, Works Cited, Glossary, and Appendices are excellent) and as a general read.
9. Hawaii Under the Rising Sun, John J. Stephan, University of Hawaii Press 1984.
What was Japan’s goal in attacking Pearl Harbor? Stephan poncludes that Imperial Japan had its eye on the Hawaiian Islands as the hoped-for prize the Emperor would extract from Roosevelt as payment for peace in the Pacific. Stephan explores arcane infighting among various factions of the Imperial war machine which brokered its expansionist actions under the cover of establishing a “Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere.”
Stephan reviews popular fiction of the period preceding WWII (in English, German and Japanese) which features, among other things, an Imperial Japanese invasion of Hawaii, followed by landings on the California coast and the fall-back of U.S. forces to the Mississippi River.
Those who question the wisdom of U.S. coastal evacuation of the Japanese might do well to remember that in 1942 all of Hawaii was placed under martial law, that large numbers of Japanese were imprisoned in Hawaii, and that an additional number were shipped to the mainland for internment.
Stephen holds a Ph.D. in Japanese History and is recently retired from a professorship in Modern Japanese History at the University of Hawaii.
Position Paper #4: WHY WERE THE ETHNIC JAPANESE IN HAWAII NOT EVACUATED?
An question often raised is this: Why was there no evacuation of ethnic Japanese from Hawaii?
The question is an excellent one and one on which much has been written. Executive Order 9066 empowered military authorities to designate military zones and to exclude designated individuals from those zones. Areas so designated included coastal Washington, Oregon and California, parts of Arizona and certain small vulnerable areas on the East Coast. An entirely different approach was used for national security in the Hawaiian Islands.
To begin with, Hawaii in 1942 was a territory, rather than a state. It was home to 160,000 ethnic Japanese, about 40% of the islands’ total population. Many of these individuals held dual citizenship. Many also held out hopes that they would one day be reunited with their homeland though Japanese possession of the Islands. (John J. Stephan, Hawaii Under The Rising Sun, 1984 University of Hawaii Press)
The Hawaiian Islands were truly the Pearl of the Pacific. Lying 2,300 miles from the U.S. Coast and 3.900 from the island of Japan, Hawaii’s strategic importance was obvious to both nations. Popular fiction from 1900 onward in English, Japanese and German featured victorious Japanese attacks on Hawaii followed by landings on the West Coast of the U.S. with Japanese troops pushing into the interior of the continent. In reality, Imperial Japan had its eye on the Hawaiian Islands as the hoped-for prize the Emperor could extract from Roosevelt as payment for peace in the Pacific. On December 9, 1942 following the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, Admiral Yamamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy ordered his staff to prepare plans for the invasion of Hawaii. (Stephan)
While the majority of ethnic Japanese in Hawaii embraced American ideals of freedom and democracy, others were disillusioned and alienated by racial discrimination. There was in the ethnic Japanese population obvious attachment to both Japan and the United States. In the 1930s, some young ethnic Japanese joined the University of Hawaii ROTC, others went to Japan and became part of the Imperial Japanese Army or Navy. Curtis Munson, a retired business man sent to evaluate the situation, stated, “If a Japanese fleet arrived, doubtless great numbers of them would then forget their American loyalties and shout a ‘Banzai’ from the shore.” (Stephan)
In 1941, it was common knowledge that espionage was occurring
in Hawaii and that the threat of sabotage was real. However, American law did not permit arrest on the mere suspicion of spying. Officials instead implemented measures to counter its effects, including compiling lists of individuals with traitorous inclinations, arranging in advance for internment, issuing pleas for interracial harmony and loyalty spearheaded by the Chinese, and training civilians to guard installations, monitor blackouts, and redirect traffic. (Keith Robar, Intelligence, internment & Relocation, 2000 KikaR Republications)
Incidents of sabotage and spying increased immediately prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Air frequencies were jammed, impeding flight navigation. Small motorboats departed from piers near Navy moorage to observe night maneuvers. Japanese fishermen repeatedly violated off-limits areas in Pearl Harbor moorage. The Matsui and Mitsubishi Corporations funded the use of ethnic Japanese produce-distributors to gather information about U.S. ship deployments (i.e. taking on more produce meant a longer stay at sea). (Robar)
The most well-documented case of pre-war spying is that of the team of Kotoshirodo and Yoshikawa. Richard Kotoshirodo was a 25-year old dual-citizen who worked at the Japanese consulate. Impressed by Kotoshirodo’s 100% Japanese loyalty and by his photographic memory, Takeo Yoshikawa (a Japanese citizen with 4 years of training of his own as an undercover agent), tutored Kotoshirodo in techniques of observation. (Michelle Malkin, In Defense of Internment, 2004 Regnery Publishing
Beginning in March of 1941, the pair roamed the island on “sightseeing” tours in Kotoshirodo’s 1937 Ford. On occasion, Yoshikawa dressed as a day laborer and hid in sugarcane fields to observe Navy ship capabilities. He also took teahouse geishas on tourist planes and cruised harbors in glass-bottom boats. Kotoshirodo on his own conducted reconnaissance at Lahaina and the Big Island, reporting back on ship movements, water currents, support systems and military routines. The pair were aided in their work by the German Bernard Kuehn. (Malkin)
In the days prior to the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the work of the America Kotoshirodo and his co-conspirators provided Imperial Japan with the following invaluable information for its attack: There were no warships off the west coast of Maui, battleships in Pearl Harbor moored in pairs to protect the inner ships from torpedo attack, most ships were in port on Saturday and Sunday, and patrols were few north of Oahu. (Malkin)
On December 7, 1941, the day of the attack, authorities declared martial law in Hawaii. Residents considered to be dangerous were arrested. All citizens were subject to curfew restrictions. Print and broadcast media were censored. Teams collected explosive materials that had been in the possession of the civilians. Civilian volunteers (3,800 on the main island and additional thousands on the other islands) were immediately put to work guarding bridges and other sensitive locations. (Robar)
Given the size of the ethnic Japanese population in the islands, evacuation to the mainland was next to impossible. Ships were not available to transport 160,000 individuals. Nor was material in sufficient supply to construct facilities to segregate and house ethnic Japanese. Also, removing the ethnic Japanese labor force would have crippled the Hawaiian economy. Instead, by the implementation of martial law and tight surveillance, further espionage and sabotage were quashed. FBI operations were deliberate and methodical. Military courts assigned fines and/or imprisonment for violations of blackout regulations, possession of ammunitions, signaling from shore to ships at sea, and other offenses. Swift arrest and punishment had an inhibiting effect. (Robar)
Kotoshirodo himself was briefly interned in Hawaii and then sent to the mainland relocation centers at Topaz, Utah and Tule Lake, California.
I’ll close by quoting in full from John J. Stephan who holds a Ph.D. in Japanese History and who taught Modern Japanese History at the University of Hawaii. He states in his conclusion to Hawaii Under the Rising Sun:
Both Japanese and Americans have reason to be thankful that the islands were not seized in 1942 or 1943. However humanely the occupation authorities may have acted, Hawaii would have become a battleground like Okinawa and Saipan in the course of the inevitable American counterinvasion. The scars left by combat and collaboration in Hawaii would have affected not only postwar Japanese-American relations but would have postponed and possibly precluded Hawaii’s candidacy for statehood (p. 176)
Works Cited:
Malkin, Michelle, In Defense of Internment, 2004 Regnery Publishing
Robar, Keith, Intelligence, internment & Relocation, 2000 KikaR Republications
Stephan, John J. Hawaii Under The Rising Sun, 1984 University of Hawaii Press
Next: An annotated short list of suggest reading material
POSITION PAPERS #3: WHAT WERE THE RELOCATION CAMPS REALLY LIKE?
To give you an idea of what life was like in the relocation centers, I would like to begin by quoting for you from An Enemy Among Friends by Kiyoaki Murata. Murata, who died only this past summer of 200411/15/04, was a Japanese student stranded in the United States when war broke out between America and Japan. Respecting his time at Poston Relocation Center, he says in his book:
“At first there was a token stretch of barbed wire fence around the camp, but it was gone in a few months. And I did see one helmeted MP by a guard post. One of the first days of my life in Poston, I chatted with a lone, black MP who appeared quite bored. I even sauntered out into the mesquite woods without his showing any sign of disapproval. Within a few days, he was no longer to be seen.
There was indeed no need for either fences or armed guards -- whether against the evacuees or what subsequent defenders of the guards have termed the hostile local population. No evacuee would desire to break out. Even if one had a destination in mind, it would be suicidal to attempt to trek through the wilderness of the Colorado River Indian Reservation. As for the hostile local population, there was none, apart from coyotes, scorpions, and rattlesnakes.
As far as I could see, all the human residents of Unit Three Poston, soon found their new life more or less satisfactory under the circumstances. For what purpose, then, would anyone consider leaving the dwelling where the United States government guaranteed them food, shelter, and clothing (with a monthly allowance of seven dollars per person?)
Despite the unbearable daytime heat, camp life was not without its redeeming features. After sundown, the temperature rapidly went down to a comfortable level. The moon would rise over the mesquite trees in a clear night sky, and the fresh air, filled with the fragrance of young foliage, more than made up for the discomfort of the day. Occasional howling by coyotes in the distance added distinctive local color to the atmosphere.” (Murata p. 113-4)
Nine months after entering Poston, Murata obtained permission to travel to the Midwest where he attended Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota and the University of Chicago, from which he obtained a Master’s Degree.
While it should be noted that the AJA of Bainbridge Island were by and large residents at Minadoka, rather than Poston, Murata’s picture of camp life can be accepted as representative of life at other relocation centers.
Note the term “relocation center” rather than “concentration camp” or “prison camp.” Relocation centers were just that: centers from which individuals and families were expected to relocate. Job centers were set up throughout the Midwest to assist West Coast AJA in finding employment. Relocation center population numbers fluctuated seasonally as individuals left for seasonal agricultural work. There are also documented cases of AJA from elsewhere in the United States petitioning the government for permission to reside in the centers. Many young AJA, including the parents of our own Assistant Superintendent Faith Chapel, left relocation centers to attend college in the East. Other individuals swore allegiance to the United States and volunteered for military service.
AJA who respond immediately to the February 19, 1942 Evacuation Order were able to take up residence outside the military zone at places of their own choosing. For example, the Harui Family of Bainbridge Island moved to the Moses Lake area for the duration of the war. When the FDR administration became aware that many AJA lacked either the motivation or resources to leave the designated West Coast military zone, assembly centers and relocation camps were established to handle the evacuation.
Lillian Baker’s book, American and Japanese Relocation in World War II; Fact, Fiction, and Fallacy is an excellent resource for obtaining a sense of life in the relocation centers. The bulk of the book consists of two elements: 1) a pamphlet published the Japanese American Citizens League entitled “They Work For Victory” and 2) the 1943-1944 “Our World” Manzanar High yearbook.
The “Working For Victory” pamphlet is a rich source of historical data regarding the varied and significant AJA contributions to the war effort at the relocation centers, including: decorated military service, agricultural production, civilian production of ordnance and of camouflage nets, food production at the centers, railroad work, mining, government translation service, experimental horticultural work, and service as U.S. Cadet Nurses.
To quote Lillian Baker:
“Evacuees in the War Relocation Centers received free food, lodging, medical and dental care, clothing allowance, education, hospital care, and all basic necessities. No evacuee was forced to labor. Those who worked an 8-hour shift at the centers received a monthly stipend equivalent to men in the armed forces. Evacuees who were loyal to the United States were not only free to leave the centers but were urged to do so and were assisted in resettlement. The government even paid travel expenses and assisted in cases of emergency relief.” (Baker p. 46)
The Manzanar 1943-9144 yearbook is replete with text and photos of classrooms, baton-twirling cheerleaders, musical groups, well-stocked commissaries, dental offices, young beauties in festive costumes, religious ceremonies, sports teams in uniform, sewing machine operators, machine shops, and -- most importantly -- healthy and smiling children.
The actions of the JACL during World War II are themselves the clearest evaluation of the humanitarian conditions at the relocation centers. On December 17, 1944 the War Department revoked the West Coast exclusion orders. The following day, Director Myer released a memo that all relocation centers would be closed before the end of 1945.
“The Japanese American Citizens League sent a delegation from the War Relocation Authority Centers to Washington, D.C. begging the government not to close the relocation centers until after the war ended.” (Baker p. 30).
I will close by again quoting Mr. Murata:
“From my wartime life in the United States, I learned the importance of the individual as the basic element of humanity -- not a member of a category of people such as a nation or an ethnic group. I am grateful to the American people I lived and worked with during the 1940s for giving me the opportunity to learn that important philosophy of life.” (Murata p. 240)
Next: Why were the AJA in Hawaii not evacuated?
(My thanks to C.M. for the suggestion!)
POSITION PAPER #1: IT’S CONTROVERSIAL!
To: Parents of 6th Graders
Re: “Leaving Our Island”
If you have been reading newspapers or listening to the radio, you know that our school district is in the middle of a controversy. I am writing to ask for your help in urging our school administrators to bring the 6th grade curriculum into compliance with their own Policy/Procedure 2331 for teaching controversial issues. Contact information for the district follows at the bottom of this letter.
In December of 2003, it came to my attention that staff and administration at Sakai Intermediate School had made a radical departure from school district’s established 6th grade Social Studies curriculum. I would like to provide you with some facts about the change. See whether it is something you would like to see your child experience or whether, as I do, you find you have objections.
The original curriculum as set out in district guidelines calls for 6th graders to study United States History from Reconstruction to the present. I strongly support that curriculum. Fact-based education is what our children need to be effective citizens. And what a huge undertaking! To cover that amount of material, teachers and students need to use every instructional period wisely.
Instead, during school year 2003-2004, the 6th grade teachers, under a grant obtained by teacher Marie Marrs spent the full month of February on the study of the World War II evacuation of the Japanese-Americans from Bainbridge Island. $17,000 of taxpayer monies were spent for staff overtime and materials for this project. Unfortunately, many of the students were bored. And worse yet, a number of us feel that the students were subjected to propaganda.
With all due respect to the Japanese-Americans for the hardships caused by the evacuation, the unit was both skewed and clearly out of proportion. Students in the 6th grade were not given the appropriate context for evacuation. Was evacuation a hardship? Certainly. Did other Americans suffer hardships during World War II? Of course. Did hundred of thousands of Americans give their lives in the fight against fascism? You bet. Was our very existence as a nation threatened? Unmistakably. Yet, with 20-20 hindsight, Johanna Vander Stoep unilaterally labels the legitimate security actions taken by President Roosevelt (three months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor!) a “mistake.” Easy for someone to say in 2004.
“Leaving Our Island” makes no mention of MAGIC, the code name for American interception and decoding of Japanese naval and consular messages by which FDR was aware of espionage and other fifth-column activity on our vulnerable West Coast. Fort Ward, right here on Bainbridge, was one of the most significant listening posts for MAGIC. Information derived from MAGIC was directly responsible for the evacuation of Japanese-American from our island. Nor does the program inform children about the true nature of life at Manzanar relocation camp, where life was generally pretty good and where the biggest danger residents had to face was violence from pro-Imperial Japan gangs.
Even worse, in accordance with the stated purpose of the grant application, the unit went on to tie this “mistake” to “current events, such as the anti-terrorist activities, Homeland Security legislation, and the Patriot Act” (Contract For Client Services 35-0358). A consistently anti-government attitude was imposed on the students. For example on February 20th, a heart-wrenching yet illogical handout was given to students about the Seattle Hamoui family. The handout describes them as having been imprisoned because of the Patriot Act when in fact their arrest stems from 1992 violations of tourist visas.
Jim and I, along with others parents, have been voicing our objections since February 2004. We have spoken with Ms. Vander Stoep, with Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum Faith Chapel, with Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Crawford and with the school board. Their responses have been unsatisfactory.
We have suggested remedies which the District has ignored or rejected, for example: to shorten “Leaving Our Island”, to teach students about concurrent activities on Bainbridge Island such as top-secret MAGIC code-breaking at Fort Ward, to give students the full context for US wartime efforts, and to invite a professional representative to speak to students about the actual construction and uses of the Patriot Act.
In a letter to me dated February 25, 2004 Johanna Vander Stoep states, “ . . .for 2004-2005, we plan for Leaving Our Island to be much the same.” As of the most recent school board meeting, the district says it won’t have planning decisions in place for “Leaving Our Island” before January. Is this how you want your student to be spend precious class time? Jim and I certainly don’t.
I look forward to hearing from you. If you know of other parents who may be interested, please feel free to forward this email. I would be most happy to receive email addresses of other concerned parents. Similarly, if you would like to opt out and not receive further information from me, please let me know and I will be glad to remove your name from my list. Thank you for your attention.
Mary Victoria Dombrowski
POSITION PAPER #2: THE TEACHERS CAN’T BE THAT WRONG, CAN THEY?
You may be asking yourself, “Can it really be true that the curriculum at Sakai is so screwed up? Can’t we trust our teachers to teach the kids history?”
For the answer, you have to look farther than “Leaving Our Island” would have you look.
You have to look to the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1988 and the agenda which it promotes.
Even before the conclusion of World War II, Japanese-Americans were free to return to their homes on the west coast. Some did. Some chose to live elsewhere in the United States. Some renounced the U.S. and went to live in Japan. By the 1948 American-Japanese Claims Act, our government reimbursed individual AJA (Americans of Japanese Ancestry) for specific losses incurred as a natural consequence of the wartime evacuation. A total of over $37 million was paid in compensation pursuant to this Act. (U.S. Department of Justice April 25, 1986, p. 331)
Then in 1980, under pressure from a younger generation of AJA, Congress created the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). The CWIRC was directed to review relocation and detention and to recommend appropriate remedies. Each of CWIRC’s 9 members was approved beforehand by the Japanese American Citizens League. Testimony was taken over two years from over 700 people. Most witnesses were former camp residents coached in giving anecdotal evidence of their own experiences. No witnesses were sworn.
The CWRIC was a rigged game. As David D. Lowman explains MAGIC: The Untold Story:
Some witnesses who wanted to testify on behalf of the government complained that they were ignored. The few who did manage to obtain some time before the Commission to testify for the government complained that they were cu short, humiliated, and sometimes lectured to by the members of the Commission. Other pro-government witnesses who submitted written materials often found that their submiswion were filed away and completely forgotten even though they had been assured that the documents would be givern careful consideration. (Lowman p. 74)
John McCloy, the Assistant Secretary of War who oversaw evacuation and relocation, appeared before the CWRIC. The pro-reparations crowd in the hearing room booed, hissed, and jeered through his attempt to give testimony.
At the conclusion of the hearings, the CRWIC issued its report, “Personal Justice Denied.” There was no mention in the report of MAGIC, the decryption system by which the president and his inner circle were made knowledgeable about AJA espionage and recruitment activities in the United States.
Enabling legislation followed soon after. Overriding the objections of his own Department of Justice, President Reagan signed the Civil Rights Act of 1988. That act provided $20,000 for “pain and suffering” to every AJA evacuee or internee, whether loyal resident, subversive pro-Japanese internee, heroic serviceman, repatriate to Japan, student who left to attend college, or child born in the camps. By contrast, no German or Italian internees (of which there were 10,905 and 3,278 respectively) received any compensation whatsoever.
Additionally, $50 million was set aside for promulgation of an official version of these events. That’s the taxpayer money funding programs such as “Leaving Our Island.” Despite the Department of Justice position that “these issues will continue to be a matter of historical and scholarly debate” (DOJ p. 330), BISD supports the limited and biased view enshrined in “Personal Justice Denied.”
The federal grants are specific to the point of dictating the language which is to be used in order to secure the grant:
From the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund:
Specifically, rather than “evacuation” or “relocation,” the following terms for this event are more accurate: “imprisonment, incarceration, internment, detention, confinement or lockup.” Rather than “assembly centers,” the term “temporary detention centers” is an accurate alternative; rather than “relocation camps,” “internment camps, detention camps, prison camps, or concentration camps.”
In other words, once a school district accepts grant money, it no longer has leeway on how to teach its own local kids: no exploration of the national security justification for FDR’s actions, no mention of AJA espionage enabling Pearl Harbor, no description of Imperial Japanese atrocities at Bataan or Nanking, no presentation of cables from Seattle tipping off Imperial Japan as to what ships were at anchor in Bremerton.
And that’s just was BISD has done with the $17,000 in grant money. They have accepted a grant and they have signed on to teach a specific version of history. That’s what they’re doing to our kids.
Next: WHAT WERE THE RELOCATION CAMPS REALLY LIKE?
POSITION PAPER #1: IT’S CONTROVERSIAL!
To: Parents of 6th Graders
Re: “Leaving Our Island”
If you have been reading newspapers or listening to the radio, you know that our school district is in the middle of a controversy. I am writing to ask for your help in urging our school administrators to bring the 6th grade curriculum into compliance with their own Policy/Procedure 2331 for teaching controversial issues. Contact information for the district follows at the bottom of this letter.
In December of 2003, it came to my attention that staff and administration at Sakai Intermediate School had made a radical departure from school district’s established 6th grade Social Studies curriculum. I would like to provide you with some facts about the change. See whether it is something you would like to see your child experience or whether, as I do, you find you have objections.
The original curriculum as set out in district guidelines calls for 6th graders to study United States History from Reconstruction to the present. I strongly support that curriculum. Fact-based education is what our children need to be effective citizens. And what a huge undertaking! To cover that amount of material, teachers and students need to use every instructional period wisely.
Instead, during school year 2003-2004, the 6th grade teachers, under a grant obtained by teacher Marie Marrs spent the full month of February on the study of the World War II evacuation of the Japanese-Americans from Bainbridge Island. $17,000 of taxpayer monies were spent for staff overtime and materials for this project. Unfortunately, many of the students were bored. And worse yet, a number of us feel that the students were subjected to propaganda.
With all due respect to the Japanese-Americans for the hardships caused by the evacuation, the unit was both skewed and clearly out of proportion. Students in the 6th grade were not given the appropriate context for evacuation. Was evacuation a hardship? Certainly. Did other Americans suffer hardships during World War II? Of course. Did hundred of thousands of Americans give their lives in the fight against fascism? You bet. Was our very existence as a nation threatened? Unmistakably. Yet, with 20-20 hindsight, Johanna Vander Stoep unilaterally labels the legitimate security actions taken by President Roosevelt (three months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor!) a “mistake.” Easy for someone to say in 2004.
“Leaving Our Island” makes no mention of MAGIC, the code name for American interception and decoding of Japanese naval and consular messages by which FDR was aware of espionage and other fifth-column activity on our vulnerable West Coast. Fort Ward, right here on Bainbridge, was one of the most significant listening posts for MAGIC. Information derived from MAGIC was directly responsible for the evacuation of Japanese-American from our island. Nor does the program inform children about the true nature of life at Manzanar relocation camp, where life was generally pretty good and where the biggest danger residents had to face was violence from pro-Imperial Japan gangs.
Even worse, in accordance with the stated purpose of the grant application, the unit went on to tie this “mistake” to “current events, such as the anti-terrorist activities, Homeland Security legislation, and the Patriot Act” (Contract For Client Services 35-0358). A consistently anti-government attitude was imposed on the students. For example on February 20th, a heart-wrenching yet illogical handout was given to students about the Seattle Hamoui family. The handout describes them as having been imprisoned because of the Patriot Act when in fact their arrest stems from 1992 violations of tourist visas.
Jim and I, along with others parents, have been voicing our objections since February 2004. We have spoken with Ms. Vander Stoep, with Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum Faith Chapel, with Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Crawford and with the school board. Their responses have been unsatisfactory.
We have suggested remedies which the District has ignored or rejected, for example: to shorten “Leaving Our Island”, to teach students about concurrent activities on Bainbridge Island such as top-secret MAGIC code-breaking at Fort Ward, to give students the full context for US wartime efforts, and to invite a professional representative to speak to students about the actual construction and uses of the Patriot Act.
In a letter to me dated February 25, 2004 Johanna Vander Stoep states, “ . . .for 2004-2005, we plan for Leaving Our Island to be much the same.” As of the most recent school board meeting, the district says it won’t have planning decisions in place for “Leaving Our Island” before January. Is this how you want your student to be spend precious class time? Jim and I certainly don’t.
I look forward to hearing from you. If you know of other parents who may be interested, please feel free to forward this email. I would be most happy to receive email addresses of other concerned parents. Similarly, if you would like to opt out and not receive further information from me, please let me know and I will be glad to remove your name from my list. Thank you for your attention.
Mary Victoria Dombrowski
POSITION PAPER #1: IT’S CONTROVERSIAL!
To: Parents of 6th Graders
Re: “Leaving Our Island”
If you have been reading newspapers or listening to the radio, you know that our school district is in the middle of a controversy. I am writing to ask for your help in urging our school administrators to bring the 6th grade curriculum into compliance with their own Policy/Procedure 2331 for teaching controversial issues. Contact information for the district follows at the bottom of this letter.
In December of 2003, it came to my attention that staff and administration at Sakai Intermediate School had made a radical departure from school district’s established 6th grade Social Studies curriculum. I would like to provide you with some facts about the change. See whether it is something you would like to see your child experience or whether, as I do, you find you have objections.
The original curriculum as set out in district guidelines calls for 6th graders to study United States History from Reconstruction to the present. I strongly support that curriculum. Fact-based education is what our children need to be effective citizens. And what a huge undertaking! To cover that amount of material, teachers and students need to use every instructional period wisely.
Instead, during school year 2003-2004, the 6th grade teachers, under a grant obtained by teacher Marie Marrs spent the full month of February on the study of the World War II evacuation of the Japanese-Americans from Bainbridge Island. $17,000 of taxpayer monies were spent for staff overtime and materials for this project. Unfortunately, many of the students were bored. And worse yet, a number of us feel that the students were subjected to propaganda.
With all due respect to the Japanese-Americans for the hardships caused by the evacuation, the unit was both skewed and clearly out of proportion. Students in the 6th grade were not given the appropriate context for evacuation. Was evacuation a hardship? Certainly. Did other Americans suffer hardships during World War II? Of course. Did hundred of thousands of Americans give their lives in the fight against fascism? You bet. Was our very existence as a nation threatened? Unmistakably. Yet, with 20-20 hindsight, Johanna Vander Stoep unilaterally labels the legitimate security actions taken by President Roosevelt (three months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor!) a “mistake.” Easy for someone to say in 2004.
“Leaving Our Island” makes no mention of MAGIC, the code name for American interception and decoding of Japanese naval and consular messages by which FDR was aware of espionage and other fifth-column activity on our vulnerable West Coast. Fort Ward, right here on Bainbridge, was one of the most significant listening posts for MAGIC. Information derived from MAGIC was directly responsible for the evacuation of Japanese-American from our island. Nor does the program inform children about the true nature of life at Manzanar relocation camp, where life was generally pretty good and where the biggest danger residents had to face was violence from pro-Imperial Japan gangs.
Even worse, in accordance with the stated purpose of the grant application, the unit went on to tie this “mistake” to “current events, such as the anti-terrorist activities, Homeland Security legislation, and the Patriot Act” (Contract For Client Services 35-0358). A consistently anti-government attitude was imposed on the students. For example on February 20th, a heart-wrenching yet illogical handout was given to students about the Seattle Hamoui family. The handout describes them as having been imprisoned because of the Patriot Act when in fact their arrest stems from 1992 violations of tourist visas.
Jim and I, along with others parents, have been voicing our objections since February 2004. We have spoken with Ms. Vander Stoep, with Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum Faith Chapel, with Superintendent Dr. Kenneth Crawford and with the school board. Their responses have been unsatisfactory.
We have suggested remedies which the District has ignored or rejected, for example: to shorten “Leaving Our Island”, to teach students about concurrent activities on Bainbridge Island such as top-secret MAGIC code-breaking at Fort Ward, to give students the full context for US wartime efforts, and to invite a professional representative to speak to students about the actual construction and uses of the Patriot Act.
In a letter to me dated February 25, 2004 Johanna Vander Stoep states, “ . . .for 2004-2005, we plan for Leaving Our Island to be much the same.” As of the most recent school board meeting, the district says it won’t have planning decisions in place for “Leaving Our Island” before January. Is this how you want your student to be spend precious class time? Jim and I certainly don’t.
I look forward to hearing from you. If you know of other parents who may be interested, please feel free to forward this email. I would be most happy to receive email addresses of other concerned parents. Similarly, if you would like to opt out and not receive further information from me, please let me know and I will be glad to remove your name from my list. Thank you for your attention.
Mary Victoria Dombrowski
Life goes on and changes. Now: essays. If you want to see, Google my name + "Bainbridge." We are advocating for historial accuracy re the teaching of WWII history in 6th grade. Currently, we see propaganda for the young. What happened?
Many supporters from around the nation, even from Japan. Watch Mainichi Times, NPR, Bremerton Sun, Seattle Times, etc.
Please email with (rational only) comments
What a long time it's been. How to express the sense of dislocation, both personal and political????
Perhaps the misspellings are a key. Hard to write poetry at this time. New stuff arrives and it is dense and sticky, with image piling on image. The impulse is to create a picture, an experience, rather than to fancy the words. "These low sullen smokes . . ." Can't you see it? I heard a high school girl recite the Plath poem and it truly had improved with age.
Poets are always involved in politics. Lately the most vocal on the wrong side. Are there any poets working from a baseline of patriotism, hard work, democracy out there???? I would like to hear from you and am seeking poetry of the highest quality for publication. Resistance against the current mind-washing diversity-training pc-correct anti-USA orientation. Hey, it's hard going it alone and I intend to publish a journal of solid, finely-wrought stuff. Send me your best. I want you to be heard.
M.
Kent Chadwick and Mary Dombrowski are organizing a benefit for the Barbara Morrison video project. During 2003 and supported by a grant from the Bainbridge Island Arts and Humanities, Barbara oversaw the studio taping of a dozen or so island poets. Marian MacDonald was among them. The tapes of the readings/performances await editing and screening. Funds are needed to complete the project. Participation of interested parties in planning the benefit is sought.
We envision an evening of poetry and music. A celebration! It will be grand!
Please email Mary by this link. Thanks much.
An old poet friend has passed on, one who leant constant encouragement and provided multiple opportunities: Marion MacDonald, you will be missed! You perched so lightly in your last years, you were so frail -- and the poems were muscular by contrast. You wrote of herds of cattle, dogs in packs, ferocious traffic. You wrote of your struggles without romanticizing them. Guide us yet, Muse and Friend.
