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Jap-Americans Treated Fairly, Not Coddled, At CampLITTLE ROCK, Ark., Jan. 11— lt;/Pj—Denying any attempt to ‘•coddle the Japanese-Ameri-cans” In two Southeast; Arkansas relocation centers. Regional Director E. B. Whitaker of the War Relocation authority asserted no one in charge of the centers “had any idea that they were Utopias.'*“The average American's idea of a Utopia certainly would not be a place where families eat in mess halls and where military police guard the community, keeping outsiders out and insiders in.” Whitaker said in a prepared statement answering recent published descriptions of conditions at the Jerome camp.Whitaker is in charge of the Jerome and Rohwer camps in each of which are located approximately 8.000 Japanese, many American-born, from the Pacific Coast and Hawaii.Their Conditions Changed “We do not claim we are doing a perfect job,” Whitaker said, “but we do contend that the general public in passing judgment on WRA should keep in mind that the evacuees are living m a different section of the country than they have been accustomed to. Weather, working and living conditions are vastly changed for these people.“Nobody should expect a person to change overnightfrom an office worker or a merchant to a woodsman and farmer, regardless of his race or color.”Some Ill-FeelingWhitaker said there was“some confusion” in the centers and “some ill feeling between the Japanese evacuees and the Caucasian labor working on construction,” but said “the cases are isolated, not general.”He said that due to circumstances “for which no one is to be blamed” the contractor had taken twice as long to completethe camp as planned and the project still was not complete.Specifically discussing an altercation between an unnamed Japanese-American boy and Assistant Area Engineer H. M. Hobbs of the U. S. Engineers, Whitaker said it was “no more than a misunderstanding.”“WRA denies that three truckloads of evacuees cornered Mr, Hobbs and threatened to killhim,” Whitaker added.Some Idle Gossip The regional director discussed in detail the problem of cutting firewood for the camp and said that men, women and children on several occasions spent their Saturday afternoon and Sunday holidays at the task. He asserted that “the statement that 90 evacuees felled only six trees in one day is idle gossip.”Whitaker said a railroad representative reported that demurrage charges on the “great(Continued On Page Six)
Newspaper Details
Panama City News Herald
Panama City, Florida, US
Mon, Jan 11, 1943
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Travis R.
AL, USA 07 Sep 2022
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