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PANAMA CITY NEWS HERALD. MONDAY. JUNE 21. I9«3MU'WHAT'S GOING ONJAPANESE LOCATION CENTERSI20; ; CoRuNicPhPithSe\aniCaNeMost of the Japanese-Americans are considered trustworthycitizens, and they adhere to democratic principles in their shareHina plaRelocation Center.of the camp management. Here is a polling lion of a block manager at the Jerome, Arklace for the elec-*«Probably 10.000 citizens of Japanese ancestry are in the I . S Army. Half of that number were drafted before Pearl Harbor Above, two furloughed Nisei soldiers are shown being welcomedby their friends at one of the relocation earnns.j Lou 40,HoFollowing is one of four reports, by NEA staff writers, on the Japanese Relocation Centers which are under official Investigation.mBY S, BURTON HEATHNEA Staff CorrespondentJEROME. Ark . June 28,-^Just outside the stagnating remains of this once thriving lumbering town is located one of the ten centers in which 107,000 of the 127,000 persons of Japanese ancestry in the United States have been brought together, to remove them from military zones and especially to get them out of the Pacific coastal area where, if anywhere, the Japs might try to stage an invasion.There are 8.000 Issei, Niseiand Kibei here. The Issei areJapanese born in the Orient.who migrated to this country and were not permitted to become citizens. The Nisei were born and educated in this country, and most of them are loyal Americans. The Kibel also were born here and so are citizens, but returned to Japan to be educated.The Nisei call the Kibei draft dodgers, They say the Kibei were sufficiently Japanese to go back for their education, but not enough to remain there and serve their term in the Jap army. And now, the Nisei say. the Kibei are trying to get into internment camps over here so that they can avoid service for eithercountry.Many .Seek JobsThe fact is that out of 8.000 Japanese - Amreicans in this«*camp, 1.515 have asked to be sent to Japan, though they know well that this won’t happen until the fighting is over. Only 33 volun teered for the Japanese-Ameri can combat unit. The sale of war bonds has been very small. In these respects the camp here and that at Rohwer, about 35 miles away, make a poor showing by comparison with those in the westerly states.evacuees, ranging from some of proven loyalty to one who is the suspected ring-leader of the pro-Japanese element, and who says he wants to go to Nippon and fight for the land of his fore fathers.the University of California. Mrs.’ * d a position ashousekeeper with a family which is willing for her husband and their child to live with them.Ke1antResentful Now«N»There is a great deal of misunderstanding about the Jap-anese-Americans in this and similar camps. They are not criminals, spies, saboteurs suspects. The FBI put all suspected people of Japanese descent into Internment camps, behind barbed wire under armed guard, right after Pearl Harbor.Those talks, and the exper ence of Caucasian officialshere, indicate that most of the more intelligent citizen evacuees are bitter about what happened to them. Bitternesshas made pro-Japanese, or at least anti-Americans, out ofsome who apparently were atleast passively good Americans before Pearl Harbor.Those here are the remainder of the Issei, the Nisei and the Kibei, who were removed en masse, indiscriminately, on short notice, from their homes in dan ger zones, regardless of the constitutional rights of the two-thirds who are citizens.But in most instances it has left the Nisei hurt, bewildered, discouraged, though still unshal en in their loyalty to the United States and to democratic principles.Some Openly DisloyalThey were brought here first to be checked and sorted. The majority, who have been found trustworthy, are to be relocatedoutside the militarily prescribed zones so that they can pick up their interrupted lives again.Some 6,500 of those here will be put back into circulation asquickly as possible. The remaining 1.500 will be put under guard as internees, and then the relocation camp will be closed up. I have talked with many of theI*An outstanding example of the good Nisei is Hugh M. Kiino, second-generation American citizen of Japanese ancestry, who has just left the Jerome Relocation Camp to look for a job in Jackson, Mich. He could be working for the Justice Department if he were able to read and write Japanese. He is as American as Joe Doakes.Kiino was graduated from the University of California in 1936 with a degree in political science, remained for a year to study law, and then joined his brother in the strawberry and grape shipping business in Floria, Cal., where he was born.The day they left here. I had a talk with Kiino about how he and other loyal Japanese-Ameri -cans feel about what was done to them after Pearl Harbor. He said;At first we felt no real bitter ness. We were told that our evacuation was a military necessity, and we understood and were willing to make a sacrifice for our country. But now' we have learned—or have come to believe—that we are being pressed.“There no longer is any danger of a Japanese invasion of our west coast. We are permitted to make new homes anywhere in the country except where our homes and farms and businesses are. We feel that the government has hadample time to investieato h.x10toitortoitUranCaaop-frtanhalesnrLET UREROHOMEroofers are experts, assuringjob. Every JobPhone or \L. HARRIS RO1938, he was married to Ruth Dekuzaku, who majored in bacteriology for her degree at2?0 E. Main St., BoxJBondedtn '»»nuwW'■Mf
Newspaper Details
Panama City News Herald
Panama City, Florida, US
Mon, Jun 28, 1943
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Arkansas S.
AR, USA 06 Sep 2022
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