Yuri was popular in her community for showing concern towards minorities and the poor. As the book says, “her youth, humanitarian concerns and a need to be active” was the primary reason for her various services (p. 24). But, unlike other Japanese families, she grew up with advantages that made it possible for her to behave the way she did. If she had been raised as a typical nisei in a segregated neighborhood with parents who both worked low-paying jobs, how would her outlook on society have differed? In other words, how much has her family background influenced her actions?
In the average Japanese household, women are designated to household chores and are shaped into domestic servants from a very young age. In the Nakahara family, we see only the mother tend to the housework while Yuri spends her days outside. We know that her parents valued the maintenance of certain Japanese traditions from the fact that she is placed in a Japanese school at one point. Yet, why was Yuri not raised to “fulfill a traditional gender role” (p. 16)? After all, even among her white friends, girls shared chores with their mothers.ors and
A Color-Blind Patriot in Prewar America 1 3
cauma that
ombing of
co jump to
ten states,
he highest
on about
first half
entration
Japanese
Union, was silent. Radical groups like the Communist Party likewise
turned their backs on Japanese Americans, though a few progressive
the American Friends Service Committee (a Quaker organization) and
and radical organizations opposed the forced removal. To their credit,
the Socialist Party denounced the forced dislocation, and some non-
Japanese individuals provided friendship and material assistance to the
Issei and their families. The lack of organized support for Japanese
Americans, in conjunction with the governmental, military, media,
es Times
agh late
y Planes
business, and public attacks on Japanese Americans, created condi-
tions of isolation for the numerically small population of Japanese
Americans. It was this climate, molded in an era before the Civil
Rights Movement created a mass consciousness of resistance, that
made it difficult for Japanese Americans to collectively protest their
ien Lit-
Base,
mainly
defend
of U.S.
oward
umer-
in
en
d.
incarceration.3
Racism and wartime hysteria were taking their toll on the Japanese
American community. Families were losing material goods, psycho-
logically and physically distressed, and uncertain about their future.
Yuri’s family, in addition to coping with Mr. Nakahara’s imprison-
ment and death, had to deal with administering the family business.
Yuri’s older brother, Art, had the responsibility of maintaining the
business, making sure employees were paid, and then closing the
market after the banks froze their accounts. In the meantime, Peter
returned from UC Berkeley. Yuri recalled: “The Japanese were asked
to leave the campus. But even getting home was an ordeal because the
ticket agents at the bus and train stations refused to sell him a ticket.
We just told him to come home any way he could. Years later I found
out that a White San Pedro school friend drove him all the
way
from
Berkeley to San Pedro. 94
As soon as he returned, Peter abided by what he considered his
patriotic duty, even during a period of great difficulty for his own
family: “I tried to volunteer for the Marine Corps, but they refused to
take me. I then volunteered for the navy, but they also refused to take
me. Finally, the army said they’d take me under the draft, providing
I had my mother’s consent since I was under twenty-one..
When I
mother if she would consent, she said, ‘Yes, if that’s what
asked
my
you want to do.’ But she was concerned that she would never see me
again. She thought I would get killed in the army, and she looked very
sad.” Art also tried to enlist but was declined for health reasons. Some
S
1
11-
for
se
ch
CS
on as, according
family. The local draft board saw Pete as a
on the local army board
,
long, they trusted out
and
The
say
rem
beg
Ped
alu
diff
rais
“5
not as the enemy.
4 / A Color-Blind Patriot in Prewar America
may wonder why the army accepted Peter when his father was in pris
reasoned: “It seems the decision depended
to the FBI, a “known dangerous” immigrant. Yuri
and because we had lived in San Pedro for so
Japanese American
anti-Japanese incidents on a daily basis. She noticed, for
In contrast to her previously idyllic life, Yuri began encountering
that Peter, like most Nisei soldiers, was treated differently from White
went with him to the train station. I’ll never
GIS: “When Pete was leaving San Pedro for training in Wyoming, I
form and so gung ho about being in the American army. I had just
said good-bye to him and was turning to go out of the station when
this White guy came up to me and said, ‘Damn, how could they let
asked. Then he said, ‘Isn’t he a Jap? Aren’t you a Jap? They shouldn’t
,” Even friends and neigh-
bors treated Japanese Americans differently. “Being friendly to the
Japanese was considered unpatriotic and carried the stigma of being
example,
to
forget it. He was in uni
.
рес
sud
you
him in? Was that a member of your family?’ I was
wondering why he
Th
We
tio
A1
let anyone like that in the American army.
ma
wo
sp
sh
away
w
labeled “Jap lovers,” observed Yuri. “So many Americans shied
from their longtime Japanese friends and neighbors.” Some abruptly
ended long-standing friendships. Others, knowing the Japanese Ameri-
cans would soon be leaving, took advantage of the situation and bought
Japanese belongings-china, furniture, large appliances, even agricul-
tural land—at abusively low prices.6
In early 1942, most of the organizations for which Yuri volunteered
ex
th
at
ha
as an adult counselor requested her resignation. “Even the YWCA
asked me to leave, which surprised me because the Y was a Christian
er
IC
11
th
outfit,” she recounted. “They said: ‘I’m sorry, but there have been com-
plaints when they found out you’re of Japanese background and that
your father’s been taken in. This is the Y and we have many meetings.
The military and wives of military meet here. So I’m sorry you have to
leave. And here I was teaching first aid there.” When Yuri drove youth
Šo 60 =
tc
to the beach for summer camp, she was told, “If there’s one
complaint,
if one mother feels ill at ease under your counseling, you’ll have to
leave” During this period, Yuri was invited to serve on the planning
committee for a San Pedro High School alumni gathering:
go
b.
th
sc
tu
2/ A Color-Blind Patriot in Prewar America
an
the
the
The Nakahara family not only had to cope with Mr. Nakahara’s
condition, harassment from the FBI, and isolation from neighbors and
friends, they also experienced the uncertainty, fears, and trauma that
virtually every Japanese American underwent after the bombing of
Pearl Harbor. Initially, the newspapers urged the public not to jump to
conclusions about Japanese Americans. However, as Yuri often states,
U.S. military officials were soon broadcasting misinformation about
Jap
The highest
Isse
Am
999
busi
tions
Ame
Righ
made
incarc
“There is a saying that ‘the first casualty of war is truth.’
subversive activities by Japanese Americans. Throughout the first half
of 1942, until Japanese Americans were removed to concentration
camps, stories about the alleged national security threat of Japanese
Americans filled newspapers and the airwaves. The Los Angeles Times
ran the following headlines from December 8, 1941, through late
February 1942: “Jap Boat Flashes Messages Ashore,” “Enemy Planes
Sighted over California Coast,” “Two Japs with Maps and Alien Lit-
erature Seized,” “Caps on Japanese Tomato Plants Point to Air Base,”
and “Japs Plan Attack in April.” Although the articles were mainly
about fabricated events, it was hard for Japanese Americans to defend
themselves against the onslaught by virtually every sector of U.S.
society. As the press fanned the flames of racism, animosity toward
Japanese Americans grew. Yuri has described the situation in numer-
ous speeches:
Rac
Americ
logical
Yuri’s f
ment ar
Yuri’s o
business
market a
returned
to leave ti
Japanese Americans began losing jobs, feeling unwanted in
schools, facing hostility in their neighborhoods, undergoing
surveillance wherever they went. Bank accounts were frozen
by federal orders and many Japanese-owned businesses folded.
Some stores would not sell provisions or provide services to
Japanese. Japanese language schools were closed. FBI roundups
were everyday occurrences. Civic, business, professional, and
religious leaders were taken to jail for interrogation. There was
a five-mile travel ban and an 8 p.m. curfew—imposed only on
the Japanese, not the Germans or Italians.2
Strong agitation against Japanese Americans came from the Amel-
ticket age
We just to
out that a
Berkeley to
As soon
patriotic dy
family: “Itr
take me. I th
me. Finally,
church
can Legion and the Native Sons of the Golden West, primarily for
racist reasons, and from agribusiness groups, who saw Japanese
and civil rights group, including the national American Civil Liberties
American farmers as economic competitors. Almost every
I had my mo
asked my mc
you want to
again. She tho
sad.” Art also
A Color-Blind Patriot in Prewar America / 7
me, at the time, it didn’t seem like anything unusual for Japanese
to
Or
pense
Americanized than most Nisei. But her assimilation came at the ex-
en
In the 1920s and 1930s, Yuri barely noticed race differences. “To
of her cultural identity. Banana-yellow on the outside, white
on the inside—is the derogatory term she used, years later, to describe
her ethnic identity in her youth. In retrospect, Yuri noticed that the
their Japanese ancestry compared to the Nisei growing up in the more
insulated, majority-Japanese fishing village of Terminal Island, across
er
er
Nisei growing up in San Pedro, like herself, seemed more ashamed of
le
r-
ad
1g
SO
се
ge
the bay from San Pedro:
Niseis on the San Pedro side did not seem as proud of or as
aware of our heritage. But, more so, it could also have been
because we did not wish to emphasize our ethnicity in a so-
ciety where a wee overdose of Japanese culture may have been
thought to be too foreign to the larger society. Somehow, I
think we negated or denied our Japaneseness to be on the safe
side. I felt Americans liked us in San Pedro because we acted so
American, exactly what Americans wanted us to be. We wanted
so much to be accepted by America. This was even before the
war. I am glad there was a Terminal Island where the Japanese
people were not afraid to express their Japanese pride. I hope
some Niseis from both Terminal Island and the Palos Verdes
Hills will write openly about their years of growing up prior to
ri
ig
Ed
1-
1
World War II and after.
ce
fe
–
rt
I
1-
Monica Miya (then Miwako Oana), a San Pedro Nisei, observed:
“Looking back, a lot of us Niseis grew up in a really divided world
because we wanted to be American much more so than today. Since
stories like Alex Haley’s Roots came out, people became much more
conscious and proud of their ethnic background. The Civil Rights
Movement made a world of difference. But when we were growing up
before World War II, we wanted to be American.”9
Yuri and her friends, Japanese and White alike, believed that San
Pedro was a place free from prejudice where all were accepted and
could succeed. Indeed, the San Pedro High School yearbook of Yuri’s
graduating year, 1939, shows that, unlike most high schools, the
Japanese American students were integrated into school activities.
d
es
.
d
W
6 / A Color-Blind Patriot in Prewar America
me in feel like they did
In the 19
So why
my family,
are you bringing her here?” The sergeant at the desk
nothing wrong with these posters. I’ve seen them all over town.
made the two lieutenants who brought
to go home. I was really shaken up, but I never told
something stupid. The sergeant gave me the posters and told me
support or guidance, is striking. That there were tensions between
The degree to which Yuri felt isolated, with no one to turn to for
Yuri and her brother Art is evident in this passage (and discussed later
in the chapter). She also wanted to protect her family, and perhaps her
could trust her White friends. These experiences with race discrimina-
Nisei friends, from further problems and was not sure how much she
ential treatment based on race. In part because of her apolitical and
tion were particularly disturbing for one who had minimized differ-
color-blind worldview, Yuri tended to internalize the problem, feeling
as if there was something wrong with her or her community. It is also
instructive to observe how she interpreted these encounters with race
me, at the ti
be living in a
Americaniza
pense of her
on the insid
her ethnic i
Nisei grow
their Japan
insulated,
the bay fro
Niseis –
aware
discrimination. At the time, these events did not
immediately change
her worldview. She merely incorporated them into her daily expe-
becaus
ciety w
though
think-
side. I
Ameri
riences in a manner concordant with Japanese cultural values: Yuri
saw no option other than to gaman (endure) because there’s nothing
that can be done, shikataganai
. These experiences, however, planted
seeds that activated a gradual process in Yuri of developing a racial-
ized understanding of the world.
so mu
war. I
peopl
some
Hills
Worlo
To understand how disconcerting it was for Yuri to incorporate race
into her color-blind worldview, it is informative to look at her life
prior to World War II. Yuri was born in 1921 in a location that she de-
scribes with affection: “San Pedro was a small, homey, friendly port
town in Southern California. I loved this town. It was exactly what I
wanted a hometown to be.” She lived comfortably with her mother, f
ther, older brother, Art, and twin brother, Peter, in a custom-designed
house on the corner of Eleventh and Meyler streets. “No non-Whites
could live above Meyler, Yuri said, alluding to the widespread resi-
dential segregation during that time. “Later, other Japanese moved
in above that line. But when I was growing up, there were very
Japanese in my neighborhood, except for my uncle and aunt’s family,
Monica
“Lookis
because
stories I
conscio
Movem
before
Yur
Pedro
could
gradua
Japane
few
the Kondos, who lived just down the block”:
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