and the http://kevinswoodshed.blogspot…..sting.html

Having read through all the comments, I have to say I’m amazed at how off topic things got from the very start. Strawberry Days has nothing to do with illegal immigration. It has to with legal immigrants and their U.S. born children and grandchildren who were citizens being trundled off to camps because of the racist jingoism of people such as Miller Freeman. The notion that Malkin et al are now advocating that the United States repeat this outrage is appalling.

I would urge you to go and buy David’s book. It is a compelling read and exhaustively sourced.

Interestingly, the Boitano family was among the original settlers of Half Moon Bay, CA (where I lived for 20 years before moving to Canada — we were proud of Brian like he was one of our own, which he was, sorta). The next town south of HMB is the tiny nursery and strawberry town of Pescadero, which was 75% Japanese before they were all cleared out and sent inland to the camps.

I have to wonder if Ida Boitano and Fred Korematsu were originally from the San Mateo coast. Certainly, Ida’s family farm was there….

Alan Parker’s Come and See the Paradise is a well-meaning, piss poor movie. But Bad Day at Black Rock looks directly into the face of racism.

When Brian Boitano was in the olympics,
Skating for the gold,
He did two sow cows and a triple lutz,
While wearing a blind fold.

When Brian Boitano was in the alps,
Fighting grizzly bears,
He used his magical fire breath,
And saved the maidens fair.

So what would Brian Boitano do
If he were here today,
I’m sure he’d kick an ass or two,
That’s what Brian Boitano’d do.

I want this V-chip out of me,
It has stunted my vo-ca-bu-lar-y.

And I just want my mom
To stop fighting everyone

For Wendy I’ll be an activist, too,
Cos that’s what Brian Boitano would do.

And what would Brian Boitano do,
He’d call all the kids in town,
And tell them to unite for true
That’s what Brian Boitano would do.

When Brian Boitano travelled through time
To the year 3010,
He fought the evil robot kings
and saved the human race again

And when Brian Boitano built the pyramids,
He beat up Kubela Kong.

Cos Brian Boitano doesn’t take shit from an-e-y-body

So lets all get together,
And unite to stop our mom’s
And we’ll save Terrance and Phillip too,
Cos that’s what Brian Boitano do.

And we’ll save Terrance and Phillip too,
Cos that’s what Brian Boitano dooooo,
That’s what Brian Boitano do.”

Actually, the Japanese were very, very compliant regarding the evacuation. And those who could relocate to the interior were free to do so. Hawaii was under martial law so that option was out. So the anecdotes of such hiding are few and far between, unlike the situation in Europe. Part of the problem, of course, was that they were all so readily identifiable.

The only case I’m aware of involving someone trying to remain was Fred Korematsu, who lived in Oakland. He had a Caucasian fiancee named Ida Boitano (the aunt of Brian Boitano, in fact) and he was determined not to go, so he had surgery to alter the appearance of his eyes. It didn’t work; he was caught about 10 days into the ruse and arrested. Thus began Korematsu v. United States. (Ida dumped Fred shortly after his arrest, BTW.)

My knowledge of human history and human nature tells me that not all of the Nisei and Sansei on the West Coast went to the camps. I am sure that some hid, some tried to escape (to Hawaii or the East Coast, maybe, or Canada). I have never read anything about what happened to internee candidates who didn’t intern. How many citizens of Japanese ancestory spent the war in closets and attics ? What happened to them after the War ? Were they prosecuted for not obeying the law ? Do they still keep the secret ?

Did this subject ever come up in your researches ?

Second, to Cujo:

The vast majority of those Japanese Americans — including the 442nd fellows — could not speak anything more than a rudimentary level of Japanese . They typically spoke it at home until about age 4-5, then lost most of it except for crude conversational Japanese; the parents set up Japanese language schools for the kids — which were then, of course, taken as an indicator of their “true loyalties” by whites — but the kids mostly hated going.

A number of the Japanese Americans who were fluent in Japanese did actually serve in the Pacific Theater, both as codebreakers and language specialists, but it was a difficult place for them since their fellow Americans were likely to mistakenly shoot them in combat. And of course they faced immense prejudice within ranks, much more so than the boys in Europe ever did.

I once interviewed one of these fellows, a man named Roy Matsumoto who is now in the Ranger Hall of Fame. Amazing stories he had to tell. Here’s one:

Roy and his platoon are on a Pacific island duking it out with Japanese forces, who likely outnumbered them. Late one night Roy crawls through the jungle to listen in on the enemy camp, and determines that they are preparing to attack his own camp at dawn. He crawls back through the jungle and warns his captain, and they begin preparing an ambush. They clear out of their own camp and set up the ambush in a draw just a little ways beyond their camp. Roy remains stationed near the old camp, and sure enough, the enemy comes rushing in at dawn only to find the Yanks have cleared out. The first rush of attackers looks baffled and wary, and appear ready to fall back. Roy realizes, of course, that this will scotch the ambush, so from his position in the bush, he yells out in Japanese, “Charge! Charge! Attack!” And so charge they did, into the waiting arms of his company’s welcome.

Anyway. Thought you’d enjoy that tidbit.

Makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.

The right has a nasty way of picking up and using these folks, too. Condi comes to mind; even African-Americans don’t seem to understand her. It’s as if she’s forgotten altogether she has a heritage — not unlike Maglalang.