JANM Presentation Draws Near

Our presentation on Vanished: Lompoc’s Japanese at the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) in Los Angeles is less than three weeks away on Saturday, June 18.

We are looking now for those who once lived in Lompoc who would like to speak.

Just a few words, it does not need to be a long speech. If you know somebody who woul like to do that, please RSVP. And tell us which memory or observation you would most like to share. The best way to let us know would be by e-mail to lompocwriter@gmail.com

If you cannot come in person, we still have a way in which you could participate! Do you have a Skype account on your computer? (they’re free). If so we can conduct a brief interview with you by Skype! We are making a list now of those who cannot come in person but could be connected for a few minutes on Saturday afternoon, June 18. Your picture would go up on the screen and people could hear you as you talk. The entire event will be recorded by JANM.

If you are interested in participating in this way, please contact Mike Mori at mmori@hw.com or 818-523-5510.

Solicitor General Admits Suppression of Evidence

The Acting Solicitor General of the United States has admitted that the government deliberately withheld evidence from the Supreme Court in 1943 and 1944 as the Nikkei community was swept out of California and incarcerated.

The extraordinary admission was made on Tuesday by Solicitor General Neal Katyal who said that U.S. Naval Intelligence had issued a report saying that the Nikkei community posed no military threat, that there was no evidence Japanese Americans were disloyal or were acting as spies as government officials claimed.

The report however was not presented in the Hirabayashi case or the Korematsu case, both of which challenged President Roosevelt’s Executive Order 9066.  Solicitor General at the time, Charles Fahy, was told that not presenting the report would be considered “suppression of evidence” yet he took no action.

Fahy, who died in 1979, also neglected to tell the court that information that Japanese-Americans "were using radio transmitters to communicate with enemy submarines off the West Coast had been discredited by the FBI" and the Federal Communications Commission, Katyal wrote

“It seemed obvious to me we had made a mistake,” said Katyal. “The duty of candor wasn’t met.”

Hiding the truth, he said, “harmed the court, and it harmed 120,000 Japanese Americans. It harmed our reputation as lawyers and as human beings, and it harmed our commitment to those words on the court’s building: ‘Equal Justice Under Law.’”

Here are links to the story.

http://www.salon.com/wires/allwires/2011/05/24/D9NDLIVO1_us_wwii_internment_justice_department_apology/index.html

http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/acting_sg_katyal_tells_of_mistakes_by_a_predecessor_in_world_war_ii_koremat/

http://hosted2.ap.org/CAVAN/7d8cc182f2be4ace870269f44557ee9a/Article_2011-05-24-US-WWII-Internment-Justice-Department-Apology/id-fddd151494c342b2be55bce2d3fe5158  

Meeting Dr. Don Hata

Signing books at the Heritage Source booth Saturday at USC at the Los Angeles Times Book Fair was an honor and a pleasure.

One of the biggest pleasures was meeting Dr. Don Hata, retired professor from Cal State Dominguez Hills.

Dr. Hata was once voted the top professor in the California State University system. He bought a copy of Vanished and I bought a copy of his Japanese Americans and World War II.

Want some inspiration? Read this about Dr. Hata.

www.csudh.edu/univadv/dateline/archives/20060403/facstaffnews/nadineanddon.htm