[Japanese Americana]. [Hawaii]

That You May Know. A Few Facts About the "Japanese Problem" in the United States [caption title]

[Honolulu: 1943]. [6]pp., typed on carbon paper, with a few pencil annotations and corrections, stapled at corner. Some toning and creasing, edges a bit frayed, first leaf with only minor marginal chipping. Very good. Item #3980

Evidently a draft intended to be printed as a pamphlet or leaflet speaking out against the incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. The authors are not identified by name but refer to themselves simply as "citizens of the state of California" who "believe that most of the Japanese in our country are loyal; they believe that attempts at disenfranchisement and deportations of American citizens are essentially un-American and dangerous to the future peace and security of our nation...." The second page prints "General Observations of Evacuation of the Japanese" concluding among other things that "The fact that in a time of emergency this country is unable to distinguish between the loyalties of many thousands of its citizens and others domiciled here, whatever their race or nationality, calls into question the adequacy of our whole outlook upon the assimilation of foreign groups." The authors also lay blame for some of the "agitation for the evacuation of the Japanese" on "dramatic reporting in the American press of gross sabotage and espionage committed by members of the local Japanese community in Hawaii." In order to refute these claims, the authors cite the Tolan Committee (which was unable to find any evidence of sabotage), and print passages from government bureaucrats, a member of the Citizens Council, as well as a Hawaiian plantation manager, who all concur. Most striking is the quote from the assistant to the Attorney General, who quotes none other than J. Edgar Hoover as saying that "there was no sabotage committed [in Hawaii] prior to December 7, on December 7, or subsequent to that time." The last page reproduces (or lays out?) an advertisement in the Honolulu Advertiser of February 5, 1943, which praises the patriotism of the Japanese Hawaiians committed to serving in the U.S. armed forces during the war. A pencil notation on the first page quotes the conclusion of the Tolan Committee: "We cannot doubt and everyone agreed that the majority of Japanese citizens and aliens are loyal to this country." A seemingly unrecorded, and very likely unique reaction to that unfortunate moment in American history when tens of thousands of Japanese American citizens were treated as enemies. No mention in OCLC, and not found as a finished title or text.

Price: $2,250.00