Fueling the flame of discrimination
To the Editor,
I read and appreciated Nick Faitos’ letter to the editor (Pajaronian, June 1) in which he reminded us of what happened to the Japanese-American population following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in terms of civil rights violations, the hatred towards anyone who looked Japanese (i.e., the Japanese who immigrated to the United States and their offspring who were citizens born in this country), and the absence of sabotage exhibited by this large incarcerated population during the years following Pearl Harbor. Their sons volunteered from prison to fight in the European front as part of the famed 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Unit, and those who could speak fluent Japanese volunteered to translate for the United States military in the Pacific Front as part of the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) — at great risk to themselves as they were immediately executed upon capture by the Japanese military.
Mary Miller Jones’ letter to the editor (Pajaronian, June 17) attempts to contradict Nick Faitos’ letter by comparing a civil rights violation against the Japanese-Americans by their own country to slavery — a detestable human rights violation. Ms. Jones does not mention similar violations of human rights such as the killing and forced removal of the Native American population, and other atrocities committed by majority rule under the guise of “making mistakes.”
Ms. Jones’ inability to distinguish between World War II, caused by the governments of Germany, Italy and Japan, and the existing Japanese-American residents and citizens residing in the United States at the time, is exactly what created the civil rights violations of that easily discernible population. An entire ethnicity of people were imprisoned in “internment camps” for over three years. And this fear of people who look different is what the Watsonville-Santa Cruz Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) is worried about as this country’s administration continues to fuel the flame of discrimination against people of color from different parts of the world.
My family was incarcerated in Poston, Ariz., which meant that I was not born in my home town of Watsonville. Were it not for the kindness of a neighbor, my family would have lost their home in Freedom. My grandmother was badly burned and almost died during the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. So I can appreciate and actually agree with Ms. Jones in her recommendation to “put all (this) behind (us) and move forward and learn a hard lesson from those years.” The problem I have is that Ms. Jones, although she and her family experienced fear as a child, they were not the direct recipients of mass discrimination, incarceration, and the atomic bomb.
I too forgive my government for what it did to my family that had resided in the United States since the late 1800s, can forgive the local families that discriminated against the Japanese-Americans, and can appreciate those few local families that courageously supported their Japanese-American neighbors. But, as Ms. Jones writes, I also forgive but do not forget.
Victor Kimura
Watsonville
•••
No loyalty in sports
To the Editor,
If I was a Golden State Warrior fan I would be ashamed to admit it. If the stadium was across the street from my house and they paid me to go I would not go. I can still see that little boy crying on T.V. when Kevin Durant said he was going to the Warriors. One year ago they had the Warriors down 3 games to 1, all they needed was one more decent player and they would have been a great team.
When a dumb reporter asked LeBron James why they were not doing that good, LeBron said they were a good team and after Durant joined them they became a great team. I heard they took the size of Durant’s finger for the ring before the season even started.
When LeBron went to Miami to get his ring you have to give him credit for going back to Cleveland. When Durant was asked if he was going back to Oklahoma he said no. He said he was afraid of tornadoes.
I can remember when the Yankees did the same thing — got great players from their farm team in Kansas City — Roger Maris for one, broke The Babe’s home record (61). I can remember when a N.Y. Giant or a Brooklyn Dodger would rather be dead than wear a Yankees uniform. Yeah, I’m that old.
Most players these days don’t know what loyalty means let alone how to spell it. But they know what pesos mean and how to spell it.
Anthony Ivelich
Freedom
•••
A voice for spousal abuse victims
To the Editor,
Hopefully many others in our community applaud the verdict finding Michelle Carter guilty of murdering her boyfriend, even though she was 30 some miles away at the time he died.
So how was she able to kill him from such a distance? Was it a time delay car bomb? Or maybe she loosened one of his wheels, or packed a poisoned potato salad?
No, she did it with words. She schemed to
get him to commit suicide by simply texting him and egging him on.
We owe local victims of “death by a 1,000 cuts” a full and fair investigation into their spouse’s actions, in the days and weeks leading up to their spouse’s suicides. Instead, many now shower the surviving spouse with sympathy, rather than asking the obvious questions.
That is the principal at play here. Finally our society gives a voice to victims of this deadly form of spousal abuse.
John Kaza
Salinas
