Japanese and Blacks

When James Meredith, an Air Force veteran, became the first black student to matriculate at the University of Mississippi--under protection of federal troops--he wrote, in the Nov. 19, 1962, issue of The Saturday Evening Post: “Being in Japan was an amazing experience. Negroes say ‘when you’re in Japan you have to look in the mirror to remember you’re a Negro,’ and it’s true. Japan is the only place where I have not felt the ‘air of difference.’ ” Since that time Japan has apparently gone technologically forward and socially backward. More recent Afro-Americans to sojourn there tell a different tale.

Alas, reports on the degree of anti-black racism in Japan and the violation of this country’s fair employment laws by transplanted Japanese firms still come as a mild surprise.

The image of black people has improved in the rest of the world in recent years--thanks to American civil rights gains, which were also a godsend for other minorities, and the emergence of independent black nations: from Papua New Guinea to Mozambique.

People of Japanese origin would be appalled at the sight of yellow dolls and figurines with narrow slanted eyes and buck teeth on display in this country. Little Black Sambo died in the 1960s; why did the Japanese dig him up? But since other Asians are also treated as inferiors in Japan--especially Koreans and a few Vietnamese refugees--it follows that black people would also be stigmatized.

During the furor over (former Prime Minister) Yasuhiro Nakasone’s disparaging remark about the intellectual “decline” of America being due to large concentrations of blacks and Latinos therein, a fellow journalist quipped: “I’m not surprised, look at the Japanese here!” There are enough examples of what he alluded to. But there are exceptions like actor Noriyuki Morita, Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Sacramento) and Sen. Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii). And some Japanese-Americans as well as Japanese nationals voiced opposition to Nakasone’s aforementioned vilification. I mentioned that I had had several black friends who had spouses of Japanese ancestry. I also noted the existence of an ideological “left” in Japan. The only foreign honorary doctorate degree Coretta S. King has received was awarded by a Japanese college in 1986.

Nevertheless, Japan’s power structure should feel the wrath of the black world--especially since it is now South Africa’s number-one trading partner. Pointing this out, William Raspberry noted (Op-Ed Page, Aug. 9) that Japan’s continued racism could threaten that market (noting the popularity of Japanese goods among black South Africans) as well as the Afro-American one.

But what about a bigger market in the rest of Africa, especially the largest, Nigeria? Is the Organization of African Unity asleep?

SHELBY SANKORE

Phillips Ranch