The War Is Over, But There Is Time to Beat a Hasty Retreat

These are momentous times. The Soviet Union is dead and, of rather less importance, this is the last of my regular Monday-through-Thursday columns.

I would like to use it to withdraw an opinion that I have expressed here two or three times and to rationalize what many readers consider a breach of patriotism.

First, the opinion: In my column on Pearl Harbor Day, I said that I believed the relocation of the Japanese Americans in 1942 was necessary because the presence of Japanese in Little Tokyo (and coastal cities) would have provoked bloody rampages by servicemen on leave. After all, the infamous bombing of Pearl Harbor was still fresh in everyone’s mind, and drunken servicemen did not distinguish between Japanese citizens and American citizens of Japanese ancestry.

I had in mind the zoot suit riots of June, 1943, in which servicemen descended in mobs on the barrios near downtown, stripping and pummeling zoot suiters and Mexican juveniles in general. The attacks were racist in nature, and I suspected that a punitive attack on Little Tokyo would have been even more violent.

In reading “The Zoot Suit Riots: The Psychology of Symbolic Annihilation,” by Mauricio Mazon, I am reminded that the “riots” were more festive than murderous; only about 100 persons were injured, few seriously, and none was killed.

Also, as I said, I knew of no acts of sabotage and no outbreaks of racial violence in Hawaii after Pearl Harbor, and about 40% of Oahu’s population was of Japanese ancestry.

Who can say what might have happened in Los Angeles? Perhaps declaring Little Tokyo off-limits to servicemen and placing it under martial law, as Honolulu was, would have kept the peace.

Three readers of Japanese ancestry have condemned my view. Susan Yonezawa, a 21-year-old senior at UCLA, said “I am both shocked and appalled. . . . How absurd. You justify an act that denied American citizens their rights by claiming that it was for their safety ?”

Mitsunori Kawagoye of Torrance writes: “It is difficult to understand how a literate person with your background and maturity could still feel that ‘the relocation of Japanese Americans was necessary because of the danger of violent rampages in Little Tokyo by servicemen on leave. . . .’ This is the sort of lame apology I expect from ignorant individuals who wish to gloss over a shameful act committed by the U.S. government. . . .”

Hayato Kihara of Hacienda Heights writes: “Your view . . . is appalling. Many have rationalized that we were incarcerated for our own protection. Poppycock!”

As I say, I am scuttling my opinion. I am moved not so much by abuse as by reflection. Obviously, law-abiding citizens cannot be imprisoned for their own protection. We should have found another way.

On another point I am not so contrite. At the end of that Pearl Harbor column I said, “Anyway, for me, at last, the war is over. I’ve just bought a Honda.”

This simple confession brought more criticism than my ill-considered review of the relocation.

“The war is not over,” writes Shirley Patterson (daughter of a Medal of Honor winner) “it has begun again. And you are burying us by buying your Honda.”

Leslie F. Boring of Claremont said, “Your article gave the signal to your readers to go out and buy a Honda and not be a Japanese basher. This is the wrong signal at this time when so many American workers are out of jobs and face little chance of getting one to raise their family and save their homes.”

“I’ve got news for Mr. Smith,” writes Bill Sully in a letter to the editor. “The war is not over. He just bombed Detroit!”

“You ought to be ashamed of yourself for buying a Honda instead of an American car,” writes Norm Fontana. “Forget the war and 1941--just look at 1991. . . .”

Derald E. Martin of Joshua Tree writes: “On Wednesday, two days before the 50th anniversary of Pearl Harbor Day, my favorite columnist for the last 30 years announced that he had just given 30 thousand bucks, more or less, aid and comfort to the enemy. . . .” (It was more like 12 thousand bucks.)

“I have many friends who would rather die than buy a foreign automobile,” writes R. J. Wagner of Granada Hills. “We are not flag wavers, just people who realize that we were lucky enough to have been born in the greatest country that civilization has ever known. And we’re trying to keep it that way. Shame, shame, shame, Jack. You have disappointed us.”

I admit I was shocked when I picked up my paper on Dec. 19 and read the headline: “Troubled GM Will Eliminate 74,000 Jobs, Shut 21 Factories.”

My God! I thought. What have I done?

My conscience was eased by Paul Dean, our automobile expert. He says my car was probably made in East Liberty, Ohio, by American workers.