Second Opinion / COMMENT FROM OTHER MEDIA : RAFU SHIMPO : A House That Tells a Tale of Virtue

In the early 1940s, two young Japanese Americans were asked to leave their home in Monterey Park. They had enough time to pack their belongings before they were transported to a holding station at the Santa Anita race track in Arcadia. Later, they were transferred to a “relocation” camp in Montana.

The time was World War II and acceptance of diverse cultures was abruptly suspended for thousands of native Californians and natural-born American citizens (of Japanese descent). During the long years of relocation many Japanese Americans not only lost their homes but their livelihoods as well.

When the United States Supreme Court declared relocation and encampment of Japanese Americans unconstitutional, my mother- and father-in-law returned to their home. To their astonishment the house was in great shape. Unlike (what happened to) many Japanese Americans, the bank had not repossessed their home. Because of the generosity and courage of their Jewish neighbor who kept up the mortgage payments, the house owned by Mr. and Mrs. Nakatsuma was still in their possession.

Today my wife and I own that house and rent it to my wife’s cousin. He was born in the house in 1944 because area hospitals would not admit Japanese. I’m not going to sell it because it tells too big a story; not simply one that espouses the virtues of cultural diversity but a story that relives those virtues every day.

(Monterey Park’s) heroes, past and present, represent every ethnic group. I still feel the kindness and generosity of that Jewish man in my heart. I see his spirit in the eyes of hundreds of Monterey Park citizens. Our citizens represent the world, and the love they have to give. This is why my three Japanese/Irish American children will attend its schools.

From an essay by Chuck Hurley in Rafu Shimpo, a daily Japanese-American newspaper published in Los Angeles.