An Immigrant’s Fortunes Yield an Affirmative Lesson

Questions to ponder in the aftermath of Katsumasa Sakioka’s death last week at 96.

Known as Roy and the founder of Sakioka Farms, Sakioka died as one of America’s richest men, having parlayed his Orange County landholdings into immense wealth.

When the rich die, it’s news.

Accordingly, Sakioka’s death prompted a review of his life, which included the details that he immigrated to the United States with little money and unable to speak English, that he probably faced varying levels of discrimination in his life and most certainly did as an internee during World War II. That he flourished in business in spite of the discrimination and meager start is part of his legacy.

The story of Sakioka’s death was reported on the front page, right next to a blurb on the continuing hunger strike conducted by four UC Irvine students protesting the state’s decision to end affirmative action on campus.

It was an interesting juxtaposition: today’s minority students arguing that society is stacked against them, playing opposite the life story of Roy Sakioka, who probably started with less than any protesting student.

The questions to ponder, even if the strike did end this week:

* Would Sakioka have supported the hunger strike?

* Does Sakioka’s success, seemingly self-made and against all odds, debunk arguments that members of ethnic minorities need affirmative action?

I’m sure the reaction of many would be to say that if an immigrant 75 years ago could make a fortune without affirmative action, anyone could.

To test that, I went to John Liu, a social sciences associate professor at UCI who specializes in Asian American studies.

Liu thought it was an interesting proposition and started me out with a history lesson.

The Japanese, unlike other Asians, achieved and sustained some economic success in America before World War II largely because family structures were entrenched, Liu said. Because Japanese Americans controlled land for many California crops--sometimes upward of 75%, Liu said--their economic situation was often comfortable.

Many lost everything during World War II internment, Liu said, but upon their return, re-established themselves based on their family’s previous holdings.

“How this ties in to affirmative action is that part of affirmative action is to address structural inequities,” Liu said, referring to family ownership of business and property. “Japanese Americans didn’t have those types of inequities.”

Mexican Americans also are multi-generational in America, Liu said, but he noted that other Latino groups, such as Salvadorans or Guatemalans, for example, are not rooted in this country. “Affirmative action was meant to address those people who started off having not the same opportunities that other groups had. The point is that he [Sakioka] didn’t face it by himself. He came from a community that was strongly organized, and part of that centered around families.”

In contemporary society, Liu noted, young blacks or Latinos--especially from migrant worker families--often don’t have those underpinnings. “People can make it if they have collective resources,” Liu said. The success of Sakioka and other Japanese Americans is “part ability, initiative and skill, but it also indicates they had collective resources that some minorities don’t have.”

I asked Liu if there were something inherent in Japanese culture that would have made someone like Sakioka eschew affirmative action programs.

“There’s nothing inherent in the culture, per se, but there is a strong generational factor,” Liu said. “With Japanese Americans, we’re now into the fourth and fifth generations. . . . As a whole with Asian Americans, roughly 66% are foreign born, but among Japanese Americans, they’re 90% American-born.” In that sense, Liu said, they reflect more the dominant American culture that is not associated with affirmative action benefits.

And what can we learn from Sakioka? Does his story repudiate affirmative action?

Something can be learned from his life, Liu said, but the lesson shouldn’t be to dump affirmative action.

“I think he’s typical in the economic success that Japanese Americans experienced, but he’s also typical in that he paid a strong psychological cost for it,” Liu said. “For example, we know the Sansei [grandchildren of Japanese immigrants] grew up without knowing they [their relatives] were in camps. There’s this tremendous collective suppression of what happened to them in camps. . . . So, yes, he represents the success that Japanese Americans as a whole experienced, but he also showed the same costs that Japanese Americans collectively experienced.”

If I read between the lines correctly, Liu was suggesting there’s more to being accepted into mainstream American life than making millions of dollars.

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.