Inscription Angers Some Japanese Americans

To the surprise and anger of opponents, the name and statements of a controversial Japanese American leader have already been inscribed on a national monument being built to recognize Japanese Americans who fought in World War II or were interned at desolate camps.

During a slide presentation Saturday, board members of the private foundation building the monument in Washington got to see pictures of the work in progress, including one that showed a concrete panel inscribed with the words of Mike Masaoka, who served as field secretary for the Japanese American Citizens League.

“I just found out today. I’m kind of blown away,” said Rita Takahashi, a San Francisco State professor of social work and one of a handful of board members who have been leading an effort to keep Masaoka’s name and creed off the monument.

Masaoka, who died in 1991, has been criticized because during the war he advocated complete cooperation with the government, fought against redress and even suggested a suicide battalion of Japanese Americans.

But Masaoka also is seen as a hero for his postwar accomplishments. He fought successfully for the 1952 Walter-McCarran Act, which allowed immigrant Japanese to become naturalized citizens, worked to win $1.2 billion in reparations for camp survivors and helped found the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

For Takahashi and other opponents, however, the inscription is another example of the disrespect they feel they have been getting from a board that they argue does not embody or reflect the opinions of today’s Japanese American population.

Masaoka is among seven individuals whose quotations will appear on the National Japanese American Memorial to Patriotism, which is scheduled to be dedicated Nov. 9.

In February, the foundation’s board voted 27 to 6 with one abstention to include Masaoka’s quotation: “I am proud that I am an American citizen of Japanese ancestry, for my very background makes me appreciate more fully the wonderful advantages of this nation. I believe in her institutions, ideals and traditions; I glory in her heritage; I boast of her history; I trust in her future.”