Resistance (1950-1954)
When I was about six years old, my oldest brother, who attended university in Saigon, became the chairman of the Hoa (Chinese) student resistance group.[1] They passed out fliers and…
Second Wife (Pre-1949)
My father was very popular with the ladies in our village because he was not only wealthy, but also handsome and well-dressed (at least, compared to all the other men).…
Childhood Memories (1944-1961)
The first Indochina War (1946–1954) between the French and the Viet Minh began when I was about two years old and my family was still quite wealthy. Following tradition, my…
An Immigrant’s Tale (Pre-1944)
You can call me Tran Quoc Cuong, although that was not the first name I received when I was born in Vietnam. My given name at birth was Tran Phuoc…
The Seabrook Times
My dad grew up in Seabrook, New Jersey—not the first place you’d expect to find a Japanese American family in the 1950’s. Yet there weren’t many options at the time…
Redress and Reparations
In the decades following internment, the JACL continued to petition a formal admission of wrong from the U.S. government: Redress for the injustices of 1942-1946 is not just an isolated…
Anti-Japanese Prejudice During Resettlement
During the war, as Japanese Americans began to resettle in various parts of the country, they still faced considerable prejudice. New groups like the No Japs Inc. joined the traditional…
Racism During the Internment
Internment During the internment, racism against the Nikkei was tempered since most Americans no longer needed to interact with the “enemy race.” Some still complained, however, that relocation centers were…
Racism During the Evacuation
On December 8, 1941, the day after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Los Angeles Times announced that California was “a zone of danger” and called for alert, keen-eyed civilians…
Anti-Japanese Prejudice Prior to WWII
Rev. Albert E. Day, pastor of the First Methodist Church in Pasadena, preached in the wake of the Japanese American relocation, “You may have race prejudice if you want it;…