 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|||||||||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
||||||
STOP THE EROSION OF LITTLE TOKYO (2 of 3)
For members of the Nikkei for Civil Rights and Redress and long time residents of Little Tokyo, a deeper and more compelling reason to oppose this city-imposed erosion of Little Tokyo is one steeped in our history. Many of us remember that a concerted effort was made to destroy and disperse the Japanese American community of Los Angeles during the 1940's. In the hysteria following Pearl Harbor, Little Tokyo was "ethnically cleansed" as part of a plan to remove all "potential subversives" from the West Coast of America. Although some apologists for the government's action would contend that this was militarily necessary, no such removal involving the German and Italian populations along the Eastern seaboard took place.
The government further followed it's desire to destroy and disperse the Little Tokyos and Nihonmachis by encouraging people leaving the camps after the war to scatter to the Midwest and East Coast. The hope was that a concentration of Japanese would not again develop on the West Coast of America. The late Senator Hayakawa mirrored the thoughts of our government when he openly stated that the internment had its positive side because it broke up ethnic communities and forced people to assimilate with the general population. Hayakawa, being Canadian in origin, also mirrored the Canadian government's view, which was clearly antagonistic toward any Japanese Canadians returning to Vancouver on the West Coast, and forbid them to do so for years following the end of the war.
This effort to destroy Little Tokyo during the war and immediately postwar worked to a limited degree. The community is nothing like it was during its "heyday" in the 1930's. Gone are the residential areas of Little Tokyo that stretched south all the way to the produce markets along Eighth Street. Thousands of Japanese Americans used to call this area of Los Angeles "home." "Little Tokyo" was an enclave of small houses, apartments and little hotels that were interspersed within the commercial areas. The case can be made that the Japanese living in Boyle Heights were a spillover of the larger Japanese community centered around Little Tokyo.
Planned or not, a major move that played into the desire to eliminate ethnic communities was the destruction of the "Northside" of Little Tokyo to make way for the Parker Center. This was a logical extension to the pattern of dismemberment that was fostered by those who felt threaten by a "Japanese," enclave on American soil. Were it not for Japanese Americans' renewed awareness of "community" and a movement to save what was left of Little Tokyo during the redevelopment years of the 1970's, the effort to destroy and disperse our community would have been totally successful.
On-Line Petition Against the Jail
