Ned Niamoto and 9066

I am listening to this great book on CD called "Double Victory: A Multicultural History of America in World War II," by Ronald Takaki. In this wonderful book, Ronald covers issues of not only Japanese and Black horrific treatment BY THE UNITED STATES, but also East Indian, Indian, Korean, Chinese, and more. Did you know that during WWII, many American folks would often refer to the treatment of non-whites in America as Hitlerism and Nazism at home?

My favorite teacher at Mt. View Jr. High (1976-9) in Aloha, Oregon was Ned Niamoto. Ned was kind, always happy, and friendly. He used to have this knuckle ball fast pitch he would use on us kids when most of us would be begging for him to stop so we could have the opportunity to hit the ball.

It is suggested in this book that Franklin Delano Roosevelt encouraged the attack on Pearl Harbor. It is suggested in other history that he even knew about it before hand. It has been proven that good old genocidal maniac Winston Churchill KNEW the Japanese would attack Pearl Harbor at least a month in advance and did not tell the U.S. because he wanted their participation in the war. At the time, the U.S. was about 80% "no foreign wars." Japan used to get about 80% of its oil from the U.S. Although FDR really didn't give a rats ass about China, he used them as an excuse to place an embargo on Japanese oil. Then you amass most of the U.S. fleet between the mainland and Japan, they U.S. could be said to have been teasing the Japanese into a fight.

Did you know that FDR (one of the most covertly racist presidents ever from what I've been hearing in this book) wanted to intern the Japanese since 1936?... OK, I know some of you are bad at math, but that is FIVE YEARS PRIOR to the attack at Pearl Harbor.

"Ned was the youngest American soldier ever wounded in combat," another teacher told me once. "He was in the Japanese corp."

I have had a longtime terror/fascination with war. From the age of 5, I wanted to die before I was 18 so I wouldn't get drafted and forced to die in a foreign land, namely, Vietnam. At 13 or 14, I still had that terrible curiosity.

There were 242 race riots in the United States in 21 states during World War II. (Not to mention the hundreds of "hate strikes" that would happen one a few black folks would get promoted in some defense industy. Sometimes thousands of white employees would strike in this manner). The Japanese War Machine was capitalising on the horrific racism and reported on every riot that took place, showing what freedom was truly about in the United States. Once, when the U.S. government was thinking of repealing the Chinese Exclusion Act, the hardcore racists decided to end the session before a decision could be made. The Japanese used it in their propaganda to encourage a global race war against Americans by Asians, seeing the absolutely shitty treatment they got at the hands of the Americans. This, of course, put the congress back in session and they repealed the act.

In 1943, there were the Zoot Suit Riots in LA. A bunch of U.S. servicement armed with pipes, sticks, clubs, and other such weapons rioted for some 10 days, initially beating Hispanic Zoot Suiters, then all Hispanics, then anyone who wasn't white. Of course, the police stood by and enjoyed the show. Anthony Quinn was an activist against these and many other racist attacks during World War II. When he and his mother immigrated to the U.S., they had nothing. A Mexican family took them in and gave them a breakfast of eggs.

Earlier in 1943, 22 Zoot Suiters were put on trial for a gang murder. One of them was the grandson of the Mexican woman who took in the Quinns and fed them eggs. She called Anthony's mom looking for help. She asked Anthony to do something. He had just signed a contract with 20th Century Fox. "WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO MA?" he demanded. "Remember the eggs." How can you not help after such a plea. Anthony raised money for the defense of the Zoot Suiters.

"I heard you were wounded in WW II," I told Ned one day. "What happened?"

Not long after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, much to the objection of MANY within the United States including the FBI and General Emmons in Hawaii, that racist ass FDR signed Executive Order 9066 and interned some 150,000 Japanese and took their land and businesses. FDR fianlly got to round up thousands of Japanese. He must have been very happy about that.

"I hated the internment camp. When recruiters came looking for Japanese, I lied about my age and my parents supported me. They shipped me to Germany. I was in a foxhole on the German lines when a mortar hit just beside it, burying and wounding me. I was 13-years-old at the time. I won the purple heart."

It was the women, during this time (some men, too), that really walked across the race lines. In the factories, women of all races would be working. Highly unusual for women to be working, considering the U.S. horrific system of sexism as well as racism. After a week or so, you would see Korean, Black, Indian, White, and Chinese women workers sitting at the same table during lunch time. Thankfully there is at least one group of people that aren't led around by their dicks.