Japan and the California ProblemIyenaga, T. (Toyokichi)
History
Japan and the California Problem
Iyenaga, T. (Toyokichi)
Japan -- Emigration and immigration; Japanese -- California
The foregoing study, which we have undertaken from the outset with an open
mind and fair attitude, has, it is to be hoped, disclosed that the
underlying cause of the entire difficulty is a conflict or maladjustment
of interest. There are four parties whose peculiar interests and rights
are seriously involved in the situation. First and foremost, we have to
consider the rights and interests of California. Then we have the United
States, which is no less directly concerned with the problem. For the
Japanese living in California, the issue is a matter of life and death;
their entire interests and welfare are at stake. Japan also is as much
concerned with the fate of her subjects in America as the United States
would be with the welfare of her people living abroad--say in Mexico. The
Japanese problem in California is the concrete expression of the
maladjustment of the interests and rights of these four parties concerned.
Various measures, wise and unwise, have been proposed for the solution of
the problem, but none of them has so far been put into effect, since each
has failed to adjust the interests and rights of all parties concerned in
an harmonious way, and hence has met with violent protest at the outset.
Take, for instance, the proposal that the Japanese should be granted the
right of naturalization. The promoters of the project insist that the
denial to the Japanese of the right to become citizens of the United
States is the cause of the anti-Japanese exclusion movement, and,
accordingly, that the granting of the privilege will annul all
discriminatory efforts. Undoubtedly the proposal was well meant, but it
has perhaps done more harm than good. In the first place, it confuses the
cause and method of discrimination against the Japanese. The Japanese
ineligibility to citizenship has certainly been seized on as a weapon for
discrimination, but it is by no means the cause. The cause is elsewhere.
In the second place, the advocates of the proposal argue that, if adopted,
it will defeat the entire discriminatory efforts of the Californians. It
is, however, decidedly unwise to attempt to defeat the effort without
removing the cause of the difficulty. No wonder the proposal has provoked
the wild criticism of California leaders. The granting of citizenship to
refined and Americanized Japanese is in itself a proper and desirable
step, but to use it as a weapon to defeat the exclusion movement is
clearly unwise.
The solution of the Japanese problem in California, if it be equitable at
all and satisfactory to the four parties involved, must rest on the
following basic principles:
_1. That it should be in consonance with justice and international
courtesy; it must redress Japan's grievances and meet America's wishes._
_2. That it should be fair to Californians; that is to say, operate to
allay the fear they entertain of the alarming increase of Japanese in
numbers and economic importance._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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