Manzanar Citizens Federation

Short-lived patriotic organization formed at Manzanar in the summer of 1942 that represented a coalition between Los Angeles area Nisei aligned with the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) and Nisei leftists committed to the war against fascism.

The roots of the Manzanar Citizens Federation (MCF) stemmed from informal weekly meetings of Los Angeles area JACL leaders led by Fred Tayama , the chairman of the JACL's Southern District Council. While the group considered formally organizing in Manzanar, they also knew that many held negative views of the JACL and decided to wait until community sentiment turned more favorable. But as this group began to see more of what they saw as "pro-Japan" sentiment among fellow incarcerees—including harassment of incarcerees who espoused support for the Allied war effort and inaction by the camp administration—they decided they couldn't wait any longer and began to organize. The MCF officially formed at a meeting on July 21, 1942, at the quarters of Togo Tanaka . The group selected Koji Ariyoshi to be the temporary chairman. In addition to JACL members, the planning group also included Nisei leftists who were committed to the war against fascism and who had clashed with the more conservative JACL prior to the war. Some of the latter group were Kibei and/or from Hawai`i. Recognizing that the JACL name would be polarizing, the group decided on the "Manzanar Citizens Federation" name. All of the attendees at this meeting were men, something Karl Yoneda later attributed to "our male chauvinism." A first public meeting was scheduled for July 28 in Block 15 mess hall. ^[1]

An overflow crowd of some five hundred attended the first meeting, spilling out of the mess hall in one hundred degree plus weather. Chaired by Koji Ariyoshi, the meeting included four official speakers who outlined the MCF's general aims: Hiroshi Neeno on "Improving Camp Conditions," Joe Grant Masaoka on "Educating Citizens for Leadership," Yoneda on "Participation in the War Effort," and Tanaka on "Preparations for the Post-War Conditions." But the frequent heckling of the speakers and subsequent discussion that was as heated as the weather overshadowed the prepared remarks. Nisei dissident Joe Kurihara questioned the stance of the organization and stated his desire to "become 100 percent pro-Japanese" given the treatment he, as a WWI veteran, was receiving. The equally passionate super-patriot Tokutaro Slocum —like Kurihara a World War I veteran—engaged with Kurihara in what Tanaka later called "a debate and name-calling session." Tanaka concluded that the "meeting ended in an atmosphere of tension, animosity, mutterings." ^[2]

In the aftermath of the meeting, the MCF sent a petition to President Roosevelt advocating a second front in Europe (e.g. an invasion from the west that would divert German resources from the war with the Soviet Union) and to allow Nisei to serve in the U.S. armed forces that drew further opposition from much of the Manzanar population. A second general meeting, held on August 6, was similarly contentious, with Yoneda describing it as "a bloodless battle of words and ideas between the pro-Japan elements and the pro-democracy advocates." ^[3]

Though the MCF continued to meet through August, several factors led to its ultimate demise. Opposition to the MCF's efforts grew and members Joe Blamey and James Oda were physically attacked. Members who ran in block leader elections on August 21 lost badly, with Yoneda in particular drawing only thirteen votes to his opponent's 150. MCF members also complained of a lack of support from the camp administration. Many key members of the MCF also left Manzanar, whether on short term agricultural leave or to join the Military Intelligence Service . Many MCF members were among those targeted in the Manzanar uprising in December and were among those removed from Manzanar to a facility in Death Valley —from which they were allowed to resettle in areas outside the exclusion zone—for their own protection. In a January 1943 letter, Tanaka wrote that the MCF "lived briefly through August, September; ailing in October, it died fitfully in November, deserted, unmourned, forgotten." ^[4]