Densho Digital Archive
Emiko and Chizuko Omori Collection
Title: Jimmie Omura Interview
Narrator: Jimmie Omura
Interviewer: Chizu Omori (primary); Emiko Omori (secondary)
Location: San Francisco, California
Date: March 21, 1994
Densho ID: denshovh-ojimmie-01-0014

<Begin Segment 14>

CO: So, tell us about your political views at this point. It sounds like you were already pretty aware.

JO: Well, because I beat around the bush and all from Ketchikan to Pocatello, Idaho, back to Seattle. And I was an avid reader, and I was impressed -- one of the things that later will come out is I was impressed by two men, two British authors, Bertram Russell and Robert G. Ingersoll. In 1927, they were headlined in almost every newspaper. They were very controversial. Their ideas were controversial. But they stood up against all the criticisms leveled against them. And I was impressed by that fact and they would stand by their own principle against all odds. And later on you'll see that I also stood by my principles against everybody.

EO: Okay, by say 1936-37, wasn't it becoming apparent that there was tension between Japan and the United States?

JO: Oh yes, because in 1937 we had the Nanking affair, you know. And I was out of newspaper at that time, 1937, but I knew about what was happening. And, of course, you know, there was charges against the Japanese that, of all this rape and stuff going, "Rape of Nanking," and the Chinese, doing, the Japanese accusing the Chinese of "Rape of Nanking," and all this stuff was going on at this time. And there was the Panay affair about the same time, and many other affairs. But going back a little ways, not too far, but in 1935, we had what they call the "Mayor for Rossi" campaign in San Francisco.

CO: "Rossi for Mayor."

JO: Yeah, "Rossi for Mayor." Now this committee was the first political organization in the United States. It was sponsored by all the big shots of the JACL. And, of course, there was a newspaper, were also on the preparation committee. So the event was held...

CO: This was the first political campaign by the JACL.

JO: By the Nisei. First, first ever held by people of Japanese descent. And it was held at the Kimmon Hall here in San Francisco. The night of the event, there were only four people there, all four members of the committee. There was myself, Curtis Otani, Iwao Kawakami, and Tomotsu Moriyama, who was the chairman. The speakers, four speakers came, and they waited forty-five minutes and no one showed up; no one else showed up. The sponsor being all Saburo Kido, Tokutaro Hayashi and all the big wheels. None of them showed up. It was disaster. But if you happen to run into a letter from Tomotsu Moriyama to Jimmy Sakamoto in the Sakamoto papers in the University of Washington, he brags how wonderful this political campaign was, how wonderful the meeting went off, and all that, which was all lies. In other words, what they were doing is that the leaders were lying to each other. Things that never happened.

CO: I just want to get this straight now. This was a JACL-sponsored event?

JO: Yes.

CO: And you were...

JO: On a committee. I was a newspaperman, I was on the committee.

CO: For Rossi.

JO: For Rossi.

CO: And no one came, not even the JACL...

JO: Leaders. Not even the sponsors.

CO: Why were they, why were you sponsoring? This was an Italian American.

JO: Yeah. Why they were sponsoring? You're asking the wrong person why did, the sponsors didn't show up. You have to ask them. [Laughs]

CO: Was there any explanation about this?

JO: There's no explanation; no one said anything. But I ran across this letter in the archives at the University of Washington, which we knew that the leaders were lying to each other anyway, but then it confirmed, you know, because there is that letter.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 1994, 2003 Densho and Emiko Omori. All Rights Reserved.