Densho Digital Archive
Emiko and Chizuko Omori Collection
Title: Frank Emi Interview
Narrator: Frank Emi
Interviewers: Emiko Omori (primary), Chizu Omori (secondary)
Location: San Francisco, California
Date: March 20, 1994
Densho ID: denshovh-efrank-01-0011

<Begin Segment 11>

EO: So, how was the ACLU involved in all this? Or, did you have any legal help?

FE: Well, actually, we were trying to get the ACLU to give us some legal aid, but they actually tried to discourage us from pursuing our battle there. They said that people that resist the draft were within their rights, but they must expect serious consequences and people that counsel others, referring to the Fair Play Committee leaders, are doing something illegal so they must expect serious consequences, and they refused to help us. And we found out later that it was sort of a holy tripartite axis between the JACL, the ACLU and the WRA in which they were all together trying to discourage this draft resistance.

EO: Which branch of the ACLU?

FE: This was the New York branch, the main headquarters, at that time was, Roger Baldwin was the head. And also found out later that he was a very close friend of President Roosevelt and this was President Roosevelt's, one of his programs so he didn't want to do anything to embarrass the President. Therefore, the New York branch refused to help us. We did retain an attorney from the ACLU, A.L. Wirin, who was a constitutional attorney for the Los Angeles branch of the ACLU. But we had to retain him as private counsel, because the ACLU would not help us. I think -- this may be a little off the story, but up in Northern California, Wayne Collins, who represented the northern branch, went against the wishes of the main New York branch and went ahead and helped the internees at the stockade in Tule Lake.

EO: I think it's called the national office.

FE: National office. Yes.

<End Segment 11> - Copyright © 1994, 2003 Densho and Emiko Omori. All Rights Reserved.