Densho Digital Archive - Clifford Uyeda Interview (denshovh-uclifford-01-0012)

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FC: How do you stand with the JACL, or how does the JACL stand with you?

CU: I don't know, because they all know that I don't, well, I became a president only for one reason, for redress only, and after that... well, there was many, many things that I do not agree with JACL. Recently, within the last year or so, as you know, there has been many things happening, like the Trisha Murakawa resigning, Ruth Mizobe also resigning from the JACL. And there was a strong movement up here in Northern California, and they were talking about forming a rival organization. So they asked me, "What do you think?" I said, "You know, JACL has a long history, and the history itself is, has some credibility, has some value, and also JACL has a national networking. Only reason why we went with the JACL for the Iva Toguri or the Tokyo Rose case was because -- in fact, we had a, all the meetings were held right here in this room. And the big question was, "Shall we go under JACL? Should this be a JACL committee, or should there be an independent committee?" And my opinion at that time was -- this was before I became a president -- I said, "Well, JACL has networking. By issuing one memo, I could have 114 chapters get the memo. That's one advantage that you have, to be in contact, to contact all the other Japanese Americans in the United States. So why don't we use JACL as a vehicle to run the campaign?" But we said we could completely run our own campaign, a decision would come from this body and not from the national board. And I also, so when I went to the national board and said that we would like to form this committee, I also mentioned at that time that this would, all the decision will be made by the committee. And I said if, however, the JACL interfered with our board's, our committee's function, they want to run it a different way, then immediately I said I would announce to the public that we are no longer JACL committee. That will be made. They did try a couple times to interfere, so immediately I reminded them that, "If you go through with this, we would no longer be a JACL committee so you would not have any power over it," so they did back down. But that was only way in which I think I could have operated. But JACL did have networking, it's true.

And recently when people said that we would like to form a rival organization, I said, "No, it's time anyway for the Sanseis to take over the organization. Wouldn't it much easier," I said to them, "is for the Sanseis to take over the organization by becoming delegates and going to the convention and voting for yourselves, rather than to continue to be dictated on by the old-timers of JACL." I felt that it was easy -- because most of the old-time JACLers, people of my age, are almost gone, or else they're very inactive. So the organization should be taking over, and it was easier to take over the organization and become a Sansei organization than to try to form a rival organization, which is very difficult. And also you should then get the people who are within the JACL, who want to change, could all go with you. I still think that, because after all, the Nisei are in their upper seventies now, they're not going to be around very much longer. And the only thing that, however, that I have in the back of my mind is that, "Who is, who are the Sanseis that are becoming well-known in the JACL circle?" And I say, I almost have to admit to myself that they are the Sanseis who think and act like a Nisei, much more so. Maybe they don't quite think that way, but at least they, on the surface they do. They say the same thing that the Niseis were saying fifty years ago. They seem to think that the organization could do no wrong, we have to support everything that it did in the past, in order to be a good JACLer. That type of thinking is really way out of line, but still, yet those people are becoming JACL leaders.