Interviews

1. Loyalty questionnaire

2. Fair Play Committee

3. Speaking out in camp

4. Wanting to take a stand

5. Ostracized by the camp newspapers

6. On trial for draft evasion

7. Draft resisters sent to jail

8. Fair Play Committee charged with conspiracy

9. Prison

10. Meeting other Americans in jail

11. Would do the same again

12. Arrested in camp for trying to leave

13. Becoming involved with the NCRR and redress

14. Apologies from the JACL

15. Different feelings from veterans about the draft resisters

16. “No more shikataganai”

Emi,Frank

(1916-2010) draft resister, helped form the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee

Fair Play Committee charged with conspiracy

Well after the 63 were sent to jail, then uh (clears throat) the FBI, well actually they indited the seven most active leaders of the Fair Play Committee and uh, charged us with a conspiracy, conspiracy to uh counsel, aid and abet, and uh some other charge there. There was about three charges there. And uh we were indited on that charge, and we had a trial, and in our case, we opted for a uh jury trial. We were remembering the support the newsmen gave the resisters, so uh, we had our trial and as I mentioned before we had one uh lousy liar up there, telling lies about me, to get me hooked up in the conspiracy because I didn’t give the FBI any information. Well anyway, uh, even though it was a trial jury they found us guilty, and four of us were sentenced to four years, and three of us sentenced to two years. Two of them were to go concurrently with their previous three year sentence. And the other one was two years to the Issei who was non-citizen. Who had just given the translation for us. Then we were sent to uh, Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in Kansas.

draft resisters Heart Mountain Heart Mountain concentration camp Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee resisters United States World War II World War II camps Wyoming

Date: May 9, 2006

Location: California, US

Interviewer: Lisa Itagaki

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Frank Emi was born on September 23, 1916 in Los Angeles, CA. He ran the family produce business until life was interrupted by war. Emi was sent to Heart Mountain, Wyoming with his young wife and two kids.

Emi, along with many others, openly questioned the constitutionality of the incarceration of Japanese Americans. He helped form the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee and protested against the government’s actions by organizing a draft resistance. Emi was not even eligible for the draft because he was a father.

The Fair Play Committee argued that they were willing to serve in the military, but not until their rights as U.S. citizens were restored and their families released from the camps. The government convicted Emi and six others leaders of conspiracy to evade the draft. He served 18 months in jail. 86 others from Heart Mountain were put on trial and imprisoned for resisting the draft.

Following the war, Emi and other draft resisters were ostracized by Japanese American leaders and veterans. It was not until the fight for Redress, some forty years later that the Fair Play Committee was vindicated for taking a principled stand against injustice.

He passed away on December 2010 at age 94. (December 2010)