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”

Frank Emi

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

Apologies from the JACL

They were surprised that, uh, some of the big shots, the head people of the JACL, was in, cooperating with the FBI, the national intelligence, naval intelligence, army intelligence, and cooperating with them and giving them information about leaders of the Japanese communities and, uh, who to pick up and things like that, I guess. And, uh, a lot of dirt came out. And, at the next convention after her report was in, Cressey Nakagawa was the President, and they condensed it to, from a ninety-one page report to a twenty-six page thing that had no likelihood, no inkling, with the original report. So, in the meantime, after that, they uh, got the original report. I don’t know who got it where, but, it was, uh, made into a [inaudible] report and they made copies of it and began circle it here and there. The real report. I guess through that, they uh, later came out to, uh, apologize to the resisters for the actions that they took during the war.

communities community organizations Japanese American Citizens League organizations resisters

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)