January 4, 1943. Fear is frequently used for political and economic gain as exemplified by the culmination of Japanese American citizens being imprisoned during WWII. Before being forced into an American prison camp my mother was living on Jackson Street in what had become known as LA’s Little Tokyo. The Japanese American citizen neighbors nearby owned prime downtown Los Angeles real estate and owned profitable businesses that would be greedily taken over by white Angelinos if the current owners could be pushed out of town or out of the state. My mother and her neighbors lost all of those possessions when they were imprisoned. Other Californians positioned themselves for office, including a soon to be Governor by fueling racist fears of loyal Japanese American citizens. Stoking fear is a powerful campaign tactic to get votes. Earl Warren was voted into office on a wave of anti Japanese sentiment he fueled in a successful political campaign for Governor of California taking office in Sacramento January 4, 1943.
In a World War II Era letter also signed by Dr. Ed Ricketts John Steinbeck Opposed the treatment of Japanese Amnerican citizens. He and the other letter signatures were taking a stand for the Constitutional rights of Japanese Americans facing racism and hatred for being loyal American citizens. But there were not enough voices supporting the Constitution to make a difference in a fear inspired racist movement.
"No is just a word people use when they're nor sure they want to say yes."
The first transistor is invented at Bell Labs by John Bardeen and Walter Brattain who'd win the Nobel Prize their discovery of the transistor effect. This led to Silicon Valley becoming the epicenter of electronics innovation.
April 14, The Ninth Circuit Federal Court case: Mendez et al v. Westminister School District of Orange County held that forced segregation of Mexican American students was unconstitutional.
Jackie Robinson, the first African American in Major League Baseball takes the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Toby Manzanares, the first college graduate in the Manzanares family is born on October 1, 1947 in Pueblo Colorado the same year the world of semiconductors began. It was the beginning of racial integration, when a United States postage stamp was 3 cents, gas cost 15 cents a gallon, the average cost of new car was $1,300.00, and a new house cost $6,600. 1947 was a very good year.
1964
Your mother was a straight A, rule breaking, cultural rebel. At first glance she looked like any average school girl, but beneath that exterior were seismic waves of determination that were about to surface.
We might not have known of the anti-miscegenation laws, but Sandy's Austrian/German home silently stewed in a changing time. It would not be until Loving v. Virginia, in 1967 that the U.S. Supreme Court would strike down this legal loophole for racism.
In 1967, the laws banning interracial marriage were ruled unconstitutional but Sandy's father would refuse to give the bride away or even come to our wedding in 1969 because I was born with DNA that was not Austrian/German. In his world, I didn't have the right racial background.
Our favorite movie was Westside Story because it stoked the fire of our dreams. Our favorite song was Somewhere because it mirrored our quest for our new way of living, “we're almost there, a place for us.”
Lyrics
There's a place for us,
Somewhere a place for us.
Peace and quiet and open air
Wait for us
Somewhere.
There's a time for us,
Some day a time for us,
Time together with time spare,
Time to learn, time to care,
Some day!
Somewhere.
We'll find a new way of living,
We'll find a way of forgiving
Somewhere . . .
There's a place for us,
A time and place for us.
Hold my hand and we're halfway there.
Hold my hand and I'll take you there
Somehow,
Some day,
Somewhere!
Tommie introduced me to the Glenn Miller Band in 1958, Moonlight Serenade and String of Pearls. I was a 10 year old country boy from Monte Vista Colorado landing in the big city, Los Angeles of 1957. I'd never had dinner at a restaurant, but thanks to my uncle Jake and my Grandfather Federico, exceptional hunters, we had a constant stream of venison, elk, rabbit, and duck. But life was about to change dramatically.
It must have come from her parents, Jotaro and Taka Ishihara, because my mother started me on the violin almost as soon as I arrived in California. It was hard to listen to me play the violin. It was so hard my mother asked me to close the bedroom door, and play in the bathroom after closing that door as well. Soon she bought a trumpet for me as I joined Mr. Ross and his Concert Band. My Monte Vista, Colorado childhood world was about to open in ways too subtle to detect.
Tommie introduced me to her favorite drummer: Gene Krupa (solo: scroll to 3:38)
1972. Leandra, just a toddler, Jason almost a glimmer when we bought our first home. Moving from our first apartment at 315 South Chapel Avenue in Alhambra to Westmont Drive was just a few miles away but we needed some kind of moving truck for that short distance.
Mattress, box springs, crib, dining room table and chairs, lamp shades, sofa, laundry baskets, book shelves, coffee table, television, and boxes of kitchen ware. It was quite a sight for our new neighbors when we arrived with the first load packed high and overflowing, like a scene from the Grapes of Wrath. But Tim bless his soul was smiling and beaming as he drove up and set the parking brake. He looked like he was having fun. It's been 48 years and I still remember his smile.
Peering out of their living room windows, you gotta wonder what the neighbors were thinking. "Martha, take a look at whose moving into the neighborhood."
1945 Howard Florey, Alexander Fleming and Ernst Chain are awarded the Nobel Prize “for the discovery of penicillin and its curative effect i...
