Title: Student-Lead Artistic Magazines of the Asian-American Movement:
The Impact of Gidra on the Generation of Sansei Japanese Ethnic Pride from 1968-1974
This is a research paper written for my 11th grade American Studies course at Choate Rosemary Hall during the Spring term of the 2020-2021 academic year. I wanted to investigate the role of art and popular media in the rise of a new movement. In this case, the Asian American Movement. I wanted to explore the how self-reliant efforts of Asian-Americans, specifically Sansei Japanese-Americans, have reshaped their self-perception in opposition to long-standing stereotypes imposed by White America and perpetuated by everybody else.
Due to the limits of WordPress blog posts, I was unable to upload the proper footnotes present in the research paper on this site. However, all the sources consulted are listed in the bibliography at the bottom of this page. If you would like a PDF of my paper with the proper footnotes and formatting, please email me at [abbyluyuexi@gmail.com].
If you have any comments, suggestions, or questions, please reach out to me! I would love to discuss this with you, or learn from your insights. #Ijustwanttobecomeabetterscholar
Introduction:
In April 1969, the Sansei Japanese-American students of UCLA launched the first issue of Gidra: The Monthly of the Asian-American Experience, the unofficial inaugural newspaper of the Asian-American Movement in conjunction with the university’s department of Asian American Studies. From 1968-1974, Gidra remained active on the university’s campus, and then in the Crenshaw neighbourhood of Los Angeles. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the Japanese were thrown into internment camps from 1942-1945 and alienated from American society. However, the organization of the Third World Liberation Front Protest in 1968 at San Francisco State University, the establishment of the Asian-American Political Alliance the same year at UC Berkeley, and the formation Yellow Power in the late 1970s ushered in an Asian American Movement combating racist stereotypes and establishing unity within Asian America, of which Gidra was the pioneer magazine. Staff member Jeff Furumura described Gidra’s purpose as “all part of building self-reliance, and in the process, creating our own alternatives.” Gidra provided the platform of an alternative press on which Sansei Japanese could generate ethnic pride by utilizing the uncensored format of an alternative press to promote the radical Yellow Power, publicizing the Sansei recounts of Nisei internment, refuting traditional Japanese cultural values of silence and modesty, and promoting Asian-American political organizations and ethnic celebrations.
Figure 1: The cover of the August, 1969 issue of Gidra depicting its mascot the slant-eyed caterpillar.
Section 1: Gidra’s Format as An Uncensored Magazine and Its Usage of Art
In employing the uncensored format of an artistic magazine, Gidra became an alternative press for the politically radical Yellow Power, a popular ideology that later encouraged the Sansei’s radicalization of the Japanese-American image. Although the UCLA administration rejected their request to start an Asian American community newspaper in 1969, the student founders nevertheless each contributed $100 to produce their own paper, Gidra. Since its establishment, Gidra has been an alternative press for the radical Asian-American voice, seen through its promotion of Yellow Power. For example, Larry Lobuta stated in his 1969 Article titled “Yellow Power!” that “Yellow Power is a call to reject our past and present condition of powerlessness,” and sounded a “call for Asian Americans to end the silence that has condemned us to suffer in this racist society. In addition, “The Emergence of Yellow Power” by Amy Uyematsu first published in Gidra was later reprinted on the first page of the Los Angeles Free Press and titled “Yellow Power Arrives!” and has become one of the most influential articles on the Asian American movement. The format of an uncensored magazine enabled the dissemination of the irreverent tone utilized by many Yellow Power authors among the young Sansei generation, thereby inciting Asian-American self-advocacy.
Gidra’s employment of art and poetry as an outlet for the uncensored Asian voice further served to encourage the expression of a repressed and often angry Sansei voice. Each issue of Gidra included a People’s Page with a special submission for poetry and art, encouraging the expression of suppressed rage, heartbreak, and grief by authors. In this way, Gidra delivered radical social commentary and criticism in various art forms that were simultaneously irreverent, truthful, and sincere. For example, in the poem “My Sad Yellow People,” Harumi expressed that “How sad my family / we should be, / to be so short in thinking/young men dying… / just to free…just to give us life / … just to prove, ‘I love you, you are mine.’” By allowing the germination of a Japanese-American cultural identity through the vulnerable medium of art and poetry, Gidra was able to recreate Ibasho, the feeling of being at home and part of a community lost during the internment process. Recognizing Gidra’s unique format as an unrefined political magazine permitting the publication of politically controversial statements is crucial to understanding Sansei Activism. Additionally, the slant-eye caterpillar mascot of the magazine draws heavily on previously derogatory Asian stereotypes, showing Gidra’s intention to reclaim these stereotypes. Through the informal platform for art, Gidra fostered an environment on which radical and suppressed emotions regarding the Asian-American experience could be expressed.
Section 2: Gidra’s Publication of Sansei Voice in Japanese Internment
Gidra’s radical platform as an alternative press allowed the unprecedented publications of narratives and opinions on the details regarding Japanese internment by the Sansei where the Nisei voice was absent. The insistence of contemporary propaganda that incarceration was the Nisei’s patriotic duty, the usage of euphemisms to alleviate the unconstitutionality of incarceration, and the humiliation of being betrayed by their own government all contributed to the Nisei’s sense of self-blame and silence. In order to avoid confrontation with White Americans that may further damage the image of Japanese-Americans, the Nisei utilized various tactics of silence regarding their internment experience such as self-policing, which included a reluctance to speak about the internment, or referring to the experience only in code. Additionally, the lack of public acknowledgement of the internment process further exacerbated Japanese-American invisibility, and served to perpetuate the Nisei’s silence. Gidra contributor Jim Matsuoka observed that “the Japanese-American certainly has suffered as grievous wrongs as these other minorities yet no mass of protests are heard, no leaders arise.” Sansei narratives published on Gidra marked not only the end of Nisei silence, but the start of redefining the internment process.
The condemnatory nature of the internment narratives provided by Japanese-American writers of Gidra reflected a pivotal shift in the Sansei toward activism. In his article From Japan to L.A, Jim Matsuoka condemned internment as “cultural assault” upon the Japanese, and described internment as an atrocity entailing “the seizure and abrupt removal of all leaders within the Japanese community that resulted in “mass confusion.” Even more condemnatory was his commentary on the loyalty questionnaire, asserting its objective as “to force the son against the father” by “considering his sire as a potential enemy and non-American,” therby shattering their cultural affinity. Matsuoka insisted that its goal was to “destroy the very central basis of Japanese familial structure, the patriarch,” by castigating him as “The Jap,” and putting White Americans in his place of authority. The politically uncensored platform of Gidra allowed the unprecedented publication of an angry Sansei voice not only through personal testimonies, but art as well. The First Manzanar Pilgrimage, California, published in December, 1969 by Robert A. Nakamura appearing in the January 1970 issue of Gidra depicted the faces and tombstones of the camp. Additionally, UC Davis student Isao Fujimato described the reintegration back into American society after internment as “accompanied by a mixture of fear, insecurity, hope, and confusion,” and lamented that “there were too few demands for justice, too few voices of protest” during internment. The new voice of condemnation toward internment provided by the Sansei and enabled by Gidra’s radical and uncensored platform marked a shift toward an assertive Asian-advocacy.
Figure 2: First Manzanar Pilgrimage, California by Robert A. Nakamura appearing in Gidra
Section 3: Gidra‘s Role in Aiding the Sansei Rejection of Traditional Japanese Values and Stereotypes
Historically, the Japanese-American strategy of assimilation has been accommodation, such as the aversion of direct confrontation and submission while exercising unrelenting diligence, allowing Japanese Americans to achieve both educational and occupational success. These tactics are likewise reflected in the traditional Japanese notions passed from parent to children, such as the notion of Gaman, or“enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity.” The notion of apathetic resignation is exemplified in the term Shikataganai, meaning “it can’t be helped,” used by elders in the internment camps. The traditional concept of Enryo, or prioritizing others more than oneself, further trapped the Japanese in silent endurance in its manifestation as attitudes of passivity, subduedness, and withdrawal into ethnic groups in the context of assimilation into American society. This phenomenon is described by Professor Harry H.L.Kitano, a sociologist on the faculty of UCLA, as the Enryo Syndrome, which has improved the Japanese image and helped Nisei integrate into American society because of its promotion of non-aggression and conformity. The label of the Japanese as the Quiet Americans and being used as a model minority can further be described through Ontashii, a concept encouraging propriety. Although these labels initially served to help Japanese-Americans integrate into American society without inciting conflict with White people, nevertheless traditional Japanese concepts were detrimental to the ethnic groups because they perpetuated the image of Asian-Americans as quiet, docile, and politically inept.
The very act of speaking out showed the Sansei rejection of the aforementioned traditional Japanese values inherited by the Nisei that had trapped the Japanese-Americans in silence. Whereas the Nisei, now adults of the bourgeoisie, toiled with silence and diligence for a place and acceptance into American society, the Sansei, who had become young adults, adamantly dismissed any extra effort to assimilation as unneeded since being American is a birthright. Although the label as Quiet Americans was positive for the Nisei, the Sansei condemned it as a negative brand of passivity to avoid conflict with the White majority. The Nisei, being more connected to Japanese culture, were more protective of the traditional cultural values, such as silence, than the radical Sansei, who saw quietness as a pejorative mark of Japanese docility. Sansei college students rejected the docility and quietness embodied by the contemporary average Japanese-American, and challenged assimilation and conformity to white values by advocating for Asian-American self advocacy through Yellow Power, and the self-advocacy embodied by the ideology. In condemning the Nisei’s silence around Japanese Internment, the politically active Sansei simultaneously refuted the traditional Japanese values inherited from the Nisei that perpetuated these values. Through the voice of condemnation exemplified via Gidra’s radical platform, the Sansei were able to deconstruct the Nisei’s image as a Quiet American.
Section 4: Gidra’s Promotion of Asian-American Self-Advocacy
Gidra’s support for narrative condemning White Supremacy additionally fuelled the promotion of Asian pride and self-advocacy. The staunch opposition of politically active students to white supremacy and their criticism of America’s dominant White culture and racism embedded in its materialistic and hedonistic capitalism.” The atmosphere of political activism among contemporary Asian-American students in American, the exact demographic represented by Gidra’s staff, similarly echoed the focus of the magazine. In particular, a 1970 study found that when describing White people, 50% of the votes of politically active Japanese-American students in Berkeley and LA clustered pejorative traits such as materialistic, pleasure-loving, aggressive, deceitful, and conceited. Staff of Gidra further described that white people “are in dire need of reevaluating their standards and values,” since it is they “who have been guilty of bigotry and hypocrisy” in creating “a country where racism is rampant.” Gidra’s condemnation of White Supremacy further accentuated its role as an alternative press centering around Asian-American instead of White culture.
Gidra’s advocacy for Asian-American self-reliance and appreciation is shown through its promotion of Asian-American political organizations and ethnic celebrations. In the aforementioned 1969 article “Yellow Power!,” Larry Kubota pointed out that in 1969, a council of oriental organizations in LA was ousted from a meeting of the Concerned Citizens for Community Colleges because the “Oriental” community was deemed “politically irrelevant.” As a response to the mainstream disregard of the Asian-American experience, Gidra promoted and recognized Asian-American political organizations and ethnic celebrations through its influence as the movement’s alternative press. In particular, the issue of August 1969 publicized the Asian American Experimental College, Asian American Political Alliance (LA and UCLA), Keiro Nursing Home, the theatre troupe East-West Players, and many other organizations under a page titled “Community Organizations.” In addition to political organizations, Gidra promoted the Nisei Week ethnic festival, a celebration first instituted in 1934, only a few years after internment, and had since evolved into a resolute and transgressive public demonstration of ethnic pride In 1972, Library Journal attested that Gidra “effectively voices this new consciousness among Amerasians, simultaneously uncovering a century of wrongs committed by the white majority and enunciating a determination to make the future at once different and better than the past.” Gidra’s encouragement of political activism built upon its pre-established image as a revolutionary platform allowed it to become a momentous force that inspired a new wave of Asian-American political activism, through which the Sansei Japanese demanded political relevance.
Conclusion: Gidra’s Impact
As an alternative newspaper, Gidra was the first to elucidate the goals of the Asian American Movement and allow an uncensored platform for self-definition. Through the platform of an alternative press, Gidra not only promoted the radical Yellow Power, but also offered an uncensored and artistic platform on which the Sansei Japanese could generate ethnic pride through the expression of repressed emotions. Additionally, Gidra’s publication of the Sansei recounts of Nisei internment and condemnations of its unconstitutionality aided them in refuting traditional Japanese cultural values of silence and modesty. Gidra’s promotion of Asian-American organizations and ethnic celebrations further allowed the germination of ethnic pride.
With the publication of its fifth anniversary issue in 1974, Gidra announced an indefinite hiatus and embarked on a slow decline. Despite its short years of publication, founder Mike Murase described Gidra as “an experience in sharing — in giving and receiving — in a sisterly and brotherly atmosphere,” fostering cultural unity among not just Japanese, but Asian Americans as a whole. The Asian American Movement, documented by the unofficial newspaper of Gidra, inspired many other communal programs promoting self-determination in particular the Japanese-American community. Particularly, Gidra served as the inspiration for other Asian-American magazines and organizations of self-advocacy, such as Yellow Seed, a Chinese-American magazine. Additionally, Gidra’s influence included over 200 staff over the period of 5 years and a national audience, with a press run of 4000 and from 900-1300 subscribers. Its staff, representing the brightest minds of the Sansei, went on to found and work in community and activist organizations, such as part of the Little Tokyo Anti-Eviction Task Force and Little Tokyo People’s Rights Organization. Although disbanded, Gidra’s influence as an agent for the Sansei redefinition of Japanese-Americans remains undeniable, and affirms the potential of the youth as a pioneer for social change.
Bibliography
Aguirre, Adalberto, and Shoon Lio. “Spaces of Mobilization: The Asian American/Pacific Islander Struggle for Social Justice.” Social Justice 35, nos. 2 (112) (2008): 1-17. https://www.jstor.org/stable/29768485.
Crisman, Jonathan Jae-an. “Art and the Aesthetics of Cultural Gentrification:.” In Aesthetics of Gentrification: Seductive Spaces and Exclusive Communities in the Neoliberal City, by Christoph Lindner and Gerard F. Sandoval, 137-54. N.p.: Amsterdam University Press, 2021. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1hp5hpc.10.
Fujimoto, Isao. “The Failure of Democracy in a Time of Crisis, the Wartime Internment of Japanese Americans and Its Relevance Today.” Gidra, September 1969, 6-8. Digital file.
Gidra, January 1970.
Gidra, August 1969.
Harumi. “My Sad People.” Gidra, April 1969, 2.
Hirasuna, Delphine. The Art of Gaman: Arts and Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps, 1942-1946. Berkeley: Ten Speed Press, 2005.
Hosokawa, William K. Nisei: The Quiet Americans. Rev. ed. Boulder, Colo.: University Press of Colorado, 2002. First published 1969 by William Morrow and Company, Inc.
Ishizuka, Karen L., and Jeff Chang. Serve the People: Making Asian America in the Long Sixties. London: Verso, 2016.
Kawashima, Yoshimi. “GIDRA: The Voice of the Asian American Movement.” Discover Nikkei, January 12, 2012. http://www.discovernikkei.org/en/journal/2012/1/12/gidra/.
Kubota, Larry. “Yellow Power.” Gidra, April 1969, 3-4.
Matsuoka, Jim. “From Japan to L.A.” Gidra, August 1969, 7-13.
Maykovich, Minako. “White-Yellow Stereotypes: An Empirical Study.” The Pacific Sociological Review 14, no. 4 (1971): 447-67. https://doi.org/10.2307/1388542.
Maykovich, Minako Kurokawa. “Reciprocity in Racial Stereotypes: White, Black, and Yellow.” American Journal of Sociology 77, no. 5 (1972): 876-97. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2776927.
Murase, Mike. “Gidra Now Available Online in Searchable PDFs.” Rafu Shimpo: Los Angeles Japan Daily News (Los Angeles, CA), December 10, 2015. Accessed May 23, 2021. http://rafu.com/2015/12/gidra-now-available-online-in-searchable-pdfs/.
———. “Toward Barefoot Journalism.” Gidra, April 1974, 34-36.
Nagai, Nelson. “With Book in Hang, I Walk This Land, Seeking the Knowledge I Need, Extremely Mellow, a Happy Fellow, Because I Come from a Yellow Seed.” In “20th Anniversary,” special issue, Gidra, 1990, 72.
Niiya, Brian. “Gidra: Now Available Online.” Densho. Last modified December 7, 2015. https://densho.org/gidra-now-available-online/.
Ota, David. “We Are Americans.” Gidra, November 1969, 5.
Singh, Amardeep. “Gidra 1.5.” Asian American Little Magazines 1968-1974. https://scalar.lehigh.edu/asian-american-little-magazines/gidra-15.
———. “Gidra Magazine (1969-1974; Los Angeles).” Asian American Little Magazines 1968-1974. https://scalar.lehigh.edu/asian-american-little-magazines/gidra-magazine-los-angeles.
The Big Duck 