Romantic Crossings: Making Love, Family, and Non-Whiteness in California, 1925–1950

by Allison Varzally

"I'M SORRY IT IS only a dollar," Tommy Yoneda apologized in the note accompanying his donation to United China Relief, a social service agency dedicated to war-torn China, "but I am an evacuee here with my parents who are Americans, the same as I am. My daddy used to be a longshoreman in San Francisco, and he picketed together with thousands of Chinese and white people—although he is of Japanese descent." A young boy of mixed race, Tommy entered a Japanese internment camp just after the outbreak of World War II with his Jewish mother, Elaine, and Japanese father, Karl. In 1930s and 1940s California, Karl and Elaine had mingled with an eclectic mix of minority activists and participated in leftist organizations ranging from the Civil Rights Congress, Communist party, and International Labor Defense to the Filipino social club and Chinese Worker's Association. When Tommy learned from his parents of suffering among Chinese displaced and disoriented by conflict, he looked beyond his own difficult circumstances and ethnic roots to express his support. His empathy persisted after his mid-war release. As soon as Karl enlisted in the United States Army's Military Intelligence Service, Elaine secured her and her son's exit from Manzanar on the condition that Tommy remained in a Caucasian's custody. She begrudgingly accepted the terms, but not before voicing her objection: "If Tommy was to spend weekends or what have you with any of our Chinese, Filipino, or Negro friends," she asked the camp director, "would he be in violation of his right to be in Military Area No.1?" Practicing the multicultural preferences of his mother, Tommy regularly associated with non-whites in his new home of Petaluma, California. As a Jew and Japanese at a time when both ethnic groups were subject to hatred and hostility, Tommy was doubly vulnerable. But rather than defend himself against anti-Semitic or anti-Japanese attacks, Tommy devoted his energies to countering the racist remarks of classmates "who were just terrible as far as the Negroes are concerned." Tommy's personal experiences of discrimination and his family's teachings made him appreciate and challenge the breadth of ethno-racial prejudice he observed.