By SUSIE LING
Recently, Cal Poly Pomona announced the passing of their president emeritus, Dr. Bob Suzuki. Soon after, Pasadena City College announced the passing of their professor emeritus, Harry Kawahara.
Bob and Harry were lifelong friends since the 1950s as students at UC Berkeley. Bob was a mechanical engineering major and Harry was majoring in political science. (Another classmate of note was future Congressman Norm Mineta.)
These Niseis had known injustice – Bob in Minidoka and Harry in Topaz – and spent their lives dedicated to “social justice and community-building,” to quote the Cal Poly announcement.
Both came down to Pasadena in the early 1960s. Bob pursued his higher education at Cal Tech and Harry at Fuller Technological Seminary. Then, the Japanese American community in Pasadena was mostly composed of gardeners and domestic helpers in the resettlement years. The community was anchored by the Pasadena JCI (established 1962), Pasadena Buddhist Temple (completed in 1958), and the Union Presbyterian Church – formerly Pasadena Japanese Union Church and now First Presbyterian Church of Altadena.
With the growing pressure of the civil rights and anti-war movements, attitudes were changing. Both Harry and Bob felt compelled to do something more. It was Bob who led the Pacific Southwest JACL committee to overturn Title II of the 1950 McCarran Internal Security Act, which allowed for “emergency detention.” This was successful by 1971.
With this experience of working together for change, Bob, Harry, and others formed the Greater Pasadena JACL chapter near the late 1960s. These Niseis wanted to advocate for more. Most importantly, the group lobbied for ethnic studies awareness at a time when Pasadena Unified School District was under court order to desegregate.
By 1971, Kawahara led a team to develop the curriculum and teach Asian American studies at Pasadena City College, with the support of PCC Superintendent Armen Sarafian. Muir High’s Pasadena Asian Concern students lobbied Superintendent Ramon Cortines and had their class taught by Rodney Ogawa.
Suzuki would continue to build Asian American studies at Cal State Northridge in the 1980s. Kawahara would be the founding president — and mentor — of PCC’s Coalition of Asian Pacific Employees (CAPE).
The Greater Pasadena JACL also supported activities including the teaching about internment camps in K-12 classrooms, working with the libraries, and supporting community programs. The Sanseis of Pasadena Asian Concern established Hanami – now still active as Pasadena Nikkei Seniors. Many in this group worked for the redress and reparations movement. And they lobbied the City of Pasadena to recognize Fred Korematsu Day by 2011.
The members of the Greater Pasadena JACL supported each other as they each became more politically and socially active. They were visionaries and appreciated mentors.
This “dream team” in Pasadena included (in alphabetical order):
Yosh and Haru Inaba Kuromiya – Yosh was a Heart Mountain draft resister of conscience and a landscaper. Haru was in Crystal City and continues to speak on the camp experience.
Harry and Jane Yamaguchi Kawahara – Harry was the first Asian American faculty at Monrovia High School before becoming a counselor from 1978-2005 at Pasadena City College. Jane was a public health school nurse.
Dr. Franklin Odo – Raised in Hawaii, Odo graduated from Harvard and Princeton. He was the first to teach Asian American studies at Occidental College before Cal State Long Beach. Franklin was founding director of the Asian Pacific American Program at the Smithsonian Institution
Harry and Rei Kihara Osaki – Harry was a goldsmith, and Rei is the first Japanese American woman in the Idaho State Bar. She graduated from the University of Idaho College of Law in 1943 and was an active member of National Coalition for Redress and Reparations.
(https://digital-library.csun.edu/csun-leaders/bob-suzuki)
Frank and Marian Shingu Sata – Frank was raised in Pasadena and became an architect after graduating from USC. Marian was a graduate of Little Rock High School before returning to California.
Bob and Agnes Suzuki – Bob was teaching engineering at USC before focusing more on education. He was Cal Poly Pomona president between 1991-2003.
Ted and Setsuko Tajima – Ted taught journalism at Alhambra High after the war, one of the first Japanese American faculty in public schools. Setsu taught preschool.
Bob and Mae K. Uchida – From Pasadena’s Bellfontaine Nursery family, Bob graduated from Grinnell and Berkeley and taught at Eagle Rock High. The Uchidas are the current presidents of Greater Pasadena JACL.