Powerful Opposition - Homer B. Mann

The mayor of Parkville was not the only person in power within the community to object to the admission of Japanese American students. Homer Mann, a high member within the Park College faculty, voiced his concern and opinions on the admittance of Nisei students in a letter to Dr. Young. Writing from the 800 Bryant building, now located at 1102 Grand Boulevard, Mann voiced his disdain for Nisei students.

Homer Mann declared that:

"Park College has had to send some 45 or 50 boys into the Army and now we are called upon to take 10 Jap boys and educate them while our boys are out fighting the Jap Nation. It just doesn’t make sense" (Letter from Homer Mann to Dr. Young, Aug. 24, 1942).

He continued, stating:

"If the Government thought the Japanese people dangerous enough to move them 1,000 miles from the Pacific Coast and they are so anxious to educate them, let them start schools in their concentration camps and not unload them on us when we are located within four miles of a big Bomber Plant" (Letter from Homer Mann to Dr. Young, Aug. 24, 1942).

Mann’s description of Japanese American incarceration camps as “concentration camps” is especially eye-opening. 

Mann’s blatant expression of racial hatred comes at the end of his letter, where he expresses that,

"In common with 90% of the people in the United States, I look upon the Japanese Nation as the most treacherous race in the world" (Letter from Homer Mann to Dr. Young, Aug. 24, 1942).

His condemnation of the entire Japanese race neglected to separate the decisions of the Japanese government from its citizens, who did not make military decisions. Thus, another example of “othering” the Japanese, and associating Japanese Americans with the enemy.

Mann’s opinions on the admission of Nisei students became public knowledge through the publication of a Kansas City Star article. John A. Randall, a concerned local resident, contacted Dr. Young after the publication of Homer Mann’s opinions in the August 24, 1942, issue of the Kansas City Star. Randall objected to Mann’s statements, expressing that

"[Mann] recommending that the College act in its treatment of a racial group of American citizens in a way to duplicate Hitler’s treatment of Jewish citizens of Germany...[and] proposing that Park College refuse to cooperate with the military policy of the United States and thus produce discord within this country as we face the enemy"

were unacceptable and damaging to perceptions within the public (Letter from John A. Randall to Dr. Young, Aug. 25, 1942).

Although support for Nisei students came in waves, the opinions of such men as Herbert A. Dyer and Homer Mann, as well as the pervasive language present in broad-based national media, were reflected in oppositional reactions by local residents. 

“Letter discussing statement made by Homer Mann in the Kansas City Star,” letter from John A. Randall to Dr. William Lindsay Young, Aug. 25, 1942. Located in Francis Fishburn Archives and Special Collections, Park University Nisei Collection, Park University, Parkville, MO, ID: PC-L-1942.1.870. 

“Letter from Mr. Mann to Dr. Young,” letter from Homer B. Mann to Dr. William Lindsay Young, Aug. 24, 1942. Located in Francis Fishburn Archives and Special Collections, Park University Nisei Collection, Park University, Parkville, MO, ID: PC-L-1942.1.261.