Opposition with Racially Based Agitation - Sidney K. Melton

Further letters demonstrated ingrained beliefs against Japanese Americans, displaying racially based agitation that plagued the country. More agitated Parkville residents, such as Sidney K. Melton, did not refrain from the use of derogatory remarks and generalizations in their correspondence with Dr. Young.

Melton accused Dr. Young of favoring the Japanese American students above those who had left for military commitment, saying that:  

"I think it was that sixteen from Park College were now in the Armed Forces. Are they not in your mind as interested in securing that education as those seven Japs? They are willing to give their lives to eliminate that race if need be that we may carry on... Now you tell me ‘these Japs are American Born Citizens’ and I tell you, so were those sixteen boys but they have to miss this chance for their education until the war is over, now I’M asking you, are these Japs better than our own boys? Why not these Japs miss out on their education until this war is over, if they are American Born citizens let them get in the Armed forces or get to work until this is over? Surely if they are American Born citizens we could trust them in our War Plants, or could we?" (Letter from Sidney K. Melton to Dr. Young, Sept. 12, 1942).

Melton’s concern for students who entered the military, though understandable, ignored the fact that Japanese Americans were entering the war to fight on the United States’ behalf (Ito 7). Additionally, Japanese Americans had been forced to sacrifice their homes, livelihoods, and rights as citizens in the name of U.S. national security. So, through an “othering” of Japanese Americans into an unassimilable and disloyal group within the United States due to Japan’s actions, Melton, and many other white Americans, neglected the suffering of Japanese Americans during the war.  

The opposition led by the Mayor of Parkville and made known by correspondence from local and national citizens, led Dr. Young to decrease his original quota of Nisei student admission. Dr. Young informed potential candidates of the dilemma, and in a letter to Ray McAfee he stated that:  

"I regret that we cannot accept more Japanese into our community. The presence of our small group is creating some feeling, but I think we are going to survive it. The admittance of more, however, might jeopardize the good we can do with this limited number of ten or twelve" (Letter from Dr. Young to Ray McAfee, Sept. 2, 1942).

Such concerns were further confirmed when the Executive Secretary of student relocation, Joseph Conrad, stated that

"at present no students are being granted travel permits to go to Park College. As you probably know, there was a recent disturbance in Parkville, and President Young has asked us to send no more students than the ten who are there or on their way" (Quoted in letter from Gordon K. Chapman to President Young, Sept. 14, 1942).

However, while admittance was kept to a strict quota for a time, the continued support that came in mass allowed for the continuation of Nisei student admission at Park College.

Ito, Leslie A. “Japanese American Women and the Student Relocation Movement, 1942-1945.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women Studies 21, no. 3 (2000): 1–24. https://doi.org/10.2307/3347107. 

“Letter discussing the admission of Clifford Nakadegawa,” letter from Gordon K. Chapman to President Wm. L. Young, Sept. 14, 1942. Located in Francis Fishburn Archives and Special Collections, Park University Nisei Collection, Park University, Parkville, MO, ID: PC-L-1942.1.716. 

“Letter from Sidney Melton to Dr. Young,” letter from Sidney K. Melton to Dr. William Lindsay Young, Sept. 12, 1942, page 1. Located in Francis Fishburn Archives and Special Collections, Park University Nisei Collection, Park University, Parkville, MO, ID: PC-L-1942.1.704. 

“Letter informing McAfee that Park College could not accept more Nisei students based on the current political situation in Parkville,” letter from Dr. William Lindsay Young to Ray McAfee, Sept. 2, 1942. Located in Francis Fishburn Archives and Special Collections, Park University Nisei Collection, Park University, Parkville, MO, ID: PC-L-1942.1.570.