Memories of Pearl Harbor still linger
Chinese-American community balks at the possible renaming of middle schools
PALO ALTO >> The specter of Pearl Harbor has mobilized some of city’s ChineseAmerican residents against the school district’s plan to rename two middle schools.
They’re worried that Fred Yamamoto, one of six Palo Alto historical figures among eight finalists being considered, could be confused with Isoroku Yamamoto, the architect of the Pearl Harbor bombing during World War II.
“There exist certain hurt feeling when the last name ‘Yamamoto’ is mentioned, especially for Asian immigrants whose families were tragically affected in China, Korea and Southeast Asian countries during World War II,” reads a petition (http:// bit.ly/2DFS5zy) opposing the suggested name that had garnered more than 750 signatures 14 hours after going up early Monday morning. “This Japanese admiral is whom many first think of upon hearing the name ‘Yamamoto,’ and our middle schools should never be affiliated with such a person.”
The Palo Alto Unified School District is changing the names of Jordan Middle School, named after David Starr Jordan, and Terman Middle School, named in part after Lewis Terman, because both men were leading advocates of eugenics. The name changes were sparked by a student’s book report on Jordan, Stanford University’s first president, in the fall of 2015.
Nearly three dozen community members spoke, most of them against naming either school in honor of Fred Yamamoto, during a Recommending School Names Advisory Committee meeting Monday night. The committee had already forwarded its recommendations to the school board, but will relay the residents’ comments to the board.
Some, like the author of the petition, said no personal names should be used at all because local figures who are considered great role models today might not be viewed the same by future generations. They said it makes no sense for the district to choose a new name that disenfranchises part of the school community in an effort to tamp down a separate controversy.
Others acknowledged Fred Yamamoto, a 1936 Palo Alto High School graduate held in a Japanese internment camp during World War II who later joined the U.S. Army, is an inspirational figure, but said a school named after him would just cause confusion among Asian-Americans.
One parent said giving a school the Yamamoto surname is akin to naming a school with Jewish students after Adolf Hitler or anyone with Hitler as a last name. Another parent said if a Palo Alto school had been named Yamamoto, he would have chosen a different district for his children.
“If we do change the name (to Fred Yamamoto), parents won’t want their kids to wear shirts representing the school,” added parent Fan Yung.
Keri Wagner, a district parent, said in an email to The Daily News that opposition to Fred Yamamoto’s name is being led by a “small, vocal subset” of the Chinese-American community flexing an “inherently racist position” against what is a common Japanese surname.
“When I meet someone Japanese, I do not think of Pearl Harbor, and I’ll bet most Americans have the same view,” Wagner wrote. “I’m appalled that their racism is tolerated in Palo Alto, and I believe most Northern Californians do not subscribe to those beliefs.”
Advisory committee member LaDoris Cordell suggested that tension among ethnic groups in the district is the “elephant in the room.” She said it’s something the district board needs to tackle, calling it an opportunity for differing sides to have meaningful discussions.
“The renaming process has created an opportunity in Palo Alto,” said Cordell, a retired Superior Court judge. “I don’t see it as a negative. … I hope that this can get the community to talk about something bigger (and) use this as an opportunity to bring Palo Alto together.”