Monrovia Weekly - 01/09/2020

COMPLIMENTARY COPY

Winter Paradise on the Island of Kauai

‘The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up’Workshop Hosted at Arcadia Library

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VOL. 24, NO. 2

From Slavery to Japanese Internment:

A Family Embodies What it Means to Love Thy Neighbor Susie LING, GUEST CONTRIBUTOR

M

arvin “Oka” Inouye was playing on Evergreen and Ivy — in the middle of the street. His neighbor, Barbara Jean (now Williams), insisted the 5-year old step back on the sidewalk. That’s how Marvin met his “other” mother in 1956. For six decades, Marvin was best friends with Barbara’s oldest son, Marcus Lewis, and in and out of Barbara’s homes. But it was only recently that Marvin came to realize that this was not the first time that Barbara Jean, an African American, helped her Japanese American neighbors. Barbara, née Marshall, grew up in the J-Flats community of Los Angeles, between East Hollywood and Silver Lake. In the middle of this Japanese American immigrant community was the home of the Marshalls. One Japanese American alumni of Dayton Heights Elementary, Colleen “Teeny” Kunitomi, said, “I used to wonder how this African American family got in the middle of all these Asian immigrants.” Actually, it was Barbara’s grandparents, former slave George and Josephine Albright who homesteaded the property as early as 1892. Their daughter Crystal would also settle on Westmoreland Avenue with her husband, Rufus Marshall. They owned a catering business while raising three children: Josephine (Burch), Rufus, and Barbara Jean. As the Japanese American population grew around them, the Marshall family accepted and adapted. Barbara, now 93, said, “We lived between the Kakiba and Hoshizaki families and we were always exchanging food across the hedges. In fact, my mother suggested I go

Mayor Pro Tem Represents Monrovia as ‘White Suiter’ at Rose Parade Susan MOTANDER motander@yahoo.com

Barbara Jean and J-Flats neighbor circa 1940. - Photo courtesy of Barbara Williams

to Japanese language school with our neighbors. We even had a koi pond.” Mr. Kakiba worked for the Dolly Madison bakery and the Hoshizaki’s opened Fujiya Market on Virgil Avenue in 1932, so there was some good food passed over those hedges.

Barbara said, “But in 1942, the president at the time changed everything. My household was disrupted as my neighbors’ households were disrupted. It was heart wrenching.” On the day the Japanese Americans had to report to unjust internment,

it was Barbara’s mother that worked endlessly in the kitchen feeding all her Japanese American neighbors a last good hearty breakfast of biscuits, eggs, and coffee. Barbara remembers, “She was cooking and cooking.” And it was Barbara’s father

who drove one family after another in the dismal rain to the designated meeting spot for the internees.

Everyone celebrates the New Year in their own way. Some of us watch the ball drop in Time Square at 9 p.m. and go to sleep. Others gather with fellow Monrovians on Myrtle Avenue and Library Park to see the year end and another begin. And then there are those who hit the sack early so they can get up before dawn and be along the Rose Parade route in their assigned positions — all to ensure that the annual Tournament of Roses Parade is as close to perfect as possible. One such hearty volunteer is Monrovia’s own mayor pro tem, Larry Spicer. For the last four years he has been a member of the Tournament of Roses, a “white suiter” as they are affectionately known. More than 900 volunteers work hours to put on the grandest parade of them all — and in our back yard. Mayor Pro Temp Spicer has been volunteering for four years. – Courtesy photo