JAP bikes.
Posted on 09/21/2006 10:36:11 AM PDT by Diddle E. Squat
Sandra Tanamachi, who led a lengthy campaign to get the slur "Jap" removed from street maps in Jefferson, Orange and Fort Bend counties, is being recognized for her work with an award from the Japanese government.
In 1992, Tanamachi was teaching school in Beaumont when she noticed newspaper advertisements, billboards and radio spots for businesses on "Jap Road."
"I found it very offensive. I started thinking other minorities would not tolerate anything like it. I just didn't feel it was right especially since I had uncles who were soldiers and veterans," Tanamachi, 61, said Wednesday.
Houston Japanese Consul General Yoshi Kamo said Tanamachi was recommended to officials in Tokyo as a candidate for the honor along with astronaut Soichi Noguchi, and both will receive the commendation.
"What she has done is really commendable from the perspective of the Japanese government because she is trying to delete the derogatory term from the map of Texas," Kamo said.
Kamo said Tanamachi's work also provides insight to the Japanese people on the role Japanese-Americans have played in the U.S.
While many wanted the name changed, some people who lived along the road outside Beaumont said the name was never meant as an insult but instead was intended to recognize a local Japanese farmer who settled there in the early 1900s.
Jefferson County commissioners refused to change it, but Tanamachi kept up the pressure even after she and her husband moved to Lake Jackson in Brazoria County in 2000.
Other people, including Japanese-American veterans, eventually joined the fight, but officials continued to balk.
Tanamachi said that when the campaign began in the early 1990s, the battle was strictly local. By 2004 the controversy had spread across the country via the Internet, and commissioners began to feel pressure to rename the road.
In July 2004, Jefferson County commissioners voted 4-1 to change the name.
The road was renamed Boondocks Road, after a restaurant once located there. Officials in nearby Orange County soon got rid of Jap Lane despite some resident opposition. It was given three different names for different sections.
Tanamachi then noticed there was a Jap Road in Fort Bend County.
"Once again it was because of the Internet. Someone did a search and forwarded the information to me," said Tanamachi, who is a third-grade teacher at Stephen F. Austin Elementary in Freeport.
The partially paved uninhabited road begins in the town of Orchard and ends in the unincorporated part of the county. County officials and area residents didn't seem to even know how the road got its name.
Tanamachi asked Fort Bend County commissioners to change it, and without debate the vote was 5-0 to rename it Moore Ranch Road in honor of a family who owned property in the area for generations.
Tanamachi said she is deeply honored to receive the award.
"All of this is just overwhelming. I never expected anything like this," she said.
So shouldn't she now be on a crusade to remove the term 'Tex' from use? Rename the highly offensive 'Eastex Freeway' and 'Gulftex Road', save us from the pain of 1000 lashes each time someone at the state fair refers to 'Big Tex', and of course relieve us from the debilitating humiliation of the constant use of the term 'Tex-Mex.' Then there is the naughty towns of Texhoma, Texline, Texla, and Texarkana. Where is here leadership?
Or maybe she isn't actually a hero.
What's next? Japonica trees?......
That's a slippery slope when you're talking about so-called slurs. I don't see anyone complaining about "Jew" as a shortened version of Jewish.
Maybe she's out to defend the honor of Jewish American Princesses.
Let's outlaw the sale of Bonzai Trees in the U.S.
Tex for Texans Arkie for Arkansans Okie for Oklahomans I'm getting really really offended. I've been victimiazed and didn't even notice it. Somebody owes me some money. Big time.
JAP bikes.
Personally, I never cared much for Japs, Nips is my favorite.
I take it she doesn't view WWII war films.
I like cheese nips.
Thats the first thing that came into my head.
little...like the people
I just draw the line at being called Gui Lo.
Actually, I love it when they call me Gui Lo. Its Cracker Ass white boy that bugs me.
...I came across something the other day that
was interesting.... called a Java Anonymous Proxy,
and, wouldn't you just know it, it is identified
as JAP.....!! okay; should the computer/software
engineers or whatever be made to change the name
of this (whatever it is...), so there would not
result in the "JAP" acronym....? this whole thing
is getting ridiculous!!!! I'm getting too damned
old to have to put up with this kinda crap....!!!
Gui Lo? Not familiar. What's that mean?
More work ahead, there is:
Tex Lane and Tex Avenue in insensitive Kentucky
Tex Street in mean Michigan
Tex Blvd in Ft. Worth
Tem Tex Blvd and Gregg Tex Road in east TX (oops)
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