I'm in love with this "Jap."
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.
New road name: Whiney Liberal Bend
It's like they used the phrases "zipperneck" or "pan head". Now those are bona fide WWII-era disparagements of asians, and won't be tolerated.
My understanding was that they would have required companies, like hard disk manufacturers, to change labeling on their products to remove references to "master" and "slave".
When I heard it, I couldn't believe it. These days, I've come to expect inane proposals like this. Even more so since I live in Northern Virginia and have to listen to the ravings from Montgomery County, MD or the DC Government.
As I'm sure most Freeper professionals will agree, the use of certain terms are meant to promote clarity. I've seen "master" and "slave" used in the computer industry, and even in my digital circuits class. I'm sure they appear in other diciplines.
Other terms the libs were considering eliminating were "male" and "female" for connectors, and terms like "motherboard" and "daughtercard". Even today, I see both "mainboard" and "motherboard" used interchangably. I've always refered to "motherboards" myself.
Seems like these people need to be smacked with the clue-stick a few times. You'd think there would be better activities to spend your time on than scouring the internet looking for things that offend you.
Actually they changed the name on the maps a few years ago. I can't imagine why.
Perhaps I am of the minority opinion here...though I'm far more right wing than most of you , but.....
Answer this question.....
If a term is offensive to a group, why would you not change it?
Why persist with the insults when it takes so little effort to remove them?
Just Askin
you forgot male and female plug ends :)
one of my favourite (stupid) discriminations, demanding a company change something, i've heard was a number of years ago MSU (michigan) took a bid from IBM to put computers in all their computer labs, with the condition that the IBM "blue" logo be changed to green. (blue being the team color of rival college UofM).
Ping!
I'm in love with this "Jap."
"We're going to hanve to nip it I tell you. Nip it in the bud. Just nip it."
There recently was an uproar when the city of White Settlement near Ft. Worth was contemplating changing the name as it was considered that newcomers would think it sounded too intolerant. I believe the notion was dropped. It actually got it's name in the 1840’s when the area was home to seven Indian villages and one non-Indian settlement - hence, White Settlement.
One Christmas break when I was a teenager I worked for a local hardware store doing inventory. I had never heard the 'male' & 'female' description used for connectors, plugs, etc. & I turned every shade of red when it was explained to me.
Japan has the word "Jap" in it. Maybe she should...
Ahhh, skip it.
I am deeply offended by the use of the word sauerkraut, and hereby demand it be changed to sauerGerman. Recall all cans!
Because there is a nearly infinite number of groups and individuals ready to take offense at nearly anything they think you might yield on. Where do you draw the line? How much self-respect do you have? How far will you be pushed, how far will your language become corrupted, before you say, "F*** them, I have feelings too!"? I'm offended that they insist on telling me what to do, what words to use. Language control is Orwellian.
In the early 20th century, Japanese immigrant Yoshio Mayumi and his brother Yasuo settled in Fannett, purchasing 1734 acres (7 km²) of land. The two brought with them techniques for rice farming, which became the dominant agricultural activity of Jefferson County.
According to local folklore, in 1905 area residents collaborated to build a road to the Mayumi farm, and named the road "Jap Road" in their honor.
http://www.nwasianweekly.com/archive/editorial.23.32.htm
This article from the NW Asian Weekly echoes my sentiments.
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