Ernest Iiyama: Japanese-American Activist

When Ernest Iiyama died at 99 June 15, he left a legacy of pioneering political work dating back to the 1930s.

The El Cerrito man helped found the Oakland chapter of the Japanese Americans Citizen League and the Nisei Young Democrats of the East Bay in the 1930s. ("Nisei" refers to second-generation Japanese Americans). He remained a leader throughout his internment during World War II, the Civil Rights movement and the struggle for redress and reparations for internees.

“He was actually very quiet, extremely soft-spoken,” said daughter Patti Iyama... Yet, “I was raised to think you had to stand up for what is right.”

At a private memorial service last Sunday, Patti Iiyama shared details of her father’s biography.

Born in Oakland, he moved with his family to Japan as a child, returning to the U.S. to attend UC Berkeley, where he majored in electrical engineering.

In 1942, Iiyama was among 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast forcibly relocated into internment camps by the executive order of President Franklin D. Roosevelt two months after Japan bombed a U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor.

“They had no choice,” said Tom Panas of the El Cerrito Historical Society. “If a person had one great-great-grandparent who was Japanese, they had to go.”

Author Sandra Taylor, who interviewed the Iiyamas for her book, “The Jewel in the Desert,” wrote: “It was raining heavily on April 30 when many arrived (at Tanforan), and the baggage was soaked. The new residents were searched for contraband and the men checked for venereal disease, then taken to filthy barracks rooms or horse stalls where they spent a sleepless night on straw-filled ticks.”

Iiyama spent six months in a stall at the Tanforan Assembly Center (at the Tanforan Racetrack in San Bruno) and six months at Topaz in Utah. He was recruited to head the Topaz Housing Department and later was elected executive secretary for the Topaz Camp Council.

That was also where he met his future wife, Chizu Kitano.

They were released early as Ernest Iiyama planned to enlist, but plans changed when he developed pneumonia.

They married after leaving camp and moved to Chicago, where he became a machinist and a chief steward for the United Electrical Workers of America, then to New York, where he chaired the Japanese American Committee for Democracy.

When the couple returned to the Bay Area in 1956, they settled in El Cerrito, a place where they heard they would not encounter discrimination. It proved to be true, Iiyama would later tell a reporter.

Back in Calfornia, the Iiyamas joined the Contra Costa chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League; he became president. He also served on the Human Relations Committee for the Richmond School District and on the Ad Hoc Committee, which formed the Human Relations Commission of El Cerrito.

They also joined a national call for redress and reparations for Japanese Americans who had lost homes, businesses, and jobs, and endured forced internment during the war years. In 1983, Iiyama, who was fired due to his ethnicity in 1942, was one of seven people to receive redress from Alameda County.

The Iiyamas valued opportunities to speak to classes about their internment experiences as emissaries of the Japanese American Citizens League.

A reporter was there in 2006 when they spoke to a rapt eighth grade class at St. Philip Neri Elementary School.

Chizu Iiyama described their cramped living conditions, the hay-filled mattresses they slept on, the linoleum floors laid over manure — incarcerated, despite being U.S. citizens, because of their heritage and Japanese features.

"Just like today, after 9/11, people are afraid of people who look like Arabs and Muslims," Ernest Iiyama told the students.

In 2009, the Iiyamas were honored with the Clifford Uyeda Peace and Humanitarian Award from the Day of Remembrance Consortium for their years of activism.

Iiyama was a family man who enjoyed travel and good food, his daughter said.

He is survived by his wife of 68 years, Chizu; daughter, Laura; son, Mark; and daughter and son-in-law, Patti and Jerry Freiwirth.

Donations may be sent to either the National Japanese Historical Society, 1684 Post St., San Francisco, CA 94115, or J-Sei, 2126 Channing Way, Berkeley, CA 94704.