Dear Editor,

The San Francisco Chronicle just printed a high-profile article, “Thousands in U.S. Protest Arizona Law.” I write in concern of the low profile of (we) in the JA community who have more reason than others to identify with the arbitrary discrimination and racial profiling of “suspicious immigrants.”

When Gov. Jan Brewer was asled what a suspicious-looking immigrant looked like, the governor hemmed and hesitated and finally responded that she didn’t know. Look back at our history of almost 70 years ago when cries of “sabotage” were directed at the Japanese community’s citizens and non-citizens.

“Since we can’t pinpoint the saboteurs, we’ll remove them all, men women, the infirm, children,” was the hysterical and arbitrary call, which parallels what is being declared by Gov. Brewer.

The Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, is leading a national protest against Gov. Brewer. He is African American. Let us Japanese Americans shatter the “quiet American” myth and vocalize loudly and become visible in our stand at how wrong the governor’s law is. We’ve been there.

K. Funabiki

San Francisco