George Knox Roth:

The Price of Integrity

 

Summary:

Social justice advocate George Knox Roth knew Japanese American growers 

during the Depression because they donated millions of dollars of surplus produce

to Unemployed Cooperatives along the West Coast. At the outbreak of war, he was working

as a Department of Agricuture chemist at the Los Angeles Wholesale Market (produce

and flowers). In January and February of 1942, white farmers saw an opportunity to destroy

Japanese Americans competitors, who grew 40% of  California's produce in 1940.

Knox and the Japanese American Citizens League raised funds from prosperous Nisei

businessmen for radio shows opposing mass incarceration. He also testified before the Tolan

Committee on Nisei loyalty, and applied for a write of habeas corpus to force the government

to show cause for mass arrests. He was subpoenad by the California State Legislature's

Un-American Activities Committee, headed by state senator Jack B. Tenney, later known 

at "California’s McCarthy.’' Knox was found guilty of contempt of court. He paid a $200 fine and

served 30 days in jail in 1942. Unfortunately he was caught in the intersection of hatreds arising

from World War II and the Cold War. His association with Japanese Americans, along with the

unproven allegation that he was a Communist ruined his career.

 

In a 1977 letter, Masamori Kojima, then executive assistant to the mayor of Los Angeles, wrote that  Roth “was forthright, courageous and an advisor in what we believed to be the worst of times. He gave us his heart and mind when we needed it most.” His wife Irma stated that “It was this determination to stand up for his values that drove him to stand up for Japanese Americans in a time where it was unsafe to do so and to ultimately pay the price for doing what was right.'

The great job! These summaries make sense now that I understand that they are intended for the teachers, not the students. 

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Key Concepts:

• Communism

• The Red Scare

• McCarthyism

• Free speech

• Allyship

• Co-conspirator