Boondocks Road (formerly Jap Road) is a 4.3-mile (6.9-kilometer) road in
Fannett, Texas.
History
In the early 20th century,
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese immigrant Yoshio Mayumi and his brother Yasuo settled in Fannett, purchasing 1734 acres (7 km
2) of land. The two brought with them techniques for
rice
Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...
farming, which became the dominant agricultural activity of
Jefferson County.
According to local tradition, in 1905 area residents collaborated to build a road to the Mayumi farm, and named the road "Jap Road" in their honor.
In 1924, Mayumi returned to Japan. Low rice prices and smaller harvests due to mismanaged land had rendered his farm unprofitable. The
Immigration Act of 1924
The Immigration Act of 1924, or Johnson–Reed Act, including the Asian Exclusion Act and National Origins Act (), was a United States federal law that prevented immigration from Asia and set quotas on the number of immigrants from every count ...
and related
anti-immigrant sentiment
Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, is a political position that seeks to restrict immigration. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory in ...
are also considered contributing factors to Mayumi's decision to leave the country.
Controversy
Although Jap Road was named to honor its Japanese residents, by the end of the 20th century its name had taken on a new meaning. During
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, "Jap" went from being an abbreviation for "Japanese" to an
ethnic slur
The following is a list of ethnic slurs, ethnophaulisms, or ethnic epithets that are, or have been, used as insinuations or allegations about members of a given ethnic, national, or racial group or to refer to them in a derogatory, pej ...
.
In 1993, advocacy groups, led by
Beaumont teacher Sandra Nakata,
began pressuring the Jefferson County commissioners to change the name. The county commissioners responded by stating that "Jap Road" was not an ethnic slur and honored the road's original Japanese residents. They did, however, give the road's residents the chance to change the name if they so chose. Area residents, including descendants of the Japanese settlers, were highly resistant to any name change. Further efforts in 1999 also met with no success.
In 2004, the
Japanese American Citizens League and the
Anti-Defamation League filed complaints with the
US Department of Transportation and the
Department of Housing and Urban Development. Finally bowing to outside pressure, the Jefferson County commissioners ordered Jap Road's residents to select a new name by July 29, 2004. They chose opposition leaders Wayne Wright and Earl Callahan to oversee the selection.
The options presented to the road's residents included "Mayumi Road', "Japanese Road", "Japan Road", and "Boondocks Road". Out of 170 voting residents, over 100 chose "Boondocks Road". The Boondocks was a popular
catfish
Catfish (or catfishes; order (biology), order Siluriformes or Nematognathi) are a diverse group of ray-finned fish. Catfish are common name, named for their prominent barbel (anatomy), barbels, which resemble a cat's whiskers, though not ...
restaurant that had closed a decade earlier. Anger at outside groups characterizing them as racists is the common explanation for residents' decision to entirely avoid using any of the Japanese-related names.
See also
*
Boondocks
The boondocks is an American expression from the Tagalog (Filipino) word ''bundók'' ("mountain"). It originally referred to a remote rural area, but now, is often applied to an out-of-the-way area considered backward and unsophisticated by c ...
References
External links
Christian Science Monitor - In an East Texas town, the fight is all in a nameCNN - Name change for 'Jap Road'
{{Coord, 29, 51, 31, N, 94, 13, 27, W, display=title
Roads in Texas
Transportation in Jefferson County, Texas
Japanese-American culture in Texas