June 4, 1957
Los Angeles

Meet the city's Japanese American gangs: The Black Juans, the Dominators, the Koshakus, the Ministers, the Algonquins and the Little Gents.

Unfortunately, The Times wrote very little about them. One exception was a 1970 story about the Yellow Brotherhood, a self-help group founded to help get gang members off drugs and back in school.

One unidentified founder, a former gang member, said: "The kids aren't happy. The parents are working so hard to give the kids the things they didn't have but they are thinking in terms of material things. Not love."

Tadashi Nakamura's 2004 film on the Yellow Brotherhood won an award for best documentary short at the San Diego Asia Film Festival.

Email me

Dear friends at Model Minority: I'm pleased you're linking to this post, but I would prefer to know what's being said.

Sincerely, Larry Harnisch