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HAPA BY HERITAGE. Given up by his birth mother at less than two months of age, Scott Fujita was adopted by Helen and Rod Fujita of Oxnard, California. Rod and Helen raised Scott in his father’s Asian culture, surrounding him with Japanese traditions. Scott considers himself half Japanese by virtue of his adoptive family. (AR Photo/Andrew J. Weber)
From The Asian Reporter, V17, #44 (October 30, 2007), page 9 & 15.
Scott Fujita — more than just a name
By Andrew J. Weber
At first glance, it’s no surprise that Scott Fujita is a starting NFL linebacker. Standing an imposing 6’5" and tipping the scales at a chiselled 250 pounds, he really looks the part. What is surprising is how little his appearance matches his name. Underneath the helmet lies a mane of brown hair and a pair of green eyes, facial features that say "Fitzpatrick" much more than "Fujita" and seemingly contradict his nickname, the "Asian Assassin."
Yet for anyone who cares to ask, Fujita is happy to speak about his heritage, the only family he has ever known. Caucasian by appearance and without a single drop of Japanese blood by his own admission, Fujita nonetheless considers himself half Japanese by virtue of his adoptive family.
Given up by his birth mother at less than two months of age, Scott was adopted by Helen and Rod Fujita of Oxnard, California. Helen was white, but Rod was a Japanese American with a family history stretching back three generations in the United States. Reflecting the turmoil that shook his community during World War II, Rod was born in a Japanese internment camp in Gila River, Arizona, after his parents were evicted from their Ventura County farm and had the land expropriated by the government.
Despite these injustices, Rod’s father Nagao bravely swallowed his anger and volunteered to fight for the U.S. in Italy as part of the highly decorated Japanese- American 442nd Regiment even as his wife, Lillie, was still incarcerated in Arizona and pregnant with Rod.
Fujita thinks about the story of his grandmother’s internment as a warning for the political situation today. "There are things going on right now in this country that are just baffling. We may not be taking people and forcibly relocating them, but there are many liberties that are being suspended right now," he told an ESPN interviewer in November of 2006.
After adopting Scott, Rod and Helen immersed the boy in his father’s Asian culture, raising him with ethnic landmarks such as holidays, foods, and traditions that were largely Japanese, including bonsai trees around the house and chopsticks at every meal. When it came to sports, however, the young Fujita was an instant stand-out in football, the most American of games. With a seemingly instinctual penchant for hard hits and solid tackles, Scott was soon slotted to the linebacker position and his career effectively began.
Fujita went on to play at Berkeley, where he not only starred on the field but also managed to complete both a B.A. in Political Science and an M.A. in Education. In 2002, he was a late-round draft pick of the Kansas City Chiefs, where he played three years before being traded to the Dallas Cowboys in 2005. The following year, he moved on again as a free agent signing with the New Orleans Saints, who considered Fujita a key part of their resurgent defense under new head coach Sean Payton.
Now in his second year with New Orleans, Fujita has emerged as a team leader and frequently speaks about both the team’s performance on the field and social issues in the community at large. That role was only heightened during last year’s surprise run to the NFC Championship game in Chicago, which served as an inspiration to the hurricane-ravaged city the team calls home.
On October 14, the Saints visited Seattle for a nationally televised game in front of a record crowd of 68,296 at Qwest Field. The hometown Seahawks hoped to cement their lead in the NFC West with a victory, while the visiting Saints were desperately seeking their first win, arriving with a highly disappointing 0-4 record.
It was the Saints who rose to the occasion, earning a 28-17 victory that was marked by a dominating performance on both sides of the ball. The previously sputtering Saints offense got on track with an MVP-worthy performance by Reggie Bush, while Fujita and the defense stifled Seahawks running back Shaun Alexander to a paltry 35 yards on 11 carries, earning him frequent boos from the hometown crowd.
Scott recorded seven tackles, bringing his season total to 31 and giving him the current Saints’ season high mark, despite not playing in the previous game. Later in the week, Fujita was interviewed on the NFL Network to discuss whether the New Orleans victory marked a turning point for the season. On this occasion, he was happy to speak about tackling the other team’s players, rather than tackling the larger social issues in the world outside the game. Either way, no one should be surprised by the "Asian Assassin."