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AI: Well, now, you mentioned that most of your clients for resettlement were people who were working folks and looking for very affordable housing. Did you have any difficult incidents while you were searching for housing or jobs for them?

GH: Well, I was working in terms of setting the climate so that more opportunities for jobs and for housing would become available. So I was doing some education work, working with organizations like churches, service organizations that have projects for underdeveloped people and that sort of thing. And so I had some inroads that way. And I would be talking about the fact that there are people who normally would be looking for certain kinds of jobs who are capable of certain kinds of skills, but who are available for all kinds at this stage. And Spokane is suffering from shortage of skilled people. And so this is an opportunity that is in front of us, and we ought to take good advantage of it. That kind of approach to, was given in terms of meetings with the board of trade, which is like the chamber of commerce, and groups of that type. And I also had circulating in liberal circles a newspaper that, a newsletter thing that we got out periodically once or twice a month called The Wider Horizon. It was, I liked that name because it, it gave the objectives in terms of region where we're trying to go and in terms of attitudes. We wanted to spread beyond wider horizon. And we used to, I have interview stories of people, interesting people who had moved in, or the types of works they're doing, trips they'd taken recently, and so on. We had that type of human interest things that introduced various Japanese people to the public. And that went on for a year or a little more than that.

So we had public education going along with personal cases and looking for jobs. The opportunities that the, the strategy was to get some openings, get some good cases that the employer would be pleased to talk to other people. "Hey, I got somebody, and boy, I was worried at first, but terrific. I would never be able to find somebody like that in normal periods, but we had a good opportunity." A story like that would help a lot. And so I was aiming to get especially people who, who can present that kind of personality. That was an advantage. And I was looking for opportunities to get people like that as kind of flag-bearers for this kind of experience. And, and in fact, whether they liked to do it or not, the early ones did contribute in that way for the others to follow through, and eventually it would become a routine type of just getting a job.

AI: So in the beginning you had quite a bit of education work...

GH: Yeah.

AI: ...to do to counter the negative images that had been put out about people of Japanese ancestry. But with time, some experiences, it sounds like the experience changed.

GH: Yeah. We, you get some humorous things, too, that you can spread this kind of humor in certain circles. Like we were unpacking some things when the doctor's supplies came in -- not supplies, but his things came. And the mover was helping us, big truck driver type. And the doc was explaining that this one is for, has some birth control tools in there. And the guy said, the driver says, "Oh, yeah, I know about those things." He says, "The first time I used one of those, I called him Jim. That's my first son." And -- [laughs] -- he says, "My second one was Charlie." [Laughs] And he was telling us that they don't always work, you know. [Laughs] And, and so we were able to laugh. And the doc was also, he's moving in and looking for an office in a certain place, respectable place where he could do his business, and you have to do this very carefully and quietly.

AI: When you say "carefully and quietly," why is that at that time?

GH: Well, at every level you have to, you have to, you don't want to waste your opportunities. Now, he's willing to move in. We found some space. We didn't want to just be careless about the opportunities and arouse some oversight. So we had to be very careful about and sensitive about the fact that this, this can be a delicate thing, so let's, let's do this carefully and not take unnecessary chances.

AI: Because of potential...

GH: Yeah.

TI: ...prejudices?

GH: Yeah. He, he's no longer living, and Nobu, if you ever interviewed her, may have a lot of experiences she could tell us about, professional prejudices that you have to overcome. But I wasn't aware of, he was, I thought he was making his way in quite well. And he, his, he is, he wasn't a Nisei. He came over as a young person for education, medical education and so on, and got his degree and stayed, and married a resident Nisei. And so that he, he wasn't the most able English-speaking person, speaking like other Englishmen. But there, I think opportunities for good neighborhood, good neighbor, to become good neighbors and so on are there. Not everybody has the experience that's pleasant in every circumstance, but even within races you have, you have to be fairly decent. The more decent you are, the more likely to have decent responses, so that works the same. That's, essentially that's what I'm saying. And we have to not waste our opportunities with careless faux pas.

<End Segment 13> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.